By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard
The Distinctive Unit Insignia for the 30th MP Company in 1939 and 170th MP Battalion 2020. |
Early MP History
The Military
Police Corps was established as a permanent branch in the U.S. Army September
26, 1941, but the military police mission began during the American Revolution
with the establishment of the first provost unit.[1]
During the American Civil War, the office of the Provost Marshal General was
established. By the time of the First World War, the mobility and mass of
armies were taxing the existing provost structure. In May 1917, the War
Department approved a restructuring of Army divisions that included a
headquarters company and two MP companies.[2]
That July, the 1st Division fielded two MP companies marking the
first officially organized MP units.
The 1st Squadron of Cavalry, Georgia National Guard on provost duty at Camp Gordon, Ga. in 1917. Georgia Guard Archives. |
With the
entry of the United States in World War I, units of the Georgia National Guard
were assigned to the 31st Division. In the reorganization that
followed, elements of Georgia National Guard’s 1st
Squadron of Cavalry were assigned the military police role for the division
and reorganized as the 106th Headquarters and
Military Police. The cavalry units had previously conducted policing
functions at Camp Gordon until relieved October 5, 1917 and dispatched to Camp
Wheeler in Macon.[3]
2nd Lt. Elliott Neidlinger, 30th MP Co. 1939. Ga. National Guard Archives. |
Interwar
and World War II
The National
Defense Act of 1920 authorized the creation of military police units in the
Army.[5]
There were no military police units authorized for Georgia when the state began
reorganizing its National Guard in 1920. On June 18, 1921, the 164th
Combat Engineers was organized in Springfield. The unit was redesignated as
Company E, 133rd Engineers June 2, 1924 and on June 1, 1928, was
again redesignated as the 30th Military Police Company.[6]
The 30th MP Company owned its own armory, a rarity among Georgia
Guard units in the 1920s and 1930s.[7] This
unit served with the 30th Division throughout World War II. Its
lineage is perpetuated today by Battery A, 1-118th Field Artillery
Regiment.
U.S. Signal Corps composite image of MP units in World War II. MP. Orientation Branch, Information and Education Division ETOUSA. |
Military
Police units guided the Georgia Army National Guard’s 121st Infantry
Regiment and the 118th, 179th and 230th Field
Artillery Battalions from their landing areas on Utah and Omaha beaches to
their assembly areas and ensured orderly flow of personnel and equipment. When
the 121st Infantry was heavily engaged with German forces in the
Hurtgen Force, MPs kept armor, artillery and supplies moving freely into the
engagement area to support them.[8]
The 30th MP Company similarly supported the 118th and 230th
Field Artillery battalions during the fighting at Mortain where the 30th
Division earned the Presidential Unit Citation.
Post
World War II Reorganizations: 48th Infantry and 48th
Armor Division
The initial
allotment of National Guard ground force units for the state of Georgia on July
11, 1946 included the authorization for the 48th Military Police
Company to serve as the MP element for the 48th Infantry Division. In
1955, the 48th Infantry Division was reorganized as an armor
division with the 48th MP Company continuing its role.[9]
The 48th MP Company in 1947. Georgia National Guard Archives. |
1968
Reorganization
An Army-wide
reorganization in 1968 eliminated the 48th Armor Division. Former
48th units were reorganized under the 3rd Brigade, 30th
Division.[10]
Because the 30th Division was split among multiple states, Georgia
received an allotment for a platoon of MPs designated the 3rd
Platoon, 30th MP Company based in Macon.[11]
The 48th
MP Company was reorganized as the 190th MP Company in 1968 with the inactivation
of the 48th AD.[12]
The 190th was organized with the 178th MP Company and
1148th Transportation Company to form the 170th MP
Battalion with headquarters in Atlanta.[13]
The 170th perpetuated the lineage and honors of the 179th
Artillery Battalion that fought in the European Theater of World War II.
The 1968
reorganization also established the 176th MP Battalion with
headquarters and the 179th MP Company in Forsyth and the 182nd
MP Company in Macon. These battalions were assigned to the Emergency
Operations Headquarters based in Decatur. The EOH is the forerunner of today’s
78th Troop Command.
1973
Reorganization and the Birth of the 48th Brigade
In 1973, the
Georgia Army National Guard underwent another major reorganization. In October,
The National Guard Bureau approved Governor Jimmy Carter’s request for a
separate brigade in the Georgia National Guard. Accordingly, on December 1,
1973, the 3rd Brigade, 30th Division was reorganized as
the 48th Brigade. The reorganization brought an additional 278
personnel slots to the state but eliminated the 176th MP Battalion.[14]
Headquarters of the 176th became the headquarters detachment of the
new 148th Support Battalion while the 179th MP Company
was reorganized as Company C, 148th. The 182nd MP Company
was inactivated.[15]
The 170th
MP Battalion Lost and Regained
On September
30, 1990, a change to the troop allotment to the state of Georgia consolidated
the 170th MP Battalion into the 190th MP Company.[16]
For the next 17 years, the 190th and 178th MP Companies
were the only MP units in the state.
The Monroe-based 178th MP Company, July 13, 1980. Georgia National Guard Archives. |
The Georgia
National Guard organized Headquarters Detachment, 170th MP Battalion
and the 278th MP Company on September 1, 2007 with the 170th
based in Decatur and the 278th in Augusta.[17]
Because the previous 170th MP Battalion’s lineage had passed on to
the 190th MP Company, the new 170th MP Battalion did not
perpetuate the old battalion’s lineage and was granted a 2008 federal
recognition date.
First Sgt. Tommy Long retires the guidon of the 278th Military Police Company during the unit’s inactivation ceremony at Fort Gordon January 10, 2016. Photo by Capt. William Carraway. |
First Lt. Kevin Smith and Cpl. John McEwaney of the 179th MP Company conduct a ground patrol during a snow flurry in Afghanistan in 2011. Georgia National Guard Archives. |
Further Force Structure Changes
The 278th
MP Company was inactivated during a ceremony at Fort Gordon January 10, 2016.
The
Kennesaw-based 190th Military Police Company was inactivated during a ceremony
at the Kennesaw Armory on Sept. 17, 2019. With the consolidation of the 190th
personnel into the 170th MP Battalion, the lineage of the original
170th MP Battalion, was passed along to the current 170th MP Battalion.
As of
September 26, 2022, the 170th MP Battalion with the 178th
and 179th MP Companies were assigned to the Marietta-based 201st
Regional Support Group.
Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers of the Fort Stewart-based 179th Military Police Company Atlanta Police Department officers in downtown Atlanta June 1, 2020. photo by Sgt. Jordan Trent |
[1]
Robert K. Wright. Military Police. Army Lineage Series, Center for
Military History, Washington D.C. 1992, 3.
[2]
Wright, 7.
[3]
“Gordon’s Selectmen will do Guard Duty.” Atlanta Constitution, October
5, 1917, 5. Source courtesy of Michael Hitt.
[4] Pictorial
Review of the National Guard of the State of Georgia, 1939, 26.
[5] Wright,
9.
[6]
1939, 34
[7]
1939, 35
[8] MP.
Orientation Branch, Information and Education Division ETOUSA, 1945, 10-11.
[9]
NGARPTP 325.4 October 17, 1955.
[10]
NG AROTO 1002-01 Georgia RA 71-67 December 14, 1967.
[11]
NG AROTO 1002-01 Georgia RA 71-67 December 14, 1967, 17.
[12]
NG AROTO 1002-01 Georgia RA 71-67 December 14, 1967.
[13] Georgia
Department of Defense Annual Report 1968. Marietta, GA: 1969.
[14] “Third
Brigade is Now 48th.” Georgia Guardsman Magazine, Nov Dec
1973, 6.
[15] NGB ARO00-207-02-GA Reorganization Authority
153-73.
[16]
OA 252-90 October 11, 1990.
[17]
OA 97-06 October 28, 2005.
[18]
OA 309-07 June 7, 2007.
[19]
OA 405-11 September 20, 2011.
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