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4th Constabulary Regiment
U.S. Forces, Austria
Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Forces, Austria from 1945 to 1955. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.

 
Regimental History

4th Armd Cav Rcn Bn

Organization

Lineage



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Regimental History
1948

Camp McCauley Main Gate, Hörsching, 1954
4th Armd Cav DI
(Source: Wes Montgomery)

OCCUPATION
For occupation duties in Germany and Austria the Army organized the U.S. Constabulary. The 4th Cavalry Group was redesignated the 4th Constabulary Regiment with the 4th and 24th Constabulary Squadrons. The Regiment was stationed in Salzburg, Austria.

On 1 May 1949 the 4th Constabulary Regiment was inactivated.

The 4th Squadron underwent several designation changes to become the 4th Armored Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion.

It was inactivated on 1 July 1955. The 24th Squadron was transferred to Germany in 1949 and inactivated on 15 December 1952.

To perpetuate some small remnant of the 4th Cavalry on the active rolls of the Army, Headquarters Company of the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion was redesignated as Headquarters Company, 4th Armor Group and activated in Germany on 1 July 1955.

Lineage
4th Cavalry
PARENT UNIT 4th CAVALRY REGT
3 Mar 1855 Constituted in the RA as the 1st Cavalry.
26 Mar 1855 Organized at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
3 Aug 1861 Redesignated as 4th Cavalry.
16 Apr 1942 Reorganized and redesignated as 4th Cavalry, Mechanized.
21 Dec 1943

Regiment broken up and its elements reorganized as
Hq & Hq Trp, 4th Cav Group, Mecz.
4th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz
24th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz.

_ Hq & Hq Trp
1 May 1946 Hq & Hq Trp converted and redesignated as Hq & Hq Trp, 4th Constabulary Regt.
10 Feb 1948 Reorganized and redesignated as Hq & Hq & Svc Trp, 4th Constabulary Regt.
1 May 1949 Inactivated at Salzburg, Austria.
20 Aug 1953 Redesignated as Hq & Hq Co, 4th Armd Cav.
_ 4th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz
1 May 1946 4th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz converted and redesignated as 4th Constabulary Squadron.
17 June 1946 Assigned to 4th Constabulary Regt.
1 Apr 1949

Reorganized and redesignated as 4th Reconnaissance Bn;
concurrently, relieved from assignment to 4th Constabulary Regt.
1 Dec 1951 Reorganized and redesignated as 4th Armd Cav Recon Bn.
1 July 1955 Hq & Hq Co, 4th Armd Cav Recon Bn redesignated as Hq & Hq Co, 4th Armor Group; concurrently inactivated at Camp McCauley, Austria.
_ 24th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz
1 May 1946 24th Cav Rcn Sq, Mecz converted and redesignated as 24th Constabulary Squadron.
17 June 1946 Assigned to 4th Constabulary Regt.
1 May 1949 Relieved from assignment to 4th Constabulary Regt and assigned to the U.S. Constabulary. (The Squadron was moved to Bad Hersfeld in Germany where it performed the border surveillance mission. For details check out the US Constabulary web site.)
15 Dec 1952 Inactivated at Bad Hersfeld, Germany.
21 Apr 1953 Redesignated as 524th Recon Bn.

The USFA District Constabulary (4th Cav Gp) participates in a parade in Austria, 1946
1946
(Source: Email from Howard R. Johnson)
I was in the 4th Cavalry Regiment in January 1946 at Bad Schallerbach, Austria. This was before it changed to Constabulary.

We then were sent to Gallsbach and on to Enns where the horse platoon was started. We were there on the Russian border sector on the river Enns, close to the Danube river. We never did any horse patrol there or anywhere.

We then were sent to Hoersching where we were reduced to about 25 horses and about 5 men. Colonel Charles B McClellen was the regimental commander. He was a cavalry officer and interested us in learning how to jump horses so we spent the next 2 years jumping in international competition in Vienna, Innsbruck and Salzburg.

I won the first place in Salsburg 1948, some of our team also won in Vienna and Innsbruck. There were five basic team members, Bob Williams, whose picture was sent in to the Constab site. He was riding Sox, not Professor the Goering horse. Pete Petersen from Elk Point SD, Donald Roberts from Suger City Colorado, Custer S P Cassidy from Casper Wyoming and myself from Divide Wyoming.

There were other men who were with us at different times but they did not stay very long. We had 2 horses from Herman Goering, they were Hanovers, big horses, one was Professor and the other was Friedolin. This one broke an ankle at Hoershing on the jumping field with Col. McClellen riding.

I was in Austria September 2000 and went to all these places. In Hoersching I met an old man who remembered us and the Goering horses. He told me that after we (most of the boys went home and the platoon was dissolved) left in October1948 that the police department bought the horses. "He was a policeman"!
(Source: Email from Richard Hover)
I was assigned to 4th Cav in Jan 1946, at Bad Schallerbach, Austria. My MOS was radio operator, on an armored recon vehicle. Our area was Efferding/Bad Schallerbach/Linz, working border patrol along the river.

I was billeted in one of the hotels -- no name, as far as I know -- and our motor pool was outside the bath houses.

Is there a roster of the troopers who were assigned to units at Bad Schallerbach? There may still be a few of us around!

Enns was the border town between the U.S. and Russian zones of Austrian occupation.
Anyone entering the American zone had to be 'de-loused' by being sprayed with
DDT at this de-lousing station, Trp C, 4th Constab Sq (UNRRA Scrapbook webpage)
(Source: Email from William Bent, son of Walter Bent, 24th Constabulary Squadron, Austria)
I have many photos from when my father, Walter Bent, served in Austria from 1946-49. Most are from his time with the 24th Squadron (E Troop) with the Constabulary.

My father joined the Army in June, 1946. In October 1946, I know he was at Ft. Benning where he attended Parachute Training. He then went to Europe aboard the W. P. Richardson in January 1947.

I know he drove trucks over there, but I am not sure what unit he was originally assigned to. He attended MP school at Oberammergau in Sept-Oct. 1948. He was then attached to the 24th Sq., E Troop in Linz, Austria.

He returned to the U.S. in April 1949. His Report of Separation shows him attached to the 77th FA Battery at that time.

Web site info is great, except I am not positive that the men on parade are with the 24th Sq. There is nothing written on the back of the picture. I have more photos of the ceremony. I will forward and maybe someone can identify the unit. It is definitely a constabulary unit.

The photos are mostly of him and his buddies.
4th Con Regt
Camp McCauley

 

1. Walter Bent with his jeep

2. Walter with buddy, Bernard Blosevich

3. 24th Constab Sqdn on parade

4. Walt's buddies

5. Ferry on Danube at Eferding, Austria

6. Trooper pours water using helmet liner

7. Formation

8. Review

8. E Troop billets in Linz

9. Shannon

10. Walter Bent, probably 1948
1948
(Source: ARMY NAVY & AIR FORCE JOURNAL, 11 September, 1948)
Constabulary's Air Force

Within, and an integral part of the 4th Constabulary Regiment at Camp McCauley, Austria, is a pint-sized air force consisting of nine L-5 liaison planes under the command of Capt. Clark C. Bohamman. This unit, designated the 4th Constabulary Air Section, is now under the direction of the 4th Constabulary Regiment S-3 section.

Complete with landing strips, hangars, operations office, ground crews, and all the trimmings necessary to carry out routine flights, this air corps in miniature has performed a wide variety of duties during the course of which the planes flew a total of 217,450 miles in the past year and they have flown a total of 134,500 miles to date this year.

Among the duties that these ground officers have accomplished with their light planes have been emergency flights for hospital cases, transportation of serum, observation and reconnaissance work and the transportation of ranking officers on tours of inspection.

During a recent heavy rain-fall, when there was danger of the Danube overflowing, special flights were flown to keep a check on the raising waters. Daily flights are also made along the various borders of the U.S. Zone of Austria to observe activities at the border crossing check points..
 
4th Armored Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion
1952
(Source: Email from Bert Mudgett)
I arrived in Austria in Oct. of 1952. At that time we (4th Armd Cav Recon Bn) no longer manned OP's on the Danube and the Weyer Rivers. Instead we did a jeep patrol to Passau, Germany and to Weyer next to the British zone. It was one day out and one day back. I can't remember many names. Capt. ED Marvel was my first CO followed by Capt. Rehfield. Lt. Horgan my company commander. Sgt. Billy Byrd of Kingsport TN was a friend. A Major Dwan or Duan was our Battalion Intelligence Officer. He was brilliant at setting up ambushes. Lt. Horgan was close to my own age {I am 66} so he is most likely to be still of this world. He was a West Pointer. We were stationed at Horshing outside of Linz in very nice barracks taken from the Luftwaffe. I returned to the States on Mar 8 of 1955. Up to then I had for some time had the most time in THE 4TH Rcn.

Shortly after I left, the allies left Austria and the 4th went to Triest. I have no knowledge of what happened to them after that. P.S. I believe one of the OP's was on the hill above Linz. They said it was good duty.
 
(Source: Email from Wes Montgomery)
After spending fourteen days on a troop ship (the General Hodges) we landed at the port of Leghorn, where we spent about three week in tents at Camp Darby. After being processed for our assignments in Austria, I along with two of my friends (Gray and Brady) who completed Tank school with me at Fort Knox, were assigned to the 4th Armored Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp McCauley. We traveled by troop train to Linz. The trip took all night.

The next day we couldn't believe our good fortune. Camp McCauley was once a German Air Force Base, and it was beautiful. We had two men rooms with steam heat. The Maintenance Shops were in the airplane hangers and we road tested our tanks, and other vehicles on the air strips.

I think the 4th Armd Cav was a great outfit, a little on the spit and shine side though. The US and Russian Zones was separated by the Donau river which also split the city of Linz into both zones. We spent a lot of time on maneuvers and on field exercises, but had plenty time to visit Linz and Berchtesgarden.

I was stationed at Camp McCauley for about a year when the treaty was signed. My two friends (Gray and Brady) because they were drafted, rotated back to the US as they had less than six months left on their tour. I was reassigned to the 350th Infantry Regt at Camp Roeder in Salzburg with the Hq and Service Company. I was with the 350th for about six months, when the unit was moved to Taylor Barracks, Mannheim, Germany. We took all our equipment with us, and went by convoy. Living conditions weren't the best, because of the shortage of space. Some had to bunk three high. We stayed in Mannheim for about a year while new camps were being built in Italy for us. After about a year, the unit was relocated to Italy. I was reassigned to the Tank company of the 350th and our company was sent to Camp Darby, Italy until they had a place for us in Northern Italy. This time around, Camp Darby was a nice duty station, we had permanent billets, and could not use our tanks. So, every afternoon we were allowed to go to the beach. We were at Camp Darby for only a couple of months when the company was deactivated and we were reassigned to an Armor Infantry Battalion and went north. I was only with that outfit for a few months, I rotated back to the States in December 1956.

I was very lucky on my first overseas tour. I was stationed in three different countries (Austria, Germany, and Italy). I ended up staying in the Army for over 21 years . Austria was without a doubt, my best duty station.
 
 
4th Armd Cav Rcn Bn
Camp McCauley, Linz
     

1. 4th Armd Cav Rcn Bn sign, 1954 (112 KB).
2. 4th Armd Cav unit mess hall at Camp McCauley (106 KB).
3. PFC Wes Montgomery in Linz (97 KB).
4. Wes Montgomery during a field exercise (106 KB).

5. Testing 6x6 cargo truck on the airstrip, 1954 (114 KB).
6. 4th Armd Cav Rcn Bn deactivation (107 KB).
7. Back side of a USFA Drivers Permit (50 KB).


 
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