History The 212TH MP Company was constituted on Jan. 1, 1942, and activated on May 15, 1942, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Between May 15, 1942, and Feb. 19, 2010, it was activated and inactivated eight times. Between 1950 and 1953, the unit was allotted to the regular Army where it served honorably in the Republic of Korea earning the Republic of Korea Presidential Company Citation. After the Korean conflict, the unit was relocated to Japan and was inactivated on June 24, 1958. The unit then activated on April 15, 1960, in Italy before being inactivated August 16, 1965. On Jan. 10, 1966, the unit was reactivated to provide K9 support in the republic of Vietnam. Prior to being inactivated on Nov. 8, 1972, the unit was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for its actions in Vietnam. On Oct. 21, 1977, the unit was activated in Wuerzburg, Germany, and settled in Kitzingen, Germany, where it performed Military Police Combat support in Support of V CORPS. The unit deployed to Southwest Asia on Dec. 4, 1990, in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, during the Gulf War, the unit performed Internment and Resettlement Operations in Kuwait and Iraq. Since Dec. 29, 1995, the unit has deployed to various Baltic Regions including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Macedonia, and Albania. The unit returned June 15, 2000, from Kosovo after supporting Task Force Hawk and Task Force Falcon. The unit deployed to Poland in support of Operation Victory Strike from Sept. 13, 2001, until Oct. 20, 2001. The unit then deployed to Kosovo from Nov. 25, 2002, until July 18, 2003, in support of Operation Joint Guardian from March 2008 until May 2009, the unit deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit was then inactivated in Germany on Feb. 4, 2010. Feb. 19, 2010, marks the activation and restationing of the 212TH MP Company at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Description As 1951 drew to a close, a lull had settled over the battlefield. Fighting tapered off to a routine of patrol clashes, raids, and bitter small-unit struggles for key outpost positions. The lull resulted from Ridgway's decision to halt offensive operations in Korea, because the cost of major assaults on the enemy's defenses would be more than the results could justify. Furthermore, the possibility of an armistice agreement emerging from the recently reopened talks ruled out the mounting of any large-scale offensive by either side. On 21 November Ridgway ordered the Eighth Army to cease offensive operations and begin an active defense of its front. Attacks were limited to those necessary to strengthen the main line of resistance and to establish an adequate outpost line.
In the third week of December the U.S. 45th Division, the first National Guard division to fight in Korea, replaced the 1st Cavalry Division in the I Corps sector north of Seoul. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to Japan.
In the air, U.N. bombers and fighter-bombers continued the interdiction campaign (Operation STRANGLE, which the Far East Air Forces had begun on 15 August 1951) against railroad tracks, bridges, and highway traffic. At sea, naval units of nine nations tightened their blockade around the coastline of North Korea. Carrier-based planes blasted railroads, bridges, and boxcars, and destroyers bombarded enemy gun emplacements and supply depots. On the ground, the 155-mile front remained generally quiet in the opening days of 1952. Later in January the Eighth Army opened a month-long artillery-air campaign against enemy positions, which forced the enemy to dig in deeply. During March and April Van Fleet shifted his units along the front to give the ROK Army a greater share in defending the battle line and to concentrate American fire power in the vulnerable western sector.
