The 1st Army Division (Spanish: I División de Ejército), formerly the Northern Army Detachment (Spanish: Agrupamiento del Norte), is a combined infantry division unit of the Peruvian Army (EP) that specialized in combat patrol in mountain forest terrain, combined arms, counterinsurgency, jungle warfare, and maneuver warfare.
History
First founded as a Region, its headquarters were relocated by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro's administration from Lambayeque to Piura in 1930.[3] It was then reorganized under Manuel Prado's administration and renamed as the Northern Army Detachment (Spanish: Agrupamiento del Norte) in January 1941, under the command of then General Eloy Ureta.[4] After hostilities broke out with Ecuador on July of the same year, the division took on a major role during the conflict, carrying out an offensive on the Ecuadorian coast.[5][6]
In the 1960s, the unit was again renamed to the 1st Military Region, and again in 2003 as the Northern Military Region.[3] In 2012, by Legislative Decree No. 1137 “Peruvian Army Law”, the military regions again became army divisions. As a result, the unit's name was again changed to its current one.[3][7]
The division's coat of arms features a Sun of May and other features that represent certain elements of the division.[8]
Organization
The 1st Army Division is formed by the following units:[9]
^A longer version, meant to be a call and response chant, is as follows:[1] I División de Ejército: "Invencible" Como en el año 41: "Victoria" Como en el año 81: "Victoria" Como en el año 95: "Victoria" Sus fronteras: "Intocables" Todo el norte: "Protegido" Viva el Perú: ¡Viva!