reequipped, and retrained to make assault landings. In addition, a light division structure also seemed appropriate for the airborne division.[1]
On 17 January 1943 McNair appointed Col. Michael Buckley from the Army Ground Forces G–3 section as chairman of a committee assigned the task of developing a structure for light units using pack animals or light trucks. The committee's report called for a 9,000-man triangular infantry division (Chart 21) with two types of field artillery and quartermaster units. The pack division had over 1,700 animals, most of which were mules for the field artillery and quartermaster units, while the truck division had only 267 1/4-ton trucks and 200 1/4-ton trailers. Both divisions were also authorized numerous handcarts.[2]
General McNarney, the Deputy Chief of Staff, decided to test these organizations and on 21 June approved the formation of three rather than two light divisions. One was to be truck, another pack, and the third a modified pack. The modified pack division's men and units were to be equipped with skis, snowshoes, toboggans, and cargo sleds. Because of the growing number of troops undergoing special winter training at Camp Hale, Colorado, Army Ground Forces suggested they be organized under a divisional structure. The adjutant general added the 10th and 71st Light Divisions to the rolls. On 15 July 1943 Brig. Gen. Robert L. Spragin, a veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign, assumed command of the 71st at Camp Carson, Colorado, and Maj. Gen. Lloyd E. Jones, former commander of the U.S. Army Forces at Amchitka, Alaska, took over the 10th at Camp Hale. The 71st was built around the 5th and 14th Infantry, regiments that had served in the jungles of Panama. The 10th was based on the 86th Infantry and other units at Camp Hale that were undergoing winter warfare training. Eventually the 87th Infantry, which had served in Alaska, joined the 10th. The 89th Infantry Division at Camp Carson supplied fillers for both divisions. On 1 August 1943 the 89th itself was reorganized and redesignated as the 89th Light (Pack) Division. Neither light amphibious nor light airborne divisions were organized because the War Department opposed any change in the existing airborne division and the Southwest Pacific Area Command lacked confidence in the light amphibious concept, preferring standard infantry divisions for amphibious operations.[3]
Army leaders quickly noted some major problems in the light divisions during their training. Neither the 71st Light (Truck) nor 89th Light (Pack) Division included adequate infantry staying power; the 1/4-ton trucks lacked suitable mobility on wet, mountainous, makeshift roads; the 75-mm. pack howitzer provided inadequate firepower; the division lacked reconnaissance resources and had insufficient engineer and medical capabilities; and the division staff was unable to operate twenty-four hours a day within the authorized assigned personnel. The divisions were not self-sustaining. Maj. Gen. John Millikin, who tested the divisions in maneuvers, recommended, "That unless a definite need for these types of divisions can be foreseen, the present Light divisions (motor and pack) [should] be returned to a standard division status."[4] No need seemed to exist for the divisions, and even the Southwest Pacific Area, the command for which they were originally designed,
- ↑ Greenfield et al., Organization of Ground Combat Troops, pp. 331–43.
- ↑ Memo, AGF for G–3, 2 Mar 43, sub: Light Division, 2 Mar 43, 322.2 (Div) (S), RG 407, NARA; TOE 72 (Trk) and (Pack), Light Division, 1 Jul 43, 89th and 71st Inf Div files, DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ Greenfield et al., Organization of Ground Combat Troops, pp. 345–46; Fred Clinger, Arthur Johnson, and Vincent Masel, History of the 71st Infantry Division (Augsburg, Germany: E. Kieser KG, 1946), pp. 1–2; History of the 10th Light Division, AGF Study 28 (Washington, D.C.: Historical Section, AGF, 1946), p. 1; Maynard L. Diamond, Willard E. Simms, Edward B. Baldinger, and Meyer Siegelbaum, 89th Infantry Division, 1942–1945 (Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press, 1946), pp. 47–48. Also see the 10th, 71st, and 89th Infantry Divisions files in DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ Diamond et al., 89th Infantry Division, p. 61.
