mand the divisions sent to Europe, neither Bliss nor the General Staff questioned his preference. Also, the lack of experienced divisional-level officers and staffs made a smaller number of larger divisions more practical.[1]
Using the General Organization Project, the War College Division prepared tables of organization, which the War Department published on 8 August 1917 (Chart 4). The tables for what became known as the "square division" included a few changes in the division's combat arms. For example, the five-company divisional machine gun battalion was reduced to four companies by eliminating the armored car machine gun unit. Pershing had decided to submit a separate tank program because he considered tanks to be assets of either army corps or field army. In the infantry regiment, the planners made the 3-inch mortars optional weapons and added three one-pounder (37-mm.) guns as antitank and anti-machine gun weapons. The supply train was motorized, and the ammunition and ambulance trains were equipped with both motor- and horse-drawn transport. The additional motorized equipment in the trains stemmed from the quartermaster general's attempt to ease an expected shipping shortage, not to enhance mobility. Crated motor vehicles occupied less space in an ocean transport than animals and fodder.[2]
The War College Division also provided a larger divisional staff than Pershing had recommended because the unit most likely would have both tactical and administrative roles. The staff comprised a chief of staff, an adjutant general, an inspector general, a judge advocate, and quartermaster, medical, ordnance, and signal officers. In addition, interpreters were attached to overcome any language barriers, particularly between the Americans and the French. As an additional duty, the commanders of the field artillery brigade and the engineer regiment held staff positions. A division headquarters troop with 109 officers and enlisted men would furnish the necessary services for efficient operations. The infantry brigade headquarters included the commander, his three aides, a brigade adjutant, and eighteen enlisted men who furnished mess, transportation, and communications services. The field artillery brigade headquarters was larger, with nine officers and forty-nine enlisted men, but had similar functions. Planners did not authorize headquarters detachments for either the infantry or field artillery brigade.[3]
Plans To Organize More Divisions
While Pershing and Baker investigated the organizational requirements for the expeditionary forces, steps were taken to expand the Army at home. These measures included the formation of all 117 Regular Army regiments authorized in the National Defense Act of 1916 and the drafting of the National Guard into federal service and of 500,000 men through a selective service system. Draftees were to fill out Regular Army and National Guard units and to provide manpower for new units. Organizations formed with all selective service personnel eventually became "National Army" units. Although the War Department was unsure of either the final structure of the infantry division or the number of divisions need-
- ↑ Palmer, Bliss, pp. 170–71; James G. Harbord, The American Army in France 1917–1919 (Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1936), pp. 102–04.
- ↑ Organization, AEF, p. 138; Tables of Organization (hereafter cited as T/O), Series A, Table 1, Infantry Division, 1917.
- ↑ T/O, Series A, Table 2, Headquarters, Infantry Division, Table 3, Infantry Brigade, Table 12, Field Artillery Brigade, Headquarters, 1917.
