Reorganization of Divisions
March directed the War Plans Division to implement the tentative tables of organization he had approved. Planning for reorganization of the Army had been under way since 5 June 1920, when the War Plans Division had set up committees to carry out the provisions of the National Defense Act. Officers from the General Staff, the National Guard, and the Organized Reserves helped formulate the plans.[1]
One committee, originally charged with defining the missions of the National Guard and the Organized Reserves, widened its task to encompass the Regular Army. The committee delineated four missions for the regulars: form an expeditionary force in an emergency; furnish troops for foreign and coastal defense garrisons; provide personnel to develop and train the reserve components; and supply the administrative overhead of the Army. The National Guard's dual missions remained unchanged. It contributed to the federal forces during national emergencies or war and supplied the states with forces to maintain law and order and cope with local disasters. The mission of the Organized Reserves was to expand the Army during war or national emergencies. Because of the strong antiwar sentiment after World War I, the expense of maintaining large numbers of enlisted men, the lack of training facilities, and the possible adverse effect on the recruitment for the Guard, units of the Organized Reserves were to have only officers and enlisted cadres. After a declaration of war or national emergency, the remainder of the enlisted men would come from voluntary enlistments or the draft.[2]
Another committee looked into the number of divisions that could be organized and supported during peacetime. Given a Regular Army of 296,000 officers and enlisted men, the committee determined that the War Department could maintain nine infantry divisions (one per corps area), three cavalry divisions (one per army area), and one infantry brigade of black troops in the United States. Of these divisions, one cavalry and three infantry divisions were to be ready for war while the others were to be at reduced strength. This arrangement evenly distributed the expeditionary forces throughout the nation and provided an infantry division to serve as a model for the reserves within each corps area.[3]
In view of the great personnel turbulence caused by the rapid demobilization, the committee recommended that the Regular Army quickly rebuild its seven existing infantry divisions to meet the strength in the new peacetime tables and permit the units to conduct realistic training. The other two planned infantry divisions could be organized after the first seven had reached their reduced strength level, and when all nine attained that level one or more divisions could be increased to full manning for war. How the Regular cavalry divisions were to be formed remained unaddressed. With 486,000 men in the National Guard, the committee envisioned forming eighteen Guard infantry divisions, two for each corps area, and three or more Guard cavalry divisions, at least one for each army area. For the Organized Reserves, twenty-seven infantry divisions were contem-
- ↑ Memo, CofS, 31 Aug 20; Memo, WPD, 5 Jun 20, sub: Committees for Working out Army Reorganization, AWC file 52-21.
- ↑ Memo, WPD for Dir, WPD, 10 Jul 20, sub: Committee Report on Army Reorganization, AWC file 52-21.
- ↑ Ibid.; Rpt of Committee 5, appointed by Dir, War Plans Division, June 7, 1920, 30 Jul 20, John L. Hines Papers, LC.
