TABLE 11
Allotment of National Guard Cavalry Brigades, 1927
| Corps Area | Unit | States Supporting a Brigade |
| First | 59th | Massachusetts and New Jersey |
| Second | 51st | New York |
| Third | 52d | Pennsylvania |
| Fourth | 55th | Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia |
| Fifth | 54th | Ohio and Kentucky |
| Sixth | 53d | Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan |
| Seventh | 57th | Iowa and Kansas |
| Eighth | 56th | Texas |
| Ninth | 58th | Wyoming and Idaho |
part of one. The strength of infantry divisions varied, but no division reached the 11,000 men prescribed in the peacetime National Guard tables of organization. The nadir was in 1926, following the suspension of federal recognition. By 1939 Guard infantry divisions averaged 8,300 troops each.[1]
National Guard cavalry divisions proved unsatisfactory because they were scattered over too large an area for effective training. The Militia Bureau first attacked the problem in 1927, when it realigned some divisional elements to reduce the geographic size of the divisions. Two years later the bureau limited cavalry formations to brigade-size units, assigning one brigade to each corps area (Table 11). The formation of the 59th Cavalry Brigade was authorized to meet the need for the additional brigade called for in the plan. At that time the bureau withdrew federal recognition from the 22d Cavalry Division headquarters, the only cavalry division to have a federally recognized headquarters. Unlike Regular Army cavalry regiments, Guard regiments retained their six line troops, except those in the 52d Cavalry Brigade, whose regiments were able to recruit and maintain sufficient personnel to support nine troops.[2]
Brigades remained the largest cavalry units in the Guard until the mid-1930s, when Congress authorized an increase in its strength. In 1936 the National Guard Bureau, formerly the Militia Bureau, returned to federally recognizing cavalry division headquarters. By mid-1940 the bureau had federally recognized headquarters for the 22d, 23d, and 24th Cavalry Divisions, but not for the 21st. At that time the 21st consisted of the 51st and 59th Cavalry Brigades, the 22d of the 52d and 54th, the 23d of the 53d and 55th Brigades, and the 24th of the 57th and 58th Cavalry Brigades; the 56th Cavalry Brigade served as a nondivisional unit.[3]
The Organized Reserves maintained infantry and cavalry divisions that were authorized a full complement of officers but only enlisted cadres. Many divisions met or exceeded their manning levels for officers, but enlisted strength fell below
- ↑ Memos for Statistical Section, ACofS G-3, 31 Mar 27 and 2 Jan 30, MB 325.4 Gen 6, DAMH-HSO; Report of the Chief of the Militia Bureau, 1926, Appendix C; Reports of the National Guard Bureau, 1936, p. 7, and 1939, p. 27; also see author's notes "National Guard Interwar Years."
- ↑ Report of the Adjutant General of New Jersey, 1927, p. 7; State of New York, Annual Report of the Adjutant General, 1928, p. 21; Reports of the Chief of the Militia Bureau, 1928, pp. 25–26, and 1929, pp. 14, 22–23; Memos for Statistical Section, ACofS, G-3, 28 Feb 27, 31 Mar 27, and 3 Sep 29, MB 325.4 Gen-6, DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ 'Memos for Statistical Section, A CofS, 1 Apr 36, 1 Nov 39, 1 Mar 40, MB 325.4 Gen, DAMH-HSO; John B. Smith, "Our First National Guard Cavalry Division," Cavalry Journal 46 (Sep–Oct 1936): 378–79; "Two More Cavalry Divisions Authorized," Cavalry Journal 48 (Jan–Feb 1939): 67; National Guard Register (1939), p. 15.
