Re: US Army Division numbering

John C wrote in message ...
>What was the organization of the USA infantry/ paratroopers/ special forces
>during World war 2. During every war movie you hear numbered designations
>like the 506th. 101st 82nd.. What do these numbers mean in relationship to
>the Army organization as a whole?

If you can, try and take a look at,

Author: Stanton, Shelby L., 1948-
Title: Order of battle, U.S. Army, World War II / Shelby L. Stanton.
Publisher/Date: Novato, CA : Presidio, c1984.
Description: xiv, 620 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 32 cm.

The US had five airborne divisions in WWII.

82nd, originally the 82nd infantry, designation changed in August 1942.
101st, activated in August 1942.
11th, activated in February 1943
17th, activated in April 1943.
13th, activated in August 1943.

Originally the divisions had 2 glider and 1 parachute regiments,
by 1945 it was 1 glider and 2 parachute regiments. The exception
was the 82nd, which had 1 glider and 2 parachute regiments from
the start of its role as an airborne division.

The 11th was sent to the Pacific in May 1944.

The 82nd was sent to North Africa in May 1943, then England in
December 1943.
The 101st was sent to England in September 1943.
The 17th was sent to England in August 1944.
The 13th was sent to France in February 1945 but did not see combat.

The airborne division (and regiment and battalion) numbers were part
of the numbers given to the infantry divisions, unlike the armoured and
cavalry divisions which had their own sequence. So you had a 1st
infantry a 1st armoured and a 1st cavalry but not a 1st airborne as the
number was already in use for an infantry division. The highest numbered
infantry division the US army raised in WWII was the 106th.

In addition to the divisions the US Army also had some independent
parachute regiments. Basically the parachute regiments (independent
or as part of divisions) were numbered in the 500s, showing they were
really decided upon after the initial mobilisation plans. There were also
independent parachute battalions.

The US airborne units do require some careful checking. This is
what went on in the European theatre of operations.

551 Airborne regiment was actually only a battalion, disbanded 10 Feb
1945, often called the 551st battalion.

The 501, 508, 517 and 551 Airborne regiments were officially carried
as independent regiments, ultimately the 517th was officially absorbed
into the 13th Airborne division.

There was a big reorganisation of airborne divisions that officially
happened on 1 March 1945, when 13,17,101 divisions all
disbanded a glider regiment (88,193,401) respectively, they had
2 each up to then, replacing it with a parachute regiment, plus they
also gained a 4th artillery battalion. The 82nd was different, it had
been raised with 1 glider and 2 parachute regiments, and had been
given a 4th artillery battalion in early 1943, before leaving the US. The
17th arrived in theatre with the extra artillery battalion attached but not
assigned, 13th and 101st picked theirs up from battalions that came
to France as part of the Anvil operation.

The Anvil assault also brought the 517th and 551st separate
parachute regiments.

As part of the March 1945 changes the separate 551 Airborne
regiment (battalion) disbanded on 10 February 1945, plus the
509 and 550 Airborne battalions disbanded 1 Mar 1945.

Of the 4 airborne divisions present only the 13th had three regiments,
all the others usually had 4 or even 5. With the arrival of the 13th
airborne for a few days the US had a nominal 7 glider and 11
parachute regiments in theory organised into 4 divisions and 4
separate regiments organised as follows,

13th division, 88th (till 1 March 1945) and 328th glider, 515th and
517th (from 11 February 1945) parachute regiments.

17th division, 193rd (till 1 March 1945) and 194th glider, 507th
(from 27 August 1944) and 513th parachute regiments.

82nd Airborne had 5 regiments (325th Glider, 504th, 505th, 507th
and 508th parachute) from 14 January 1944 but the 504th was in
Italy until April 1944, participating in the Anzio attack and so was
not used D-Day. The 507th went to 17th Airborne division in August
1944, so back to 4 regiments. The 508th was nominally separate.

101st Airborne had 4 regiments to April 1944 (327th and 401st (till
1 March 1945) Glider and the 502nd and 506th parachute) then had
the 501st separate parachute regiment attached in May 1944, to
give 5 regiments under command. Then back to 4 regiments in
March 1945 when the 401st was disbanded.

So in March 1945 the US had 14 airborne regiments in theatre, down
from 18, organised into two 3 regiment and two 4 regiment divisions,
officially all the divisions had three regiments, but two had an attached
regiment each.

Those airborne divisions were a little more powerful than they
looked.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.


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