Re: US Army Division numbering



Michael P. Reed wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 17:18:28 GMT, "scott s."
> <75270_3703a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> >Divisions were wartime-only organizations in the 19th Century.
> >During the Civil War, cavalry initially was parcelled out, but
> >as the war progressed, a need for increasingly large formations
> >resulted in the creation of cavalry divisions. These consisted
> >of cavalry regiments and horse artillery batteries.
>
> Divisions were sub-elements of an army corps much like a brigade is a
> sub-element of a division today. During the Revolutionary war,
> Washington maintained more or less permanently organized divisions in
> the Main Army, and beginning with the Battle of Germantown (October
> 4th, 1777) organized them into what we would today refer to as an army
> corps, though the latter were field organizations only and were not
> instituted in camp. I.e., the commander of a "wing" (the "corps" were
> organized into three wings; Right, Left, and Second Line) only
> commanded the other divisions in his wing in battle. Washington had
> to point this out in general orders once or twice. Brigades were
> generally assigned (from 1777 on) to the same division for most of the
> war, except when circumstances demanded detachments for this reason or
> that.
>
> In the War of 1812, divisions were administrative and not actual field
> organizations, and as far as the U.S. is concerned only existed in the
> 9th Military District (New York less the City and its environs), and
> were generally divided into the Right and Left Divisions.
>
> Divisions were established as higher than brigade but less than army
> organizations for span of control reasons during the Mexican War.
>
> Initially the Civil War divisions were without corps, but eventually
> they all became a part of one Army Corps or another, and it was the
> Corps which became the functional permanent HQ unit analagous to
> today's divisions. Naturally that practice followed during the
> Spanish-American War.
>
> >After the civil war, the US Volunteers (including all the division
> >commands) were mustered out, or for regular officers and troops,
> >reverted to the peace establishment regular army.
>
> For the first two campaigns of the Philippine Insurrection, the
> Span-Am War raised Eighth Army Corps remained the Command unit of the
> US army in the Philippines, and kept its sub divisions, but never had
> more than two (but with seperate brigades). After Elwell Otis was
> replaced with MacArthur, the army was organized on geographic lines to
> the end of the war. Stateside, neither corps nor division, as you
> point out, was maintained.
>
> It should be pointed out that during the Spanish American War the
> "army corps" were only meant to be stateside administrative units, and
> were not intended for field use. Instead expeditions would be raised
> by taking the best trained and prepared units from the various corps.
> Not all Corps commanders understood that concept, and both the Cuban
> and Philippine expeditions were initiated with Army Corps as their
> base command (Fifth for Cuba, Eighth for PI). Puerto Rico, though,
> saw the expedition executed as Miles intended it with divisions taken
> from different corps, principally the First and Fourth, with the corps
> commanders essentially remaining behind to further on the troops
> (except Brooke of the First who was supposed to be Miles chief field
> commander).
>
>
> >Once again after that war, the Volunteers mustered out. In the early
> >20th Century, reforms under Sec War Root and Chief of Staff Wood
> >saw the Militia Act of 1903 which established the National Guard
> >as a drilling "milita". This was followed by the National Defense
> >Act of 1910, which created (on paper at least) 3 divisions.
>
> That was the First Field Army, and it never did quite work, and was
> abandoned pretty quickly. It was 1905, however, when the US Army
> adopted the division as the principal combat unit, moving away from
> the Army Corps. This was based on Japanese experience in the Russo
> Japanese War, where the Japanese did away with the corps system
> altogether. US divisions were still to be designated 1st Division
> First Army Corps, First Division Second Army Corps etc until 1910,
> when divisions were to by numbered sequentially upon mobilization.
>
> Before
> >these could even be developed, the need for troop presence on the
> >Mexican Border resulted in the creation of a provisional division
> >(of 3 brigades), the first true peacetime division. Experience
> >with this organization, and concern about WWI led to a new organization
> >under the National Defense Act of 1916,
>
> Before that was the "Stimson Plan" which reorganized the Army from
> nine military districts into four. Each district was to form a single
> division (either infantry or cavalry). In 1913 (or was it 14), the
> 2nd Division was indeed mobilized (with lessons learned from the
> Maneuver Division of 1911) for service on the border. The national
> guard was divided into twelve "division" areas, and these would form
> the basis of the mobilization of 1917.
>
> >This organization was used for the expansion resulting from US'
> >mobilization for WWI, with the regular 1st and 2d, and 26th and
> >42d Natl Guard divisions the first to enter the war. (the 2d
> >included a US Marine Bde).
> >
> >These divisions were pretty heavy -- 2 brigades of 2 regiments
> >(12 battalions), an FA brigade, Eng regiment, 3 machine gun BNs,
> >and service support units.
>
> There was not much of a change from the modified 1905/1910
> organization. The main difference was the reorginization of the
> infantry from nine smaller regiments to four large "continental" ones.
> The actual infantry strength actually fell, though support units
> increased. Namely the Engineer battalion was doubled into a regiment,
> and a third artillery regiment was added.
>
>
> >In 1935 the "triangular" division was adopted (3 regiments/
> >9 BNs)
>
> Which was what Pershing had recommended after WWI, but the pencil
> pushers from Washington knew better. They did streamline the infantry
> regiments though.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Michael P. Reed


I remember reading somewhere that the current 1st Infantry Division was
originally the 1st Expeditionary Division because the New York City
based 1st Division under the 1910 plan was still around. Did any of the
other three divisions under the 1910 plan survive and become a current
division?


I was reading an article about the French army that served in the US
during the Revolutionary War. According to the article they were
organized as the 1st Division.


Joe

.

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