plated, three per corps area, and three or more cavalry divisions, at least one for each army area.[1]
When March approved the structure of infantry and cavalry divisions, he also sanctioned the formation of divisions based on that report. Instead of three Regular Army cavalry divisions, he saw a need for only two. The Army's mobilization base would thus be fifty-four infantry divisions and eight or more cavalry divisions.[2]
Reorganization of the Regular Army began in late 1920 as the infantry elements of the 1st through 7th Divisions began to adopt the new peacetime tables. In the 2d Division a Regular Army infantry brigade, the 4th, replaced the Marine Corps unit that had been attached to the division in France. As tables for other divisional units became available, they too were put into effect.[3]
All this work quickly appeared somewhat premature. By the fall of 1921, cuts in Army appropriations indicated that the Regular Army could not support seven infantry divisions in the United States. Secretary of War John W Weeks, therefore, instituted a policy allowing inactive units to remain on the "rolls" of the Army but in an inoperable status—that is, without personnel and equipment. Congressional insistence on maintaining the tactical division frameworks to ensure immediate and complete mobilization made such arrangements necessary. Judging that nothing was wrong with the mobilization plan, but recognizing the shortage of funds for the fiscal year, Weeks directed that some units be taken "out of commission" or inactivated. The policy represented a marked departure from past Army experience. Previously, when a unit could not be maintained or was not needed, it was removed from the rolls of the Army either by disbandment or consolidation with another unit. Acting otherwise threatened to obscure the Army's reduced strength through a facade of paper units.[4]
Nevertheless, under the new system the Army cut the divisional forces in September and October 1921 by inactivating the 4th through the 7th Divisions, except for the even numbered infantry brigade in each. These brigades—the 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th—remained active to serve as the nuclei of their parent divisions upon mobilization. To save even more personnel, the 2d Division, programmed at wartime strength, was placed under the reduced strength tables, leaving the Army without a fully manned division in the United States.[5]
During the summer of 1921 the General Staff turned its attention to Regular Army cavalry divisions. On 20 August the adjutant general constituted the 1st and 2d Cavalry Divisions to meet partial mobilization requirements, and the following month the commander of the Eighth Corps Area organized the 1st Cavalry Division. The headquarters of the division and its 2d Brigade were located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and that of the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Douglas, Arizona. Resources were not available to organize a second cavalry division until World War II.[6]
The Regular Army divisions underwent postwar reorganization and reduction even before the War Department could determine their permanent stations. A committee established in June 1920 to make recommendations about posting units never submitted a report because of the unsettled size of the Regular Army.
- ↑ Rpt of Committee 5, 30 Jul 20.
- ↑ Memo, CofS, 31 Aug 20.
- ↑ WD Cirs 400 and 415, 1920; GO 2, 1st Division, 1921; GO 1, 3d Division, 1921; GO 2, 4th Division, 1921; GO 10, 5th Division, 1921; GO 1, 6th Division, 1921; GO 23, 7th Division, 1921, copies of these and other divisional general orders relating to the reorganization of Regular Army units in Division General file, DAMH-HSO. Circular 400 authorized the 2d Division to be at war strength, which included its 4th Brigade.
- ↑ WD GO 31, 1921.
- ↑ WD GO 33, 1921; GO 19, 2d Division, 1921, Division General file, and 3d Ind, Historical Section, AWC to TAG, 15 Nov 21, 2d Inf Div file, both in DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ Ltr, TAG to CG of all Corps Areas, 20 Aug 21, sub: Organization of the Cavalry, Cavalry Reorganization file, 1921-28, Historical Data Card, 1st Cavalry (Cav) Div, DAMH-HSO. By 30 June 1922 about 10,000 officers and enlisted men were available in the fourteen active cavalry regiments (see Annual Rpt, Sec of War, 1922, p. 305).
