TABLE 20
Divisions Designated as Training Centers, 1947–50
| Divisions | Location | Dates |
| 3d Armored | Fort Knox, Ky. | July 1947–Active |
| 4th Infantry | Fort Ord, Calif. | July 1947–Active |
| 5th Armored | Camp Chaffee, Ark. | July 1948–February 1950 |
| 5th Infantry | Fort Jackson, S.C. | July 1947–April 1950 |
| 9th Infantry | Fort Dix, N.J. | July 1947–Active |
| 10th Infantry | Fort Riley, Kans. | July 1948–Active |
| 17th Airborne | Camp Pickett, Va. | July 1948–June 1949 |
| 101st Airborne | Camp Breckinridge, Ky. | July 1948–May 1949 |
approve it. The reserves therefore relied upon volunteers who had prior service, the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and personnel who had to complete a commitment after serving on active duty in conjunction with the draft, which was reenacted in 1948. That year to stimulate interest in the Organized Reserve Corps, Congress authorized pay for inactive duty training. With a small portion of the postwar Army dependent upon the draft, it generated few reservists for the National Guard and the Organized Reserve Corps, and those units fell considerably below full strength.[1]
Although the War Department did not use divisions as a part of a universal military training program, it decided to use divisional designations for replacement training centers in the summer of 1947. The 3d Armored Division and the 4th, 5th, and 9th Infantry Divisions were activated and their elements reorganized for that purpose. The cadres who trained the recruits responded favorably to the use of divisions as a means of building esprit since they wore the divisional shoulder sleeve insignia, and the recruits were inspired by the accomplishments of historic units. The Army authorized more training centers divisional designations in the summer of 1948 (Table 20). As the training load fluctuated, so did the number of "divisional" training centers, which stood at four two years later.[2]
Postwar Divisional Organizations
In reorganizing the postwar divisions, the Army used World War II tables of organization and equipment, but studies of combat experience that were under way portended revisions. The U.S. European Theater of Operations established the General Board, consisting of many committees, to analyze the strategy, tactics, and administration of theater forces. A committee headed by Brig. Gen. A. Franklin Kibler, formerly the G–3, 12th Army Group, examined the requirements for various types of divisions. After weighing divisional strengths and weaknesses and considering new combinations of arms and services, the committee recom-
- ↑ Annual Report of the Secretary of the Army, 1948, pp. 34–35; Joint Army and Air Force Bull No. 9, 1948 (in 1948 and 1949 the Departments of the Army and Air Force jointly published bulletins).
- ↑ Ltr, TAG to CGs, First, Second, Third, and Sixth Armies, 8 Jul 47, sub: Discontinuance of Replacement Training Centers and Activation of the 3d Armored and the 4th, 5th, and 9th Infantry Divisions, AGAO-I 322 (10 Jun 47), GNGCT-M, 3d Armd Div file, DAMH-HSO; C. D. Dunlap, Jr., "The Third Armored Training Division," Armored Cavalry Journal 57 (Jul–Aug 48): 26–29; Ltr, TAG to CG, Armies, ZI, 25 Jun 48, sub: Activation and Reorganization of Certain Division (Training), AGAO-I 322 (18 Jun 48) CSGOT-M, 3d Armd Div file, DAMH-HSO; also see the unit files of 3d and 5th Armored, the 4th, 5th, 9th, and 10th Inf, and the 17th and 101st Abn Divs in DAMH-HSO.
