We’ve talked a bit about Army training and how the history threads in this series are helping set the stage for the 1941 GHQ Maneuvers, which we will discuss later this year. But we haven’t talked much about changes to Army Doctrine.
During World War I, the US was still very much unprepared for modern war, and that meant “modern” at that time. By World War II, we would be facing a new definition of “modern war”.
Our WWI Doctrine was outdated and we had virtually nonexistent experience in the command of large forces. The coordination of arms and services was largely a matter of theoretical conjecture.
It would take 1½ years from the declaration of war to create a field army capable of mounting an offensive on the Western Front, and even in the final major operation of WWI, the Meuse-Argonne offensive, our amateurism was still painfully obvious. We lost 26,000 soldiers. @USAHEC
There are reasons for this. Our planners were overly optimistic and set unrealistic goals. Our Logistics weren’t great. Our Communications weren’t great.
Tactical commanders resorted to frontal attacks, not quite mastering the use of support weapons. Some division commanders had to be replaced as they were just not up to the task.
George C. Marshall was a Colonel during WWI. He would become the US Army Chief of Staff some 20 years later.
During the Interwar Years, the Army, as a whole, was inadequately funded, much of the force was skeletonized, there was no real increase in, let alone maintenance of, readiness.
The Regular Army and Army National Guard engaged in periodic maneuvers but they were little more than play-acting.
When Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, the @USArmy ranked 17th in the world. Seventeenth.
We had only three functioning infantry divisions, all at roughly half-strength. Very few tactical units larger than a battalion. The US Army Air Corps had fewer than 20,000 men, and even though there were 62 tactical squadrons in the Air Corps, all the aircraft were obsolete.
There were no corps. No field army headquarters. The National Guard could barely keep their 18 divisions functioning at “maintenance-strength”.
Even though we all know the outcome of the war now, it all seems pretty grim when we consider these facts.
Most of the growth to the US military occurred after the attack on Pearl Harbor, with the official US declaration of war driving that progress. But the rapid expansion we were able to achieve was made possible by the pre-war mobilization efforts we’ve been talking about.
“A reasonable start date to posit for the onset of protective mobilization is 8 September 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a ‘limited national emergency… for the purpose of strengthening our national defense within the limits of peacetime mobilizations’.”
In 1937, the Infantry Chief, Major General George A. Lynch, decided to discard the old Square Division scheme. Used in WWI, Square Divisions were largely focused on trench warfare and basically tailor-made for attrition.
MG Lynch wanted to provide each Infantry company and battalion with weapons sufficient to establish their own base of fire – mortars, machine guns, etc.
Riflemen would secure successive objectives by maneuver and by enfilading enemy strongpoints.
Basically, the soldiers would take advantage of frontal or flanking positions that allowed them to fire at more of the enemy soldiers. They could secure one objective and move on to the next.
In 1939, George C. Marshall would have the @USArmy adopt Triangular Divisions which could better support this new Doctrine.
Triangular Divisions were also borrowed from the Germans – nearly every echelon within the division would now possess maneuver elements and fire support. Our Doctrine and our Army organizational structure were starting to mesh nicely.
Each echelon could establish its own base of fire using both direct and indirect fire support – fix the enemy with one maneuver element, find its flank with a second, and maintain a third in reserve. @PatDonahoeArmy@FortBenning
Triangular Divisions also replaced animals with motorized transport, although Infantry would still often travel on foot.
Artillery Doctrine had evolved since 1918 as well, and the move to a Triangular Division saw accuracy, responsiveness, and flexibility supplant sheer volume as Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs). @USAFAS
In Triangular Divisions, there were three battalions of light Artillery which could be attached to Infantry regiments to create “regimental combat teams”, and a battalion of medium Artillery for general support. @USAFAS
Improvements in communications and advances in techniques of observation and fire direction allowed Field Artillery to decentralize its batteries for maximum responsiveness, while still retaining its ability to mass fires when needed. @USAFAS@USArmyDoctrine
To keep the Triangular Divisions leaner (about 15,000 soldiers), the War Department “streamlined all support and service elements not essential to the Division” and pooled them in reserve at higher echelons until needed. @SCoE_CASCOM@CASCOM_CG
The new Army Doctrine and organization/force structure helped drive procurement and development of many “less glamorous” items that the Army needs, not just weapons and vehicles but things like water purifiers, cooking ranges, and food containers.
In March and April of 1940, the @USArmy assembled and tested IV Corps at @FortBenning, which was the first corps to take the field since 1918. IV Corps was comprised of 1st Division, 5th Division, and 6th Division (all in the new Triangular structure). @1stArmoredDiv
By June of 1940, solid progress was clearly being made, despite nearly 20 years of inadvertent neglect. The Triangular Division had been adopted and tested, and @USArmy commanders were gaining valuable experience in using Triangular Divisions under field conditions.
New and modern equipment were still scarce but MG Walter C. Short, then IV Corps commander, commented at the end of the Spring 1940 maneuvers that the equipment problem would be solved within a year or so, provided Congress continued liberal appropriations.
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While serving as Chief of Staff from 1939 to 1945, on several occasions GEN George C. Marshall would press for two major US Army advancements. The first is more prolonged and systematic training than the Army had ever seen before.
Every soldier would be trained well, as an individual, and then trained in small units, and as members of divisions, ultimately tested in field maneuvers.
Even as late as 1939, Congress (reflecting the sentiment of the general public) did not fully understand that there was a need for new weapons.
The War Department asked for $646-million for Fiscal Year 1939 and about 30% of that was for non-military expenses like the costs associated with the Panama Canal or for work on harbors and rivers.
Before WWII, the US was not “war-minded”, it was barely “defense-minded”. Convincing the government that we had to prepare for war was a challenge and a half for the military.
In 1940, the Army requested 166 airplanes and Congress approved only 57. The Army wanted 4-motor bombers and none were approved. Congress explained that those were “aggressive” weapons and thus not appropriate for the defensive posture the US was assuming.
The persistent disagreements over the Air Corps’ desire to develop long-range bombing capabilities were a concern for years. They had to find another way to make the advances they knew would be necessary.
In 1938, the US Army Air Corps made a request for $500,000 that would be used for development toward the following objective: a 35-ton aircraft capable of reaching 30,000ft altitude and capable of carrying a 4000-lb bomb-load for 4000 miles.
The Interwar Years involved a series of agreements that would ultimately place limitations on the United States (and others, but we’re not discussing them right now) with regard to what was and was not acceptable for the armed forces.
In 1922, the Washington Treaties reinforced the idea that armed forces should be for defense purposes only, not for offense at all.