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![handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0039 and id is 1 raw text is:
ARMY HISTORY
THE PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF ARMY IiISTORY
PB-20-96-4 (No. 39) Washington, D.C. Fail 1996
Influences on U.S. Army Divisional Organization
in the Twentieth Century
J0111 B N. WTIo
This article is derived from an in/irmwtion paper
Mr. W ison prepared 'n Decm ber 199.
In military parlance 1division means different
things at different times. In the IIS. Army in the
twentieth century. however, the term has becn applied
to a unit made up of vanous arm and services. capable
of sustained Independent operations. The characteri -
tics of those combined arms and serv ices and their
ability to conduct sustained operauons are key to
understanding the nature of the div ision.
F-ollowingadismtaishowingintheSpanish-Amen-
can War ol 1898, the Army reexamined it, organita
tions and developed plans for permanent combined
arns divisions. These new units were to aid in training
(part icularly lorseniott ccrs) as well ias in mobiti/i-
tin,. The planners relied ht' y on Luropea expenr-
ences, even though European nations conducted their
trmlg at thcecorps les c. I udgga 35,fX)0 man corps
too large an echelon. US. Army planners instead
designed a divisiott consistg o three infantry b
gades, a cavalty regiment, an engineer battalion, a
signal company, and four ield hospial Nine field
ariillery banteies. rgazed a pvsional rgmn,
were also included To attain a sEl(-suf icient com-
binted arms leamn, these planners then added an ammu-
nitton column, a supply coluim, and a pack train all
to he manned by civilians. The division had no fied
.1ren hbutr n march f{ration waC e.timatd t duse
fourteen miles of road space, a distance that repre-
a day'smarchforrronps and the disxanc thatthe
last sodier in a column had to cover to reach the
haul front. The limiting factors of theday cle a rly were
se o tm and distance
As plans for the division evolved, the General Staff
pioneered tables of organilation for all types of units.
Forerunnersofithoseused today, the 19]4 tables brought
logether for easy comparison a mass of information
about unit personnel and equipment. These data.
which previously had been buried in various War
Department publications, greatly eased the task of
determining mobilization requirements In addition,
the tables served as doctnna] statements and provided
a systematic method for introducing new equipment
io uits, The Fred Ser ie Re udatio [Mttaccomn-
panied O thables defined the divsion as a sel con-
tl ned unit made up of all necesstry anms and ervices,
and complete in in itself with every requirement for
independent action incident to its operations. As war
raged in Europe in 1917, the War Department revised
the structure of the division, but retained a triangular
configuration to provide t wo com ba team for manEC-
ver and one for reserve
British and i rench experiences in World War 1,
owever, revea ed that the Amenrcan dision lacked
firepow r and presentmd command and control prob-
I s because of it. aty small units To rve,,.me
these difficulties, a division w as created comprised of
two infantry brigades, each having two large infantry
regiment- (as a means of reducing the span of controlhi,
light and heavy arillery, signal and engineer troops,
and service units Such a division presumably wuld
allow greater mobility,.enhance the commander' abi-
ity to exchange units in the line, and maintaim batle
momentum. The French and the Bntish had found that
loreach unit in theltine- army corps.division, brigade,
regiment, battalin or ompany -a 4.m parab.3 unit
was needed to relieve it withow mixing nrganizations](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.milandgov/aryhsy0039&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)