Quote:
Originally Posted by Webstral
From an organizational standpoint, it would be very interesting to see what would happen if the balloon went up in a major way in one or more locations.
Webstral
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Webstral, you know all to well what would happen. The idea of a Division that has trained together would fight together mentality would go out the window much faster than the 12 month it took for them to realize after Operation Iraqi Freedom...lol Task Forces that you and Eddie have mention would be the norm. Especially if we went to war with force organized in the Pre-Desert Storm way with reliance on Round-Out Brigades. Not a slam against the NG, for we all know there was no reason why some of the units had to repeat training they had only completed recently other than mistrust between Regular Army Officer and their misconception on what the train of the NG was back then.
The only Division that would be fighting as complete Division without major reorganization before they get to battle would have been the 2nd ID, 3rd MD, 8th MD, 1st AD, and 3rd AD. After those units the 82nd and 101st may be deployed intact. After that everyone unit will have so many different components than they had before the balloon went up, they wouldn't be able to tell they were the same pre-war unit. Much like that happen in 1939-1941, when a soon to be soft spoken General after being ask to send a Cadre to create a new division responded to the order with an remark he would be happy to send one, but he would need a Cadre sent to his Division to reform it. This was still when the US War Department still was calculating on making 300+ Divisions and part of the reason why only 16-18 Armor Divisions were activated out of several more that could of been, they were were suppose to have 2 Armor and 1 Mechanized Regiment of 3 Battalions. In the end only the 2nd and 3rd Armor survived that organization and the rest were formed into 3 combat command with 3 Armor and 3 Mechanized Battalions (ironically when all assets were add they looked like the Heavy Brigades of today's Army). While the other Armor Battalions were used to reinforcement to Infantry Division and to make independent Armor Battalions that would be allocated to Corps and then the Corps Commander would assigned them to individual Divisions as need.
Another thing to note, is that many of the Divisions in Europe from time to time would have Regiments and Combat Commands from other Divisions attached on the regular basis to either replace their own Regiment or Combat Commands that were not ready for combat due to loses. There were time when Division that was suppose to be in the rear for rest and refit would have one Regiment or Combat Command and the support unit there while the other Regiments or Combat Command would be detached working for someone else. Even the 82nd and 101st had extra Airborne Regiment attached to them from the start of the war. They were suppose to go to war with 2 Glider Regiments and 1 Airborne Regiment. By D-Day it was realized shortly afterward that it should be more like 1 Glider and 2 Airborne regiments. The Airborne seem the way to go since the Gliders were so iffy and some people wanted to go 3 Airborne and completely disband the glider units, but with artillery and jeep being deployed gliders only at that time, they still had function. The 506th PIR depending on the source you look at was only attached to the 101st, even though it largely ignore fact until sometime in 1945 when the 2nd Glider Infantry Regiment was finally removed and sent to Airborne school and another Airborne Regiment was attached as the 4th Infantry Regimental Combat Team for the remainder of the war.
Some other thoughts...