Quote:
Originally Posted by Abbott Shaull
Yeah well WWII the US had planned on some 187 Divisions, but ended up with half of that since so many troops were needed for support roles.
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They also didn't quite account for the manpower that would be needed to field the Army Air Force and base forces, either. They had to compromise on 90 divisions.
A
big reason the divisions were stripped down as much as they were, was to minimize the shipping needed to send them overseas. After all, a division going to the Pacific might not need the tank-destroyer battalion or tank battalion that an ETO division did. And even then, there were not enough GHQ tank or TD battalions for each infantry division to keep one of each permanently, they rotated among divisions as needed in the ETO.
As it was, just about all of the "normal" attachments (tank battalion, AAA battalion) were standardized in the postwar TO&E.