[dragoon500ly]

By late 1944, a severe problem in the U.S. Army in general, and in the forces in Europe in particular was the manpower shortage. The prewar plans to expand the Army to 213 divisions were never met, a total of 89 divisions were eventually formed. In addition, prewar planning for replacements was found to be totally inadequate. The causes were many; U.S. industrial and agricultural manpower requirements could only be partially met by bringing women into the workforce, the Army was segregated, with Negro manpower restricted to non-combat units and a few independent combat units; the Army was forced to fight a two-front war; fear of the blitzkrieg had resulted in a huge expansion of the antiaircraft artillery and tank destroyer arms; and the requirements generated by the massive expansion of the U.S. Navy and the Army Air Force had further reduced the available manpower pool, By the end of 1944, the results were nearly catastrophic for the Army.

The lack of Infantry replacements was the most serious problem. For example, on December 8, 1944, the Third Army was short 11,000 infantrymen. Now this number represents only 4% of the quarter-million-strength of the Third Army. But 11,000 infantrymen was equal to the strength of some fifty-five rifle companies (the rifle strength of two infantry divisions) or about 15% of the infantry combat power of the army.

To meet this problem, the army resorted to a number of expedients; many antiaircraft and tank destroyer battalions were disbanded and their personnel reassigned to the Infantry; rear areas were combed of non-essential personnel; air cadets were transferred to the Infantry; the Army Specialized Training Program, which allowed selected enlisted men to gain a college education was canceled and their personnel found themselves transferred to the Infantry; finally, divisions not yet deployed in the theater were ruthlessly stripped of men. Nevertheless, the problem persisted and was only solved by the collapse of Germany.