Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/114

 92 in the number of platoons in the infantry company from four to three and a cut in the number of companies in the battalion by a like amount, a realignment of the ratio between rifles and machine guns, elimination of the 155-mm. howitzers, and the removal of unnecessary support troops. The division could obtain additional troops from pools of combat support and service units located at the army corps or army level. The Lassiter Committee concluded that the square division could be cut in size yet retain much of its firepower.

After making its report, the Lassiter Committee prepared tentative tables of organization for the division, which March approved on 31 August. When the War Department distributed the draft tables in the fall of 1920 for the division, it totaled 19,385 officers and enlisted men (Chart 5) and covered about thirty miles of road space in march formation. To arrive at that strength and size, each of the four infantry regiments lost 700 men. The regiment consisted of three infantry battalions and supply, howitzer, and headquarters companies. Each battalion included one machine gun company and three rifle companies. The assignment of a machine gun company to each infantry battalion simplified command and control of those weapons, and the realignment of the guns created a substantial saving in personnel. Machine gun units were eliminated from the infantry brigades, and the divisional machine gun battalion was replaced by a tank company, which was to serve as a divisional mobile reserve. The committee endorsed Pershing's suggestion of a divisional tank company but was aware that a single company could not mount an effective attack on a stabilized front; the large numbers of tanks required for that type of operation would have to come from the army level. The committee dropped the 155-mm. howitzer regiment but stipulated its return to the division when these weapons acquired the necessary mobility for use on the North American continent. The engineer regiment and train were combined and reorganized initially as a battalion because the planners thought that the division had little need for large numbers of engineers in mobile warfare, which precluded building extensive fortifications, trenches, and similar works. The chief of engineers and others, however, insisted that the regiment be retained to assure mobility, permit training of lieutenant colonels and colonels, and provide the opportunity for higher grade officers to serve at least one year in five with troops. March thus decided to retain the engineer regiment but reduced its number from 1,831 officers and enlisted men to 867. All these changes husbanded personnel spaces and increased mobility without lessening firepower.

Substantial reductions also took place in divisional services. The committee cut the size of the ammunition train from 1,333 to 169 officers and enlisted men and changed its mission to serve only the field artillery brigade. Ammunition resupply for all other divisional elements shifted to the tactical units and quartermaster train. That train consisted of half motorized and half animal-drawn transportation, presuming the potential theater of operations to be the rugged North American continent. Ordnance personnel formerly