Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/151

 A RETURN TO THE PAST; A LOOK TO THE FUTURE laborers formed the heart of a new supply system. They handled the baggage and noncombat equipment of all divisional elements. Each divisional unit was responsible for its own ammunition resupply. The new arrangement led to the elimination of the ammunition train, regimental field trains, and the quartermaster regiment. A quartermaster light maintenance company was added to service the motor equipment. The maintenance of hospitals passed to the army corps. A newly organized medical battalion collected and evacuated casualties, while infantry, field artillery, cavalry, and engineer units kept their medical detachments to provide immediate aid. All service elements were placed under a division service troops command, headed by a general officer, with a headquarters company that performed the provost marshal's duties and included the division's special staff.

To comply with Craig's directive for the division to employ the latest weapons, the board recommended that its infantrymen be armed with the new semiautomatic Garand rifle, which the War Department had approved in January. For field artillery, the board wanted the even newer 105-mm. howitzer, which was not yet even in the Army's inventory.

Members of the board concluded that they had given the division all the combat and service support resources needed for open warfare. Those elements not required were moved up to the army corps or army echelon. Additional units, such as heavier field artillery, antimechanized (antitank), tank, antiaircraft, aviation, motor transport, engineer, and medical units, might be required, but the board made the divisional staff large enough to coordinate the attachment of such troops. Although small, the new division was thought to have equal or greater firepower than the square division and occupied the same frontages as its predecessor.

In a separate letter to Craig, Hughes summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the new infantry division. Pluses included its highly mobile nature, the ease with which infantry and field artillery could form combat teams, and the reduction in the number of command echelons and amount of administrative overhead. He also pointed to improvements in transportation, supply, and maintenance, since all animal transport was eliminated. Given such a division, he believed that the Regular Army could achieve a viable readiness force without an increase in authorized personnel. Drawbacks appeared minor. The states might not accept a reallotment of National Guard infantry divisions in peacetime. As a federal force, those divisions served only in national emergency or war, but as state forces they had been located and frequently used to cope with local emergencies and disasters. Hughes questioned splitting communication functions between the arms and the signal company and the pooling of transportation for baggage and other noncombat equipment into the service echelon. Both arrangements could generate friction because the functions would be outside the control of the user. He was also concerned about the loss of the infantry and field artillery brigades because they eliminated general officer positions. Finally, training literature would need revision and dissemination to the field.