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PRELUDE TO COMBAT

nization eliminated the infantry section with its general officer in the division headquarters but provided an assistant division commander with the rank of brigadier general. These changes brought the strength of the division to 15,245 officers and enlisted men, with its combat power still focused in the three regimental combat teams (Chart 12).

Despite the trend in foreign armies to replace horse cavalry with mechanized units, the Assistant Chief of Staff, G–3, Maj. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, decided to table any organizational decisions affecting the cavalry. Until a definite theater of operations could be ascertained, the Army needed to prepare general purpose forces. The horse was capable of going where a machine could not, and the cavalry division appeared to have a place in the force. Among the questions Andrews wanted answered was, again, whether the division should be built on a triangular or square configuration. He also wanted to explore if and how horse and mechanized units could operate together within a cavalry corps.

After the 1940 maneuvers Maj. Gen. Kenyon A. Joyce, commanding the 1st Cavalry Division, recommended retention of the square cavalry division. A division with two brigades, each with two cavalry regiments, was easily split into strike and reserve forces. If the division were organized along triangular lines, the regiments would have to be enlarged to maintain their firepower, but it would make them too large for effective command and control. Joyce suggested that the cavalry regiment comprise a headquarters; headquarters and service, machine gun, and special weapons troops; and two rifle squadrons of three troops each. He