Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/235

 AN INTERLUDE OF PEACE became a contentious issue with many active duty personnel as well as veterans. Thus, the adjutant general solicited recommendations from the commanders of Army Ground Forces and the overseas theaters for divisional numbers to be represented in the Regular Army. In the ensuing study, the adjutant general recommended the numbers 1 through 10 and 24 and 25 for infantry divisions (the 10th Mountain Division to be redesignated as the 10th Infantry Division); the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 for armored divisions (when elements of the 4th Armored Division serving in the Constabulary were inactivated, they were to revert to divisional units); and 82 and 101 for airborne divisions. The recommendations also included the priority for the retention of divisions on the active rolls.

The study recommended that the 1st Cavalry Division be inactivated upon completion of its occupation duties and its elements retained as nondivisional units. Large horse units were not to be included in the post World War II Army. Chief of Staff General Dwight D. Eisenhower disagreed with the elimination of the division. Therefore, the Army Staff reworked the list, designating the 1st Cavalry Division eighth on the retention list for infantry (the division had been organized partially under infantry and partially under cavalry tables during World War II) and recommending modification of the unit's designation to show its character as infantry. After examining several proposals, Eisenhower approved the name "1st Cavalry Division (Infantry)."

No change in the number of divisions on active duty resulted from the study; it simply provided the nomenclature for the Regular Army's divisional forces. Eventually the 1st Cavalry Division, the 10th Mountain Division, and the Constabulary units conformed to these decisions. Also, the 101st Airborne Division and the 10th and 25th Infantry Divisions (Army of the United States units) and the 82d Airborne Division (an Organized Reserve organization) were allotted to the Regular Army.

With the nation victorious in war and alone armed with the most awesome weapon known to man, the atomic bomb, a lasting peace appeared at hand. Some military planners believed, however, that the need for ground combat units remained unchanged. Planning for a postwar conventional force had begun in 1943, and over the next three years those plans, which included reserves, were debated in Congress and by the War Department and state officials.

When Maj. Gen. Ellard A. Walsh, president of the National Guard Association, learned the staff was studying a postwar reserve structure, he pressed for consideration of reserve officers' views, petitioning Congress to ensure that the War Department establish reserve affairs committees in agreement with the provisions of the National Defense Act. In August 1944 Deputy Chief of Staff McNarney appointed a six-member committee of Regular Army and National Guard officers to prepare policies and regulations for the Guard. Then, in October, he authorized a