Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/245

 AN INTERLUDE OF PEACE mended the retention of infantry, armored, and airborne divisions. The committee concluded that a standard infantry division could accomplish missions that might require either light or mountain troops, and that therefore such special divisions were unnecessary. However, it also recommended that the Army maintain at least one horse cavalry division to guarantee that a few officers and enlisted men would continue to be trained as mounted troops. No other postwar study urged the retention of the cavalry division, and, as noted, the War Department rejected any large horse units for the future.

Other General Board committees examined the requirements for each type of division. The committee for the infantry division surfaced many of the same requirements identified previously in the spring of 1945 and recommended a unit of 20,578 men. Additional men were needed in the infantry regiment to provide communications, intelligence, reconnaissance, and administration, and improved weapons were required for cannon and antitank companies. The committee proposed the development of a low silhouette 105-mm. self-propelled howitzer, but until its adoption the cannon company was to use a 105-mm. howitzer mounted on a medium tank. To arm the antitank company, the planners proposed either a self-propelled antitank gun or a medium tank, with most favoring the latter. Some committee members advocated removing the antitank company from the infantry regiment and adding a three-battalion tank regiment to the division. Because of the size and complexity of the infantry regiment, the committee urged that its commander be a brigadier general.

Cavalry and field artillery arms were also expanded within the infantry division. To ensure adequate intelligence and counterreconnaissance (i.e., security), a divisional cavalry squadron replaced the troop. Because the division often lacked sufficient field artillery, the committee recommended adding a towed 155-mm. howitzer battalion for a total of two 155-mm. howitzer battalions and three self-propelled 105-mm. howitzer battalions. All fifteen artillery batteries were to have six pieces each.

Divisional combat and combat service support also grew. An antiaircraft artillery battalion was added for air defense, an engineer regiment replaced the battalion, and a military police company supplanted the platoon. Given the increases in the arms and combat support elements, the division needed greater maintenance and quartermaster resources, and the committee urged expansion of these units to battalions. Finally, a new reinforcement battalion was suggested to process and forward replacements. In sum, the General Board committee preserved the division's three regimental combat teams used during the war, but added or enlarged units that had been organic or habitually attached and organizations to service them.

The committee analyzing the airborne division concluded it should have the same organization and equipment as the infantry division, along with augmentations needed to perform its airborne missions. Two sets of equipment were thus recommended for the division, a lightweight set for airborne assaults and a