U A GIFT OF *vir .H.L.Leupp A MODERN ORGANIZATION FOR THE REGULAR ARMY AND ITS USE AS A MODEL IN ORGANIZING OTHER FORCES PREPARED BY THE WAR COLLEGE DIVISION, GENERAL STAFF CORPS AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE STATEMENT OF A PROPER MILITARY POLICY FOR THE UNITED STATES WCD 9302-1 ARMY WAR COLLEGE : WASHINGTON NOVEMBER. 1915 518 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 H > ^ . WAR DEPARTMENT, Document No. 518. O^ce of the Chief of Sta/. SYNOPSIS. I. INTRODUCTION. Page. 1. Statutory laws governing Army organization 5 2. Defects in the present laws 5 II. HIGHER UNITS THAN REGIMENTS. 3. Staff departments and auxiliary troops 6 4. The tactical division 6 5. Defect of present system illustrated 7 6. Function of tactical divisions 8 7. Proportion and strength of mobile forces 8 III. REGIMENTS AND LESSER UNITS. 8. Infantry 9 9. Cavalry 9 10. Field Artillery 10 11. Coast Artillery Corps 10 12. Engineer troops 11 13. Signal troops 11 14. Sanitary troops 12 30669 - No. 518 16 (3) 667375 A MODERN ORGANIZATION FOR THE REGULAR ARMY AND ITS USE AS A MODEL IN ORGANIZING OTHER FORCES. . I. INTRODUCTION." / ' ! ;";"- 1. STATUTORY LAWS GOVERNING ARMY ORGANIZATION. The present statutory laws concerning the organization of the Regular Army of the United States may be briefed as follows : (a) Brigades and divisions to be composed of a certain number of regiments of Infantry or Cavalry in " the ordinary arrangement of the Army." (Sec. 1114, R. S.) " (b) Brigades, divisions, and Army corps composed of a specified number of regiments required to be organized in time of war, or when war is imminent. (30 Stat. L.) (c) The several staff departments, composition of, as authorized for service in peace and without reference to their functioning with tactical organizations (bureau's personnel), except in the case of the Engineer Department, the Signal Department, and the Medical De- partment, where a limited personnel is provided for service with the troops. (d) Troops of the line regimental organization of Infantry, Cavalry, and Field Artillery. The Coast Artillery Corps, organized into companies. 2. DEFECTS IN THE PRESENT LAWS. The defects in the present statutory laws that prevent a modern, scientific, and efficient organization of our Army may be briefly summarized as follows: (a) The prescribed regimental organization of the three arms, not modern lacking certain fighting units, as well as important administrative units. (b) No provision for the personnel of the headquarters and staff of any units higher than a regiment. (c) No provision for a permanent peace organization of higher units brigades and divisions. (d) No provision for necessary divisional train units. (e) Auxiliary troops not organized with relation to the primary arms of the service. (/) Enlisted specialists needed to meet modern requirements. The effect of these defects upon attempts to provide a scientific organization for our Army is explained in the following pages. 518 (5) 6 II. HIGHER UNITS THAN REGIMENTS. 8. STAFF DEPARTMENTS AND AUXILIARY TROOPS. The organization of all modern armies is based upon the principle that the primary fighting force is well-trained infantry. This pri- mary fighting force must, however, be aided by proper and accepted proportions of cavalry, field artillery, engineer, signal, sanitary, and supply troops to make a complete mobile fighting machine. The smallest independent unit in which all the various arms are found represented in modern armies is one of approximately 20,000 men, called the Infantry Division in our Field Service Regulations. For the proper and efficient strategical, tactical, and administrative han- dling of divisions and larger units, including their supply, certain General Staff officers, and a technical and administrative staff, ad- jutant, inspectors, judge advocate, quartermaster, and ordnance of- ficer are added to assist the commanding general. All these various staff officers are necessary cogs in the wheel. Just as an operating division of a railroad system requires direct- ing officials to give train orders, a switching personnel, signal oper- ators, and telegraphers, in order to keep the several trains running safely and without confusion for the purpose of moving the traffic, the object for which railroads are maintained, so also, in modern armies the function of all staff officers and auxiliary arms is to con- tribute to the main object of the Army to assist the Infantry in defeating the enemy. 4. THE TACTICAL DIVISION. The latest enactment of law concerning the formation of higher units than regiments is that contained in the volunteer law of April 25, 1914, as follows: SEC. 4. * * * Povided further, That when military conditions so require, the President may organize the land forces of the United States into brigades and divisions and such higher units as he may deem necessary, and the com- position of units higher than the regiment shall be as he may prescribe. Here is authority for organizing these higher units and the com- position may be such as the President shall prescribe, but with this restriction : SEC. 3. * * * Provided, That the power to organize volunteer forces shall include the power to provide, within such limits as are or may be prescribed by law, the officers and enlisted men of all grades and classes, and the trained nurses, male and female, that may be necessary in the various arms, corps, and departments. And further: SEC. 5. * * * to appoint all volunteer officers required by this act, but the number and grade of such officers shall not exceed the number and grade of like officers provided for a like force of the Regular Army. 518 In other words, the organization of volunteers must be patterned after the organization of the Regular Army. Under the present law the headquarters of these higher units in the Regular Army can only be improvised by detailing the technical and administrative staff, commissioned personnel, from the War Department bureaus and their departmental branches, thus crip- pling these bureaus when these higher units take the field. The en- listed combatant personnel required for these headquarters can be obtained only by denuding the tactical organizations composing these higher units. This is the case in both peace and war, for under the volunteer law only regiments and lesser tactical organizations are provided from which to organize the higher units. While it is true that these are the bone and sinew of the higher units, still they can not function as a complete machine without a directing and super- vising headquarters, for which no provision has been made. Our present peace-time organization provides staff-department commis- sioned personnel only with a view to the necessary operation of the War Department bureaus and their departmental branches. For time of war the volunteer law provides for increasing this staff personnel in proportion to its present strength and the number of volunteer troops raised, which simply expands the bureau personnel without reference to the requirements of technical and administra- tive staff personnel for the higher tactical units. 5. DEFECT OF PRESENT SYSTEM ILLUSTRATED. The defect of this system is illustrated by the attempt to organize brigades and divisions as prescribed in General Orders, No. 9, War Department, 1913, in which these higher units were formed, as far as practicable, from the tactical organizations and staff personnel of the containing geographical departments. It will be noted that the departmental staff was assigned the dual function of department and tactical division staff duty, which was practicable only so long as the divisions remained demobilized. When the Second Division was mobilized at Texas City in 1913 the Central Department was denuded of its bureau staff, which had to be replaced from other de- partments or from the central bureaus. In time of war the geo- graphical departments must be maintained, and are an important part of the military establishment in the service of the interior. (F. S. R., 247.) The department commander is charged with the recruitment, training, and equipment of all military forces not specially excepted within the limits of his department, and for their mobilization and dispatch to concentration camps. (F. S. R., 252.) Other difficulties are forcibly brought out in the Tables of Organi- zation, 1914, which show that in order to provide the necessary combatant personnel (enlisted) for brigade and division head- sis 8 quarters this personnel has to be detailed from the statutory strength of regiments of the division. Finally, there are certain much-needed subsidiary units for the complete organization of a division for which personnel is not pro- vided under the present laws ammunition train, supply train, engi- neer train, and sanitary train. These trains could not even be im- provised in the attempted mobilization of the Second Division at Texas City, ordered in February, 1913. 6. FUNCTION OF TACTICAL DIVISIONS. The tactical division is, as stated in Field Service Regulations, the great administrative unit which forms the model for the organiza- tion of the administrative service of smaller units operating inde- pendently, (F. S. R., 264.) All armies of first-class powers are organized on the division as the basic tactical unit. All increments of armies are considered in terms of the division unit. The founda- tion of an army considered as a fighting force is the division. Hence, one of the first steps in any plan for effecting a modern organization for our Army should be to establish the complete organization for a tactical division, and to build the superstructure on the foundation of the number of division units to be provided. At least one such division should be fully organized, manned, and equipped in time of peace to serve as a model for the organization of the Army in time of war. 7. PROPORTION AND STRENGTH OF MOBILE FORCES. All of the mobile regular forces maintained in the United States proper should be proportioned and organized as complete tactical divisions, not only to be ready for instant service for any emergency, as the only first-line troops on which the Nation can depend, but also to serve as models for the organization and training of other forces in peace as well as in war. Furthermore, it is necessary that all of the small Regular Army be maintained at statutory maximum strength for the same reasons. At present Infantry regiments in the United States proper are maintained at only 47.2 per cent of the maximum strength ; Cavalry at 75.7 per cent ; Field Artillery at 77.7 per cent ; and field battalions of Signal troops at 58.9 per cent. This reduced strength impairs training, absolutely precludes efficiency, and creates a false model for the organization of other forces. These organizations in time of war would be filled up with recruits, and for a considerable time thereafter even the peace-strength efficiency of these organizations would be seriously lowered by the introduction of such large percentages of raw material. 518 9 IH. REGIMENTS AND 1LESSER UNITS. 8. INFANTRY. The organization of the Infantry regiment, which is the main component of any complete fighting unit, has not been materially revised since the act of March 2, 1899. Since that time the Russo- Japanese War, the Balkan wars, and the present European war have given practical experience showing the necessity for certain subsidiary units for Infantry regiments in order to develop their full fighting efficiency, particularly with reference to the addition of a machine-gun unit as an integral part of the regiment. No organ- ization nor personnel has been provided for such units. Likewise it has been found necessary to add mounted orderlies to care for the horses of the increased number of mounted field and staff officers (also used for scouting and reconnaissance work) and enlisted per- sonnel for supply and transportation purposes. These subsidiary units for the regiment are at present necessarily only improvised by details of enlisted personnel from the 12 statutory companies. This provisional organization had to be resorted to for instructional purposes in time of peace, so as to be prepared for duties that would certainly be required in time of war. For necessary and efficient administration these new subsidiary units, together with the former detachment of noncommissioned staff and band, have been organized provisionally as a headquarters company, a machine-gun company, and a supply company. In order that this personnel may have the proper grades corresponding to equivalent duties per- formed by the personnel of statutory companies, and that the full fighting strength of the 12 statutory companies may not be weak- ened by detachment therefrom in time of war, modern organization requires that these subsidiary companies be sanctioned ~by law as additional units for the Infantry regiment. The number of cooks authorized for a statutory company at maximum strength, 150 men. is two, the same as at minimum strength, 65 men. Three cooks should be provided for 150 men. 9. CAVALRY. The organization of the Cavalry regiment has not been materially revised since the two skeletonized troops were reestablished by General Orders, No. 27, Adjutant General's Office, 1898, and the commissioned and noncommissioned staff was increased by the act of February 2, 1901. Provisional subsidiary units similar to those described above for the Infantry regiment have been found equally necessary for the Cavalry regiment. These subsidiary units should be sanctioned by law as additional units for the Cavalry regiment and for the same reasons. Some adjustment of grades of enlisted 6X8 10 specialists, such as stable sergeants, horseshoers, farrier, saddlers, mechanics, wagoners, etc., is necessary to place them on an equal footing in the several mounted branches. 10. FIELD ARTILLERY. The organization of the Field Artillery regiments dates from the act of January 25, 1907, separating the coast and field artillery. This organization is not sufficiently flexible for adaptation to the present development of the Field Artillery arm, as demonstrated in the present European war. Regiments of two battalions only are provided, whereas experience shows that the heavier type of arma- ment calls for a battalion of fewer batteries and more battalions to the regiment. The organization of the Field Artillery regiment should consist of such number of gun and howitzer battalions as the President may direct. The organization of ammunition bat- teries and battalions and the artillery park should be prescribed, but the personnel need be provided only in time of war, threatened invasion, or when war is imminent. Provisional subsidiary units, similar to those described above for the infantry regiment (except the machine-gun unit), appear to be equally advisable for the Field Artillery regiment, i. e., a head- quarters company and a supply company. These subsidiary units should be sanctioned ~by law as additional units for the Field Artillery regiment, and for the same reasons. Some adjustment of grades of enlisted specialists, such as stable sergeants, horseshoers, farriers, saddlers, mechanics, wagoners, etc., is necessary to place them on an equal footing in all mounted branches. 11. COAST ARTILLERY CORPS. The present organization of the Coast Artillery Corps dates from the act of January 25, 1907, separating the coast and field artillery. While the regimental organization for coast artillery was discon- tinued by the act of February 2, 1901, the personnel provided is based on the proportion and equivalent of 14 regiments. This regimental proportion for personnel, both commissioned and enlisted, bears no relation to the assignment of the personnel for the duties required thereof at the several fixed fortifications to be manned. Modern organization for coast artillery calls for personnel to fit the needs of the different types of fortifications and their auxiliary defenses. This should be determined by the proper military experts in accord- ance with the plans for armament of existing fortifications which are to be manned, and for approved projects under construction. In the case of future extensions of fixed fortifications the personnel should be provided for at the same time as the fortifications and their armament, in accordance with their particular needs. 518 11 For the present enlisted personnel, Coast Artillery Corps, some adjustment of the grades of enlisted specialists is necessary in order to offer inducements for the retention of skilled mechanics in compe- tition with corresponding commercial positions. 12. ENGINEER TROOPS. The organization of Engineer troops as part of the line of the Army, consisting of three battalions of four companies each, dates from the act of February 2, 1901. This organization was prescribed without any reference to their function and relation to the basic tactical unit of the mobile forces the tactical division. Modern organization, as demonstrated by recent wars, calls for a larger pro- portion of Engineer troops and a different organization than can be provided under the present statutory battalion of four companies. In the Tables of Organization, 1914, by constituting provisional battalions of three companies each, an attempt was made to fit these statutory battalions and companies to the needs on an Infantry division and a Cavalry division, and of field army troops, as pioneer battalions, pioneer battalions (mounted), and pontoon battalions. But the 12 companies now authorized by law are altogether inade- quate for the needs of even the three Infantry divisions and one Cavalry division organized by direction of the President, as pre- scribed in General Orders, No. 9, War Department, 1913. The report of the Board on Engineer Troops, as approved by the Sec- retary of War, January 19, 1914, represents the modern organiza- tion of Engineer troops for our Army, which calls for a regiment of two battalions of three pioneer companies for an Infantry divi- sion; a pioneer battalion (mounted) of three companies for a Cavalry division; and a pontoon battalion of three companies (one light and two heavy) for assignment as part of field army troops. For the present enlisted personnel, Engineer troops, some adjust- ment of the grades of enlisted specialists is necessary in order to offer inducements for the retention of skilled mechanics in compe- tition with corresponding commercial positions. 13. SIGNAL TROOPS. The present organization of Signal troops dates from the act of February 2, 1901, as amended by the act of June 30, 1902, and the increase in time of war prescribed by the act of April 26, 1898, to- gether with the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps authorized by the act of July 18, 1914. This branch of the Army is undergoing such changes to meet the advances in electrical communication, and espe- cially in the science of aeronautics, that the law providing the neces- sary personnel should be very elastic. The enlisted strength of the Signal Corps should be limited and fixed by the President in accord- 518 12 ance with the needs of the Army. The numbers in the several grades of enlisted men should be fixed only by percentages that they should bear to the total enlisted strength as authorized by the President. The number of companies, field battalions, and aero squadrons, and the composition of each, should be such as the President may pre- scribe, in order that they may be adjusted to changing needs. 14. SANITARY TROOPS. While the present law (act of Mar. 1, 1887) does not count the enlisted men of the Medical Department (Hospital Corps) as part of the strength of the Army, and the Secretary of War is empow- ered to enlist as many privates of the Hospital Corps as the service may require; and he is authorized (act of Mar. 2, 1903) to organ- ize ambulance companies, field hospital companies, and other detach- ments of the Hospital Corps as the necessities of the service may re- quire, the numbers in certain grades of noncommissioned officers are fixed by law. Limited appropriations have further hampered the organization of the proper number of sanitary units required for the present organized tactical divisions. In order to meet the needs of the service in providing its part of a modern organization for the Army, the law governing enlisted men of the Medical Department should provide the requisite number of noncommissioned officers based on a percentage that the several grades shall bear to the total enlisted strength as authorized by the Secretary of War, thus providing a wholly flexible law. The title, Medical Corps, which now embraces only commissioned personnel, should include the enlisted personnel as well, thus doing away with the title, Hospital Corps, as an unnecessary separate corps, and sim- plifying the military laws governing the Medical Department. Some adjustment of grades of enlisted personnel is necessary and advisable in order to meet the complaint and opposition of commer- cial pharmacist associations which have been appealing to Congress with bills for the amelioration of the Hospital Corps personnel. 618 o 667375 /C 6216 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY AND TO $1 OVERDUE. FOURTH THE SEVENTH DAY