Army, U. S

The U. S. Army in World War II was the largest ground force ever fielded in the nation’s history and was vital to the Allied victory in both the European theater and the Pacific theater. In Europe, the army engaged Axis forces beginning in November 1942 in the North Aerican campaign, and followed the victory there with successful operations in Sicily, the Italian campaign, the invasion oe Normandy, and central Europe. In the Pacific theater, the army supported island-hopping advances of the U. S. Navy and U. S. Marines in the central Pacific and vanquished Japanese forces in the southwest Pacific and the Philippines.

The U. S. Army raised a force of more than 8.2 million men and women by March 1945, in both combat and support arms, including nearly 1.8 million personnel in the U. S. Army Air Forces. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as commander in chief, the War Department, with headquarters at the newly constructed Pentagon, supervised the recruitment, training, deployment, and operations of the largest force in American history.

Roosevelt, like British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, retained overall control of the nation’s war effort, but he entrusted his civilian and military subordinates with greater responsibility for the conduct of affairs than did his contemporaries. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was responsible for the administration of the army from July 1940 until the end of the war. Stimson was assisted by Under Secretary of War Robert P Patterson, who was primarily concerned with procurement; by Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, who acted as Stimson’s deputy; and by Assistant Secretary of War for Air Robert A. Lovett, who supervised air force administrative functions.

This civilian team controlled subordinate military elements consisting of three separate, coequal, and autonomous components following the reorganization of the War Department in March 1942. The first component was the U. S. Army Ground Forces under Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, whose command trained and developed ground combat branches including armor, infantry, airborne, and artillery. Once units were raised, trained, and equipped, they were shipped overseas to one of seven theaters where they became the theater commander’s responsibility.

The second component, and eventually the largest, was the Services of Supply (later Army Services Forces), under Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell. This command bore responsibility for ground force logistics and procurement, and included the transportation and quartermaster corps, chemical warfare service, ordnance, medical, and signal corps, and the corps of engineers and military police. The third component was the army air forces under

General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, which had its own organizations comparable to those of the ground forces.

The establishment of these commands left chief of staff George C. Marshall and the War Department General Staff free to plan and execute operations from the Operations and Plans Division at the Pentagon. Marshall controlled the theater commanders worldwide and coordinated U. S. Army operations with other military services represented on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as British forces through the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

When the war started in 1939, the army consisted of 190,000 troops that were well trained and led, yet were understrength and lacking in modern equipment. The National Guard consisted of a mere 200,000 men. With the beginning of conscription, following passage of the Selective Service Act in September 1940, the army ranks increased rapidly to approximately 1.4 million men by December 1941. During the war, 38.8 percent of personnel were volunteers and 61.2 percent were draftees. Although Marshall planned to raise 100 divisions, the army finally comprised 90 divisions. Approximately 73 percent served overseas, with an average duration of 33 months. At the beginning of the war, the army accepted African Americans only in limited numbers, usually in segregated noncombat units, but by 1945 the numbers and duties of black soldiers had expanded and some steps had been taken toward desegregation. Women served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

The creation of the triangular infantry divisions in May 1940, each consisting of three regiments with three battalions and three companies, totaling 14,250 men, with supporting engineer, artillery, armor, service, and headquarters units, proved wise, as they were flexible in combat. The army was deployed in 11 field armies (First to Ninth, and 10th and 15th), containing 26 corps total. In addition to infantry divisions, the basic unit, the army created 16 heavy and light armored divisions, with 390 and 263 tanks, respectively, and 60 nondivisional tank battalions, 326 artillery battalions, 400 antiaircraft batteries, and 86 tank destroyer battalions. In response to needs for specialized units, the army raised one mountain, five airborne, and two cavalry divisions. The army deployed 68 divisions to the European theater and 22 divisions to the Pacific theater.

It is generally accepted that the organization and administration of the army during World War II, both at home and abroad, was second to none. Critics do cite a faulty replacement system that tended to damage unit cohesion, and a lack of infantry replacements late in the war because of the draw of other branches of the military. American soldiers, however, were well trained, equipped, fed, and led. Their access to, and liberal use of, copious amounts of materiel, munitions, technically advanced weaponry, and firepower usually gave them a crucial edge.

Overall, army personnel performed well under fire and aggressively took the initiative to the enemy in diverse terrain, weather, and battle conditions. Casualties (combat and noncombat losses) in the U. S. Army and U. S. Army Air Forces numbered approximately 820,000, including 234,874 dead.

Further reading: Geoffrey Perret, There’s a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II (New York: Ballantine, 1997); Russell Weigley, History of the United States Army (New York: Macmillan, 1967).

—Clayton D. Laurie