South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-08-08
TO REORGANIZE
ENTIRE j. s. ARMY
Plan is to Make Units More
WieIdy and As in
Europe.

IS abandoned for the continental unit
81 1900. has been ordered by the
war department.
Under the new plan a division will
include only two infantry brigades OF
two regiments each. in place OF
three brigades OF three regiments
each, under the old system. Many
other organization changes are made.
including a material increase in the
artillery and machine gun strength
Z each division. The cavalry regi-
Tent now included IN each division
is detached. d new trench mortar
battery IL added. and the old army
corps plan abandoned after the civil
war is again put in operation.
Guard TO BE Re-Aligned.
The 16 divisions Of the national
guard rs now constituted viii be re-
aligned IN conformity with the new
plan after the guardsmen reach their
training camps. No changes i'm camp
assignm ents. il is presumed. will be
involved. The national army will
be organized from the start under
this plan so far as the regulars are
concerned, it has been understood
that the reorganization already has
been carried out for the units now
On France.
The war department order was
announced in a statement issued by
the public information committee to-
right as follows
a general order made public by
the adjutant generals office today
provides for important changes in
The organization of the army.
The ratio Of artillery strength 20
infantry is greatly increased. A di-
vision will hereafter include only
four infantry regiments in two brig
Bdes in place OF the old division OF
three brigades, each comprising
three regiments OF infantry. There
will be still three regiments Of field
artillery in each division. Thus n
The new organization there will be
three regiments OF field artillery TO
every four regiments OF infantry in
stead Of the ratio Of three 20 nine
in addition. a trench mortar battery
Is attached 10 each division.
Machine Gun Arm Enlarged.
The machine gun arm is also ma
terially enlarged A machine gun
battalian OF four companies has been
made "A unit of each division, in ad-
dition TO the three machine gun
companies included in each regi-
Inent
The American division will be
made by this order TO conform prac-
tically 90 the units utilized by the
entente allies. among whom a di-
vision numbers approximately 10000
men. The reason for the change ia
that the division as heretofore made
up Of about $4,000 men is too un-
wieldy for the demands of trench
warfare. With so large "a unit. sure
and swift communication with all
parts is dimcult. The problem 10
be met was basicaliy one Of mobility
for the peculiar needs OF lighting on
The western front.
6f2 i'm Reserve Battalion.
The smaller sized divisions call
for maintenance OF all units at full
lighting strength For this purpose
reserve battaHons viii he provided.
These will consist Of 612 men each
and are listed i'm the general order
as separate battalions. The number
uf these battalions has not been made
public Details of regimental organ
ization are also withheld for military
reasons.
THE new order provides for army
corps and units which have practi-
cally existed only on paper since
the civil war. Corps were organized
during the Spanish war but were not
actually operated as such TO any
great extent.
An army corps will consist OF
three infantry divisions. corps head
quarters and certain army corps
troops not specified. Each army Will
normally consist Of three or more
army corps army headquarters and
certain army troops not specified.
Under the new order each division
viii be composed as follows. the
changes from the organization he
ing as indicated.
Makc-UP OF Division.
Zone division headquarters tSIWe
as NJ present..
"One machire sun battalion or
four companies new.
Two infantry brigades OF two
regiments and one machine sun bait
TALON tfour companies each
tThe present division rs three inn
fantry brgades OF three regiments
eaCh1.
~One field artillery brigade or
three regiments and one trench
mortar battery tsame except trench
mortar battery new
lone deId signal battalion ,saWe1.
zone train headquarters and milf
tary police ,same).
zone ammunition train t~ame1.
lone supply train tsame1.
-Oue engineer train tsame. except
that poutoon and search light sec I
tons are not included In new
plan)-
zone sanitary train of four field
hospitals companies and four amhu-
lance companies (samel
No Cavalry Provided For.
The new organization provides
for no cavalry ina the division. The
division as at present constituted
calls for one regiment OF cavalry
The present division also calls for
one aera squadron while the new
plan calls FOR none. the aircraft units
being otherwise provided for
.sTba order specffieS Is divisions