The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-10-10
ORGANIZATION
OF new ARMY
IS OUTLINED
New National Division Of
Negro Troops Will Be
Formed
NATIONAL GUARD
DIVISIONS FILLED
First Half Million Drafted
Men Will Comprise
Seventeen Divisions
(By Associated Press.)

Washington, Oct. IN. - Orders
issued yesterday TO commanders of
national army Cantonments disclose,
for the first time, the war depart
ment's complete plans for the train
ing and organization of the first half
million of the national army.
I Shortage of men in the three ma
tional guard divisions of the south.
the 30th, 31st and 39th coupled with
a decision to form a new national
army division of negro troops, has
made necessary a readjustment or
the forces at Is Of the 16 canton
ments. The geOgra phical complexion
OF three national army divisions will
ba, changed entirely as a result.
General Bliss, chief of staff, issued
this explanation:
"The selected men that are now
being gathered into the 16 national
army cantonments will be used to
form the first force Of 100000 men
authorized in the act of congress
! approved May Is, 1917, and to f1ll
up the national guard divisions to
practically the maximum strength Of
the new organization. The balance
of the 6S7. 900 selected men will be
used to supplement the voluntary
enlistments for the special and
technical troops that are such an
important lldll VI bilt VI gam NiOAA
of a modern army II is expected
that the voluntary enlistments for
the regular army will be enough to
keep that branch OF the nations
! forces filled up to strength without
transferring men to il from this first
6selection for the national army.
Organization Of Force.
1.-The force Of 100000 men will be
| organized into 16 white divisions and
one colored division. One white
tdivision will be organized at each OF
the is national army Cantonment3
and the units Of the colored division
will be organized at the various can
tonments where the number of color
ed troops is sufficient to organize a
divisional unit.
: Instead of concentrating all of the
, colored men N the few cant )nraents
of the southern states, the policy If
the war department will be to dis
! tribute them more or less evenly
! throughout all of the Is ma a'!onal
army Cantonmcnts.
| I'm the southern states whose
/ quotas go to the cantonments at
Columbia. s. G.. Atlanta, Ga. and
Little Rock. Ark. Camps Jackson.
{ white men required to fill up the ma
tional guard divisions furnished by
those same states is so great, and
the proportion of colored 10 white
in the populations of those states is
so great, that il has been found to
be physically impossible to organize
three national guard and three ma
tional army divisions at full strength
from the white quotas Of these states
and therefore the war department
. has decided to take all of the white
men from these states, from both ma
tional guard and national army and
organize them into four full strength
j divisions (three national guard and
I one national army) The national
army division will be organized at
! Camp Jackson from the left-overs at
! Camps Jackson, Gordon and Pike
after the three national guard divi-
sions (30th, 31st and 39th) have been
filled up 10 strength.
Surplus Divisions.
at Camp Gordon, after it's white
quota has been transferred to the
national guard and to Camp Jack
son, there will be organized ma
| tional army division made up of
/ surplus white men drawn from Camp
| Devens. Camp Upton, Camp Dix,
! Camp Meade. and Camp Lee, and at
Camp Pike. after its white quota has
been transferred to the national
guard and Camp Jackson. there will
| be formed a national army division
made up Of surplus white men drawn
from Camps Sherman, Custer, Grant, |
Taylor, Dodge, Funston and Travis.
This plan, although somewhat
different from the one originally
/ adopted by the war department of
! forming a complete national army |
division composed exclusively Of men |
from each of the 16 national army
areas. is in full compliance with the !
spirit OF the law of May Is, because |
under ii each white national army |
} division still represents a distinct |
geographical area. the one at Camp |
Jackson being made un entirely from |
the white men of the extreme south |
ern states, the one at Camp Gordon |
being made up entirely from the sur |
plus white men of the extreme east |
efn states. and the one at Camp Pike |
being made up entirely from the sur
plus white men of the great middle |
western section.
National Division.
"On the other hand the colored |
division will be made up of repre-
sentatives from every part Of the ma
tion and win be a truly national |
division.
ALSO under this plan it is possi-
bic to fill each national guard divi- |
sion with men drawn from the same |
geographical area from which the |
national guard division is drawn"
The new plan adds a division to |
the national army making II divi- /
stons in that force to supplement the |
IL national guard divisions. The |
negro division probably will be
designated as the 92nd division
national army. 1t will be modified |
as a division only when ordered to
France for duty. The force will be
the largest fighting unit of negro
troops i'm the army and the majority
Of its officers will come from the
negro officers training camp at Des
Moines. la.
The division will take i'm nearly
$4,000 of the $4,000 negroes register
ed under the draft law. There will
be organized in addition, however.
service units for work behind the
lines.