The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-10-10
must FILL UP
! THE ESOUTHERN
REGIMENTS
Southern Organizations Be-
hino the North
MANY GAPS REPORTED
Recruits From Northern States viii
Be Used in Southern National
Guard Regiments.
MANY GAPS REPORTED

=
terday to commanders of national
army contonments disclose for the
| first time the war departments COM
plete plans for the training and or
ganization of the first 100000 of the
national army. Shortage of men in
the three national guard divisions in
the south, the 30th, 31st and 99th,
coupled with a decision to form a
new national army division of negro
troops. has .aaac necessary read
justment of the forces at Is OF the 16
cantonments. The geographical com
plexion of the three national army
divisions will be changed entirely us
2 result.
Gen. Bliss, chief of staff, issued this
explanation: The selected men that
are now being gathered into the l6
national army cantonments will be
used to form the first force OF 500.
900 men authorized il the act of con-
gress approved May Is, 1917, and to
fill up the national guard divisions to
practically the maximum strength OF
the new organization. The balance of
the $4,000 selected men will be used
| to supplement the voluntary enlist.
ments for the special and technical
troops that are such an important
part of the organization of MOD
army. 1t is expected that the volun-
tary enlistments for the regular army
will be enough to keep that branch Of
the nations forces filed TO strength
without transferring men to 1t from
this first selection for the national
army. The force of 100000 men will
be organized into 16 white divisions
and one colored division. One white
division will be organized at each of
the 16 national army cantonments,
and the units of colored division Will
be organized at the various canton
ments where the number of colore1
troops Is sufficient to organize di-
visional unit Instead of concentrat-
| ing all of the colored men in the few
cantonments of the southern states,
the policy of the war department will
evenly throughout all of the l6 na
tlOnal army cOutOnmeHtS.
"In the southeren states, whose
quotas go to the environments at CO.
lumbia. S, c., Atlanta, Ga, and Little
Rock, Ark Camps Jackson, Gordon
and Pikel, the number of white men
required to fill up the national guard
divisions furnished by these same
states is so great and the proportion
of colored to white in the populations
Of those states is so great that it has
been found to be physically impos-
sible to organize three national guard
and three national 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,
both national guard and national
army, and organize them into four full
strong divisions three national guard
and one national army) This ma
tional army division will be organized
at Camp Jackson from the men left
over at Camps Jackson, Gordon and
Pike after the three national guard
divisions Goth. 31st and 39th) have
been filled up to strength.
AT Camp Gordon, after its white
quota has been transferred to the ma
tional guard and to Camp Jackson,
there would be organized national
army division made up of surplus
white men drawn from Camps Devens,
Upton. Dix, Meade and Lee; and
at Camp Pike, after its white quota
has been transferred to the natio
guard and Camp Jackson, there will
be formed national army division
made up of surplus white men drawn
from Camps Sherman, Custer, Grant,
| Taylor Dodge, Funston and Travis.