2nd Cavalry Division ( United States ) Heraldry . " SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA " Lineage . Organization ( 1921 – 1942 ) . On 20 August 1921 , as a result of lessons learned from World War I , the US Army Adjutant General constituted the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Division s to meet future mobilization requirements . As organized , 2nd Cavalry Division was to be an integrated division . Units assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division included : Organization ( 1943 – 1944 ) . Division headquarters reactivated on 25 February 1943 at Fort Clark . Mobilized for deployment to North Africa 12 January 1944 . Inactivated in Oran , Algeria on 9 March 1944 . Components used to create service and labor units . Support Units World War II Narrative . Placed on the rolls of the Army in 1921 , the 2nd Cavalry Division was not activated until April 1941 . As part of the Protective Mobilization Plan , the division was reserved for activation at Fort Riley , Kansas , but due to manpower constraints it never reached full strength . The 2nd received the appropriate number of cavalry regiments , but units providing the organic support and service troops remained unfilled . The first divisional activations came in October 1940 , with the organization of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade and the assignment of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and 14th Cavalry Regiment . The 4th Cavalry Brigade activated during February 1941 with the 9th Cavalry Regiment and 10th Cavalry Regiment as its cavalry regiments . These last two regiments , the only two available for assignment , were black units . The division , therefore , was unique to Army structure at that time , a racially mixed unit . Split between Fort Riley and Camp Funston , Kansas , neither post having adequate facilities for the division ' s horse cavalry , personnel shortages continued and divisional elements were activated using provisional assets . General Milliken , the 2nd Cavalry Division commander in June 1941 , envisioned a combined use of mechanized and horse cavalry within the division . During July , Troop A , 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron , was formed provisionally as a mechanized divisional element . The division , now organized with horses , scout cars , jeeps and motorcycles , spent most of the rest of the summer training with its new equipment . The 2nd Cavalry Division participated in the Second Army Maneuvers of late August as a component of the Red Forces facing the VII Corps ' Blue Army . Given the task of capturing Arkansas and Louisiana , the 2nd ' s mission ended on 9 September with divisional elements at Chatham , Louisiana . During the next week the division became part of a second training operation . This time the division served with the Second Army ' s Red Force , now challenging the Third Army ' s Blue Force . Second Army ' s first goal was to defeat and remove the Blue Forces from southern Louisiana , and then to keep the enemy from capturing Shreveport . At the close of these maneuvers the 2nd Cavalry Division returned to Kansas , having prevailed with Blue Forces still forty miles from the city . By 2 November possessed a number of its organic support troops , although most were still functioning in a provisional status . The end of the month found the division involved in another set of training maneuvers . The operation , " PRACTICE BLITZKRIEG " , was based in Kansas and finished with the 2nd Cavalry Division ' s capture of Topeka . The exercise ended when the divisional military police unit seized the governor who feigned a surrender of the state . The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor triggered fears of assaults on the west coast and invasion threats from south of the border . A new emphasis was placed on the continent ' s western defenses and the division deployed its 3rd Brigade to Arizona . General Coulter , the brigade commander , was also given command of the Southern Land Frontier Sector of the Western Defense Command . Under him the 2nd Cavalry , stationed at Phoenix , and the 14th Cavalry at Tucson , patrolled the Mexican Border for the next seven months . Meanwhile the 4th Cavalry Brigade , still at Camp Funston , continuing an endless cycle of training . Constantly called on to provide cadre for new units , the 9th and 10th Cavalry routinely lost veteran personnel and received untrained recruits . During the spring of 1942 a War Department decision to increase the number of armored divisions within the United States Army resulted in the planned conversion of the 2nd Cavalry Division . White troops in the 3rd Brigade were used in the formation of the 9th Armored Division . The 2nd and 14th Cavalry were inactivated and their personnel transferred into the newly formed 2nd and 14th Armored Regiments , both elements of the new armored division . On 15 July 1942 the 2nd Cavalry Division was inactivated . The 4th Cavalry Brigade with its black regiments , however , remained active . The activation of the 9th Armored Division created logistical problems at Fort Riley and Camp Funston . The installations that had accommodated a single division were now home to a division and an additional cavalry brigade . Consequently , the 4th Cavalry Brigade Headquarters and the 10th Cavalry , relocated to Camp Lockett , California . The 9th Cavalry , although still assigned to the brigade , moved to Fort Clark , Texas . As the number of black personnel entering the Army rose , the need for negro units for these soldiers to join also increased . In November 1942 the War Department directed that the 2nd Cavalry Division would be reactivated , and that two new black regiments would be assigned . It was also announced that the 2nd , now the Army ' s third black division , would remain divided between Texas and California . Construction was started at both posts since neither had the facilities to support an entire division . The work completed , the 2nd Cavalry Division activated on 25 February 1943 with Headquarters at Fort Clark . The 9th and 27th Cavalry , active at the Texas post , were the assigned troops of the 5th Cavalry Brigade . The 10th and 28th Cavalry , located at Camp Lockett , made up the 4th Cavalry Brigade . Filled using recruits straight from the induction centers , the 2nd Division spent most of the spring and summer of 1943 training its soldiers . The division provided these men with their basic training as well as instruction in Cavalry operations . The divisional training as a whole , however , would not be tested . Stating that there was no intrinsic need for a second cavalry division , the War Department had devised a plan to use the 2nd Cavalry Division personnel to form needed service units . Black community leaders , reacting against the criticism of the performance of negroes in combat units , protested the possible conversion of the division . The debate over the capabilities of black units continued but the decision concerning the status of the 2nd Cavalry Division was already made . The War Department ordered the division to be shipped overseas where the conversion would take place . During January 1944 the 2nd Cavalry Division was dismounted and shipped back east for deployment abroad . Arriving at Oran , North Africa on 9 March 1944 , the division was inactivated the next day . The division was never engaged in combat and was instead assigned to construct airfields for the Tuskegee Airmen in North Africa and perform garrison and supply duties there . The division also provided replacement troops for the all - black 92nd Infantry Division which was heavily engaged in combat in Italy and southern France .