Service outside of France (1917-1923)
Service outside of France (1917-1923)
Battalion: An Organizational Study of United States Infantry
The estate of the late John Sayen has graciously given the Tactical Notebook permission to serialize his study of the organizational evolution of American infantry battalions. The author’s preface and the previous section of this book may be found via the following links:
Apart from the war in Europe, the principal military concern of the Wilson administration during 1917-18 was the protection of resources and installations considered vital to the war effort. The threat of German sabotage in the United States was taken very seriously. In addition, Mexico was still unstable politically and sporadic border clashes continued to occur into 1919. Mexican oil was also regarded as an essential resource and the troops stationed on the Mexican border were prepared to invade in order to keep it flowing. However, all the National Guard, National Army, and even the Regular Army regiments raised for wartime only were reserved for duty with the AEF. (The National Army 332nd and 339th Regiments did deploy to Italy and North Russia, respectively, but both remained under AEF command.) This left non-AEF assignments in the hands of the pre-war Regular Army regiments.
Out of 38 Regular infantry regiments available in 1917, 25 were on guard duty within the Continental United States or on the Mexican Border and 13 garrisoned U.S. possessions overseas. Local defense forces raised in Hawaii and the Philippines eventually freed the pre-war regiments stationed in those places for duty elsewhere. By the end of the war the 15th Infantry in China, the 33rd and 65th (Puerto Rican) Infantry in the Canal Zone, and the 27th and 31st Infantry (both under the AEF tables) in Siberia were the only non-AEF regiments still overseas. Inside the United States state militia (non-National Guard) units and 48 newly raised battalions of “United States Guards” (recruited from men physically disqualified for overseas service) had freed 20 regiments from stateside guard duties, but not in time for any of them to fight in France.
Only twelve pre-war regiments actually saw combat in the AEF. Nine of them served with the early-arriving 1st, 2nd, and 3rd AEF Divisions. The other three were with the late arriving 5th and 7th Divisions. One more reached France with the 8th Division, but only days ahead of the Armistice. By this time, the Regular Army regiments had long ago been stripped of most of their pre-war men to provide cadre for new units. They were refilled with so many draftees that their makeup scarcely differed from those of the National Army.[1]
The situation with the Marines was similar to that of the Regular Army. Most Marine regiments had to perform security and colonial policing duties that kept them away from the “real” war in France. Also like the Army, the Marines made Herculean efforts to accommodate a flood of recruits, acquiring training bases at Quantico Virginia and Parris Island South Carolina, as their existing facilities became too crowded. The Second Regiment (First Provisional Brigade) continued to police Haiti while the Third and Fourth Regiments (Second Provisional Brigade) did the same for the Dominican Republic. The First Regiment remained at Philadelphia as the core of the Advance Base Force (ABF) but its role soon became little more than that of a caretaker of ABF equipment.
Although there was little danger from the German High Seas Fleet ABF units might still be needed in the Caribbean to help secure the Panama Canal and a few other critical points against potential attacks by German surface raiders or heavily armed “U-cruisers.” Political unrest was endangering both the Cuban sugar crop and Mexican oil. To address such concerns, the Marines raised the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Regiments as infantry units in August, October, and November 1917, respectively. The Seventh, with eight companies went to Guantanamo, Cuba, to protect American sugar interests. The Ninth Regiment (nine companies) and the headquarters of the Third Provisional Brigade followed. The Eighth Regiment with 10 companies, meanwhile, went to Fort Crockett near Galveston, Texas to be available to seize the Mexican oil fields with an amphibious landing, should the situation in Mexico get out of hand.
Three other rifle companies (possibly the ones missing from the Seventh and Ninth Regiments) occupied the Virgin Islands against possible raids by German submarines. In August 1918, the Seventh and Ninth Regiments expanded to 10 companies each. The situation in Cuba having subsided, the Marine garrison there was reduced to just the Seventh Regiment. The Ninth Regiment and the Third Brigade headquarters joined the Eighth at Fort Crockett.[2]
A contemporary description of the Eighth Regiment (see Appendix 2.7) details its enlisted strength but only gives its total number of officers. However, officer ranks and duties are not difficult to deduce. A typical infantry unit of the period and organized in the pre-war style, the regiment had three three-company battalions plus a separate automatic rifle company. Each company was allowed only 100 men rather than 150.
The regimental headquarters detachment would have to function as both supply and headquarters company. To perform its supply company functions the detachment could only furnish a small quartermaster staff that would have to improvise (usually by hiring it) whatever transportation the regiment might require. In its headquarters company capacity, the detachment would support the regimental staff and furnish each battalion staff with a sergeant major, quartermaster sergeant, and a few privates. All staffs were very small. Rifle companies could have fielded up to ten rifle squads each.
The machinegun (or automatic rifle) company was also a 100-man company and thus larger and more capable than its Army 1917 counterpart. It included a reconnaissance officer and it would have been armed with the ill-fated M1909 Benet-Mercie in most cases. There were probably eight machinegun squads (led by corporals) forming two platoons with four squads, two sergeants, a corporal (for signals), and a corporal (technical) range finder operator in each. A sergeant (technical) would operate the company range finder.[3]
Further ABF expansion occurred in 1918. In January, a separate field artillery battalion assembled in 1917 and armed with M1902 3-inch field guns became the Tenth Regiment. It remained at Quantico, having been rejected for AEF service even after its subsequent rearming with 7-inch naval rifles. The Eleventh Regiment was formed at the same time as an ABF mobile defense regiment. It was later converted to infantry and sent to France with the Fifth Brigade. Meanwhile, a Twelfth Regiment emerged from a cadre of the First Regiment to man a consignment of 16 British-type 8-inch howitzers. Like the Tenth Regiment, this unit was also rejected for AEF service.[4]
In October 1918 with even the possibility of German cruiser raids on American possessions growing ever more remote, the First Regiment reorganized itself as infantry. Together with the newly organized Second Machinegun Battalion, it united with the Seventh Regiment at Guantanamo to form the Sixth Provisional Brigade. As an infantry unit, the First Regiment manned an automatic rifle company and seven to nine rifle companies. It also had a signal company, probably intended for use by a brigade headquarters. The Second Machinegun Battalion had a small headquarters and three companies, each identical to the automatic rifle company shown with the Eighth Regiment, above. It is likely that there was also a First Machinegun Battalion, organized similarly to the Second Battalion and either kept at Quantico or else sent out to the Third Brigade in Cuba or Texas.[5]
After the Armistice in November 1918, surplus manpower at Quantico was organized into the Fourteenth and Fifteenth regiments. Both were created against the possibility of a renewal of hostilities against Germany. The Fourteenth, which included many recently recalled veterans, replaced the Tenth Regiment as the ABF’s light artillery unit. It had nine officers and 53 men in its headquarters. Its three battalions totaled nine companies; each similar to the automatic rifle company of the Eighth Marines but armed with four M1902 3-inch field guns or 3-inch naval guns rather than eight machineguns. However these companies could also serve as infantry.
The Fifteenth appears to have been similarly organized and equipped but it included many draftees. The Secretary of the Navy had suspended voluntary recruiting for the Marines on 8 August 1918 (just as it had been suspended for the Army). The resulting draftees proved to be of dramatically inferior quality to the volunteers. They might have presented a serious problem had the war continued. As it was, the Fourteenth deactivated in June 1919 while the Fifteenth served in the Second Provisional Brigade in the Dominican Republic as an infantry unit. While there, its efficiency gradually improved.[6]
Editor’s Note: The format of the many appendices to this work fit poorly with Substack. For that reason, I have placed them on a PDF file that can be found at Military Learning Library, a website that I maintain.
[1] Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War op cit pp. 310-314 and 1372-1379. A battalion of United States Guards was allowed 31 officers and 600 men. These units were recruited mainly from draftees physically disqualified for overseas service. The 27th and 31st Infantry when sent to Siberia were configured as AEF regiments, though they were never part of the AEF. Large numbers of men had to be drafted out of the 8th Division to build these two regiments up to AEF strength. This seriously disrupted the 8th Division’s organization.
[2] Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War op cit pp. 1372-78; Truman R. Strobridge, A Brief History of the Ninth Marines (Washington DC, Historical Division HQ US Marine Corps; revised version 1967) pp. 1-2; James S. Santelli, A Brief History of the Eighth Marines (Washington DC, Historical Division HQ US Marine Corps; 1976) pp. 1-3; and James S. Santelli, A Brief History of the Seventh Marines (Washington DC, Historical Division HQ US Marine Corps; 1980) pp. 1-5.
[3] Record Group (RG) 127 Entry 18 Box 345 Ellsdran File 2385-30 Memo for the Quartermaster 8 November 1917 (description of the Eighth Regiment) plus an undated strength summary, US National Archives Washington DC.
[4] McClellan op cit pp. 62-67; ”Report of the Secretary of War” for fiscal year 1925-26 (Washington DC. US Government Printing Office 1926) p 210; Record Group 127 Entry 18 Box 345 Ellsdran file 2385-30 “Organization of the (Marine) Heavy Artillery Regiment” 18 March 1918, US National Archives Washington DC; Buckner Tenth Marines op cit pp. 16-20; 2nd Lt Robert Emmet USMCR, A Brief History of the Eleventh Marines (Washington DC, Historical Div HQ US Marine Corps; revised version 1968) pp. 1-2; and Heinl op cit pp. 221-223.
[5] RG 127 Entry 18 Box 345 Ellsdran file 2385-30, a letter (undated but probably October 1918) from the Major General Commandant to Major Julian Smith USMC orders Smith’s Second Machinegun Battalion to “temporary foreign expeditionary service” and describes its composition. In the same file is another letter dated 29 October 1918 ordering the First Regiment to convert to infantry for foreign service. The 2nd Machine Gun Battalion headquarters would have included a major, an adjutant (lieutenant), a quartermaster (lieutenant), a warrant officer (“Marine gunner” ordnance specialist), a sergeant major, a quartermaster sergeant, and 11 other enlisted, including a corporal (commissary).
[6] LtCol Ronald J. Brown, A Brief History of the 14th Marines (Washington DC, Historical & Museums Div HQMC 1990) pp. 1-3; and Capt Stephen M. Fuller USMCR and Graham A. Cosmas, Marines in the Dominican Republic 1916-1924 (Washington DC, Historical & Museums Div HQMC 1974) pp. 28-33.