1913 British vs. American Army

January 1913	GB	USA	Ratio
Calvary	20,000	15,000	1.33
Field Artillery	29,000	5,000	5.80
Coastal (Garrison) Artillery	18,000	19,000	0.95
Engineers	10,000	2,000	5.00
Infantry	150,000	33,000	4.55
Colonial Troops	9,000	5,000	1.80
Staff Departments & misc	18,000	19,000	0.95
Total personnel	254,000	98,000	2.59
Calvary Regiments	38	15
Infantry Regiments	148	30
Artillery (field) batteries	160	36
Coastal Artillery Companies	98	100

April 1917 - The Incredible Backwardness of the US Army

I doubt any Army was more unprepared for a major war, then the US Army in April 1917. It not only was small, its technological backwardness (due to lack of funding) was astounding. At the start of the war, it lacked the following:

• No Steel helmets, Grenades, or Mortars.
• No Tanks
• No Combat Aircraft. The "Air service" had 35 officers, 1,000 enlisted men and two airfields.
• No mobile Anti-Aircraft Artillery
• No Gas masks or Poison Gas.
• No Automatic Rifles
• No US made Light machine guns or Heavy machine guns
• No Heavy Artillery (largest field gun was the 6 inch Howitzer)
• No adequate Light machine gun ( US army had only 800 light machine guns, all unreliable Hoctchkiss M 1909 or obsolete Colt 1895)

Lack of Training and Organization
Unlike the US army in 1939, the 1917 army was not set up to rapidly expand upon mobilization. In 1939, the Regular Army had 10 under-strength Divisions, all "overstaffed" with officers and NCO's, so only reservists/recruits were required to fill out the lower ranks.

In  April 1917, the 133,000 man Regular Army lacked a single organized Division. Instead it was scattered all over the world and USA in small detachments (37 Infantry Regiments and 17 Calvary Regiments):

Location
Continental US and Alaska - 96,000
Philippines - 18,000 (includes 6,000 Filipino Scouts)
Hawaii - 10,000
Panama/Puerto Rico - 7,500
China/Other - 1,500
Total - 133,000

In addition, only 55,000 of the 133,000 soldiers were in the Infantry/Field Artillery. An astounding 18,000 were in the US Calvary. Another 21,000 Coastal Artillery men were manning forts in the USA/Overseas The rest were Engineers, Staff Departments, Medical, and Recruits.

Note: of the approximately 6,000 officers in April 1917, 16% were on "detached duty" most of them either in Training, or as instructors for the National Guard or Colleges and Universities.

Infantry and Machine Guns
The Infantry were organized into regiments/brigades. Each Regiment of three battalions (about 1,200 men) was authorized 1 machine gun company with 6 each 1909 Hotchkiss Light Machine Guns. We also had 320 Maxim-Vickers (1904)  heavy machine guns in inventory. In April 1917, the US Army was still stuck back in the world of August 1914, with lots of Rifles and 2 Machine guns per battalion. Note: In addition the USA had some 300 Lewis Guns that were held in reserve for the National Guard, however these guns did not use the Standard USA cartridge.  The Maxim-Vickers could use the USA cartridge since these machine guns had been re-chambered.

Trucks
In April 1917, the US Army had 2,400 trucks of all types. In October 1918, the A.E.F. truck requirement was 55,000.

Total Artillery in April 1917
4.7 inch guns - 60 pieces
6 inch Howitzer - 42 pieces
3 inch Gun - 533 pieces.

Artillery was organized in to 9 Artillery Regiments, each commanded by Colonel, with 6 batteries of 6 guns each. While these artillery pieces weren't obsolete, they were inferior to their French/British Counterparts and not used in France. Using the 1914 B.E.F standard, the US had enough artillery to equip approximately 7 divisions (assuming a few guns held in reserve)

US Divisions and Losses in Philippines

LUZON:

• 1 Cav - KIA 650 - Engaged in Battle of Manila
• 6th Infantry - KIA 795 - Shimbu Line
• 11 Airborne - KIA 427 -Engaged in Battle of Manila
• 24th Infantry (Part) - Bataan.
• 25th Infantry - KIA 1,124 - Northern Luzon
• 32nd Infantry - KIA 924 - Northern Luzon
• 33rd Infantry - KIA 452- Northern Luzon
• 37th Infantry - KIA 830 - Engaged in Battle of Manila
• 38th Infantry - KIA 564 - Shimbu Line
• 43rd Infantry - KIA 996 - Shimbu Line
• 40th Infantry -KIA 466 - Advance on Manila
• Corps/Army - KIA 500
• 158 RCT KIA 226
• 503rd Parachute - KIA 183
• 34th RCT - 103 KIA

Total 8,390 KIA

Leyte to Dec 25th 1944 -

From POA:

• 7th Infantry - 550 KIA -Later sent Okinawa
• 77th Infantry- 600 KIA -Later sent Okinawa
• 96th Infantry - 500 -Later sent Okinawa

SWPA

• 32nd Infantry- 450 KIA -Later sent to Luzon
• 24th Infantry -544 KIA-Later sent to Luzon
• 1st Calvary - 200 KIA-Later sent to Luzon
• 11th Airborne - 158 KIA - Later sent to Luzon

Total 3,000 KIA

Southern Philippines:

• 24th Division - Mindanao
• 40th Division - Panay and Los Negros
• 41st Division- Mindanao
• Americal Division
• 31st Division - Mindanao

Total 2,000 KIA

Blacks In WW II

US. Navy - June 1945
Total Blacks - 165,000 (Stewards/Cooks 75,000)
Total Navy - 3,315,000

US Marine Corps - June 1945
Total Blacks - 19,000
Total Marine Corps - 485,000

Of the approximately 19,000 blacks, 13,000 served overseas. 2,500 served in two Marine Defense Battalions, the remainder in Combat Support companies and as Cooks/Stewards.

US Army & Air Corps - June 1945
Total Blacks - 694,000
Total Army and Air Corps - 8,266,373

Total men in Combat units 2.8 million of whom 150,000 were black. There numbers are approximate but blacks were in the following units that saw combat:

Total 89 Divisions - 2 Black (92nd and 93rd)
Total 73 Tank Destroyer Battalions - 3 Black (827th, 679th,614th)
Total 65 Separate Tank Battalions - 3 Black (758th, 761st, 784th)
Total 326 Separate Artillery Battalions - 9 Black
Total 40 Separate Infantry Regiments - 3 Black

US Army By Mission - March 31 1945

Army Air Corps - 2.3 million
Army Ground Forces - 3.2 million
Service Forces - 1.6 million
Training - .2 million
Overhead - .2 million
Misc. -.3 million

Total 7.8 million

Of the 3.2 million men in AGF, 2.1 million were in combat units, 500 thousand were in training and overhead, and 600 thousand were in service support.

US Army by Rank - June 1945

Note: Includes Air Corps

General of the Army - 4 (Marshall, Eisenhower, Arnold, MacArthur)
General - 13
Lt. General - 50
Major General - 392
Brig. General - 1,060
Colonel - 10,721
Lt. Col. - 29,077
Major - 70,000
Captain -198,000
Lt. -525,000

Master and 1st Sargent - 112,000
T.S. Sargent -215,000
Staff Sargent -612,000
Sargent - 1,051,000
Private and Corporals - 5,250,000

US Infantry Battalion - Table of equipment - 1944

The Infantry Battalion, circa 1943 to 1945

Battalion Headquarters (4 Officers)

Headquarters Company (5 Officers, 117 men), comprised of;

Company HQ (2 Officers, 24 men)

Battalion HQ Section (13 men)

Communications Platoon (1 Officer, 22 men)

Ammunition & Pioneer Platoon (1 Officer, 26 men)

Antitank Platoon (1 Officer, 32 men)

Heavy Weapons Company (8 Officers, 158 men), comprised of;

Company HQ (2 Officers, 32 men)

Two Machine Gun Platoons, each (1 Officer, 35 men)

Mortar Platoon (4 Officers, 56 men)

Three Rifle Companies (6 Officers, 187 men), each comprised of;

Company HQ (2 Officers, 33 men)

Weapons Platoon comprised of;

Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 5 men)

Mortar Section (17 men)

Machine Gun Section (12 men)

Three Rifle Platoons, each comprised of;

Platoon HQ (1 Officer, 4 men)

Three Rifle Squads, each comprised of 12 men

Total Strength of 871 all ranks (35 Officers and 836 men)

The elements of the Battalion

Battalion Headquarters - Battalion commander (Lieutenant Colonel), Executive Officer (Major), Adjutant (Captain) and Intelligence Officer (Lieutenant)

Company HQ - the HQ of the HQ Company provided the various cooks, supply men and specialists required to keep the Battalion functioning.

Battalion Headquarters Section - provided scouts and drivers to the Officers at Battalion HQ.

Communications Platoon - maintained radio, wire and telephone communication between the Battalion and higher and parallel formations.

Ammunition & Pioneer Platoon - the A & P Platoon provided a pool of men who could undertake all manner of manual tasks, including hauling ammunition to forward positions, sometimes under enemy fire. It was commanded by a 2^nd Lieutenant with a Sergeant and driver for the Platoon truck, which mounted a .50 cal heavy machine gun. Each of its three eight man squads was led by a Corporal, promoted to Sergeant in 1944. The four NCOs carried rifles, all others carbines, and the Platoon carried two Bazookas for antitank defence.

Antitank Platoon - 3 x 57-mm antitank Gun. Each 57mm crewed by ten men with rifles and a truck to transport crew, guns and ammunition.

Heavy Weapons Company HQ - this unit provided similar command and administrative facilities as that of the Rifle Companies and HQ Company, and added a .50 cal HMG mounted on its 3/4 ton Weapons Carrier.

Machine Gun Platoon - 8 x .30 cal Browning M1917 heavy machine guns plus two Bazookas.

Mortar Platoon - 6 x 81-mm weapons, paired up into three Sections, each commanded by a Lieutenant.

The Rifle Company - each with a Weapons Platoon and three Rifle Platoons.

The Rifle Squad - 1 Staff Sergeant and 1 Sergeant with an assault group of seven men, two of whom were designated as scouts, and 1 BAR rifleman, his assistant and an ammunition bearer. In practice the squad would have as many as 3 BAR's.

Rifle Platoon HQ - ¹ Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants (one Platoon Leader, the other Platoon Guide) & 2 runners. One man with the M1903A4 Springfield sniper rifle.

The Weapons Platoon - Mortar section - 3 x 60-mm weapon. The light machine gun section 2 X M1919 Browning machine guns.

Company HQ was split between the usual command and administrative functions. The commander was a Captain, a 1^st Lieutenant serving as his Executive Officer. Included were 17 men used as replacements and fillers.

The Rifle Company had five Bazookas for immediate antitank defence.