TOE for U.S. 1st Cavalry Division World War II

[Pruitt]

They may seem well equipped with crew served weapons but check the TOE and see if there are any BAR's at Squad level or 30 caliber crew served weapons at Platoon or Company level.

Pruitt

[tigersqn]

Originally Posted by 101combatvet

They do seem to be top heavy on .30 and .50 caliber machineguns.

From the Wiki site provided above, after the re-organization in 1941.

"The number of .50-caliber machine guns was increased almost threefold"

[17thfabn]

"They may seem well equipped with crew served weapons but check the TOE and see if there are any BAR's at Squad level or 30 caliber crew served weapons at Platoon or Company level. "

Pruitt

Originally Posted by tigersqn

From the Wiki site provided above, after the re-organization in 1941.

"The number of .50-caliber machine guns was increased almost threefold"

Many of those machine guns both .30 and .50 cal would be with support units mounted on vehicles.

For instance most of the trucks towing artillery would have .50 cal on ring mounts. A typical artillery battalion would have 21 .50 cal machine guns. A typical engineer battallion would have 18 .30 cal water cooled and 12 .50 cal machine guns.

[Dark Wing]

I tracked down the Operation Olympic TO&E for the 1st Cavalry Division (Special) in Gordon Rottman's Osprey book "World War II US Cavalry Units: Pacific Theater."

Amazon link here:

http://www.amazon.com/World-War-II-C.../dp/1846034515

The 1st Cavalry had two brigades each of two regiments.

Each Regiment had two squadrons (battalion equivalent) that in turns had three troops (company equivalent).

Roughly, the Cavalry lacked between 1/2 and 2/3 of the crew served heavy weapons of an equivalent US Army Infantry unit. This showed up in their manpower numbers at equivalent units of organization.

From Page 13 of Rottman's book:

Cavalry ------------------Infantry
Squad - 8 men -------- Squad - 12 men
Platoon - 32 ----------- Platoon 41
Troop - 165 ------------ Company - 193
Squadron - 521 -------- Battalion - 894
Regiment - 1726 ------ Regiment 3207

The 1st Cavalry Division started off the war with lighter 75mm
howitzers in two of it's four direct support artillery battalions with
no general support guns. The idea being in 1941-43 that a 75mm and a 105mm battalion supported each brigade.

In 1942 the Reconnaissance squadron was split into an independent light (later medium) tank company (the 603rd independent tank co.) and a mechanized cavalry troop [302nd Reconnaissance Troop (Mech)].

For the Leyte campaign one of the 75mm gun battalions got 105mm guns and in the the Luzon campaign the second 75mm howitzer battalion got 105mm guns. A 155mm howitzer battalion was attached for the Luzon campaign. The sources I have looked at are conflict on if that 155mm Btn became an organic unit for the Operation Olympic.

Pages 14 and 57 of Rottman's book tell the tale regards the 1st
Cavalry Division's Operation Olympic force structure.

Each Cavalry Regiment would get both of it's squadrons rebuilt to the US infantry TO&E with the Squadron Weapon Troop getting turned from an eight heavy machine gun (M1917A1 .30 Cal), machine gun company into an six 105 mm cannon company. These companies would have M7 Priest SPMs.

There would be no regimental anti-tank company like an infantry
regiment and the Cavalry regiment's support units would be 2/3 the size of an infantry regiment, in keeping with one fewer
squadron/battalion equivalent.

Going into the invasion beaches of Kyushu, the 1st Cavalry would be short one infantry battalion (8 vs 9), three anti-tank companies (with either 36xM-18 SPM or 27x75mm RR short depending on the Division) and possibly a 155mm (how) Btn compared to a regular line infantry division.

On the other hand, it would have an organic medium tank company (18 M4A3 Sherman), an additional Cannon Company (6 X M7 SPM) and four 105mm artillery battalions rather than the standard infantry division with three.

What Rottman also mentions, and I had not heard before -- was that the 112th Cavalry Regimental Combat team was being reorganized in the same manner as the 1st Cavalry's regiments and was to be attached to the 1st Cavalry, giving the re-enforced 1st Cavalry Division ten squadrons/battalions of cavalry troopers, a medium tank company, 5xCannon Companies, 5x105mm artillery battalions and (possibly) a 155mm artillery battalion.

See also this link

http://www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_02/

on the 1st Cav's "Sioux Code Talkers --

"During the fall of 1943, more changes came to the Division. On 11 October, the firepower of the Division was improved by the activation of the 271st Field Artillery. In the reorganization of 04 December, weapons troops "D" and "H" were added to each of the regiments. The 7th Reconnaissance Squadron was reorganized into the 603rd Light Tank Company and the 302nd Reconnaissance Troop (Mech). The 302nd had a specific Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) which incorporated
a unique radio unit with troops of Lakota and Dakota Indian Tribes who used their ancient tribal Sioux language to communicate with other divisional headquarters troops. This secret organization, formed in the foothills of Australia and later to be known as "The Code Talkers" was recruited at the direction of General MacArthur. The close-knit group of individuals, Phillip Stoney LeBlanc, Edmund St. John, Baptiste Pumkinseed, Eddie Eagle Boy, Guy Rondell, and John Bear King took their task seriously. They saved many American lives using their language as an unbreakable code to fool the Japanese throughout the subsequent Island Campaigns."

This is the link for the attached PNG for the 1st Cavalry's Operation Olympic Force structure --

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Structure.png

[Pruitt]

Glad to hear about the Dakota Talkers. I have heard of Navajo and Comanche Code Talkers as well. I imagine if the Army could group enough Native Americans together they would use them as code talkers. I wonder what the 45th Infantry Division used? They had access to Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona (Bill Maudlin was an Arizona Guardsman).

Pruitt

[17thfabn]

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

I

Pages 14 and 57 of Rottman's book tell the tale regards the 1st
Cavalry Division's Operation Olympic force structure.


What Rottman also mentions, and I had not heard before -- was that the 112th Cavalry Regimental Combat team was being reorganized in the same manner as the 1st Cavalry's regiments and was to be attached to the 1st Cavalry, giving the re-enforced 1st Cavalry Division ten squadrons/battalions of cavalry troopers, a medium tank company, 5xCannon Companies, 5x105mm artillery battalions and (possibly) a 155mm artillery battalion.

See also this link

http://www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_02/


This is the link for the attached PNG for the 1st Cavalry's Operation Olympic Force structure --

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Structure.png

The 112th Regimental Combat team had been assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division for the Phillipine Campaign. That was the Texas National Guard unit I was trying to remember. It made sense for the 112th Regimental Combat team to stay with the 1st Cavalry Division. It had a structure that the 1st Cavalry Division understood best. The two units were very familiar with each other having fought in the Philippines together.

[Gary Kennedy]

I looked into the Cavalry unit changes a while back, but found nothing concrete. The below is to the thread on another forum, which included links to a number of sites -

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=220598

The confusion seems to be that there were dedicated Cav Div T/Os issued in 1942 and again in Sep 1944 (accessible via the CGSC link posted earlier), however units in the field had already recognised these were insufficient for their needs and were making changes.

I can't remember know if I'd convinced myself that a Cav Rifle Tp was the same as a standard Rifle Coy, or whether it was a reinforced version of the authorised Cav Rifle Tp T/O. The Cav Regts were based on a Regtl Weapons Tp supporting two Cav Sqns (Bns) each of a small HQ and three Cav Rifle Tps (Coys), which if memory serves were less than 100 all ranks.

Turning all those Cav Tps into Rifle Coys proper (193 all ranks), and adding Bn Weaps (either a standard Hvy Wps Coy, or a copy of the Regtl Wps Tp) required an awful lot of new personnel.

Hopefully the links are still active and may shed some light.

Gary

[17thfabn]

Part of the problem I think is that the TOE was fairly fluid.

There was the early war TOE. The TOE they first went into battle with in 1945. I could see that there was probably proposals to beef the unit up for a possible invasion of Japan.

On top of that there were probably periods where the paper TOE said one thing but the units were still organized differently.

[Dark Wing]

This source in the UK seems to be the last word in US Cavalry Division organization --

ABOUT OUR COMPANY

We are an independent publisher specialising in military history books and we are based in the United Kingdom. Our new Military memoir book publishing service is becoming very popular with ex-service men and women wanting to write their memoirs either for close friends and family or even to make avaiable to buy through the likes of Amazon.
Our publications cover a wide range of military subjects, including: The British Army, Enigma, Ultra, Signals Intelligence, the French Army, the United States Army, the German Army and U-Boats, Far Eastern Campaigns, Insurgency and Counter Insurgency (including Afghanistan), and Indian Military History.

This is the link to their US Military to&E page"

http://militarybookpublishing.org.uk...20History.html

And this is what I found there --

Volume 4 : The Cavalry Division : Part 1 :
Cavalry Division, Division Headquarters, Division Headquarters Troop, Reconnaissance Squadron & Troops. Tables of symbols, equipment silhouettes, abbreviations index, staff organization, supply system, communications & engineer equipment.
295x210mm x + 128 pages + vi pages. 120 tables & illustrated diagrams.
ISBN 978- 85420-264-5 Hardback Edition £32.99
ISBN 978-0-85420-269-0 Softback Edition £19.99



Volume 4 : The Cavalry Division : Part II :
Cavalry Brigade, Brigade Headquarters Troop, Cavalry Regiment & Troops, Cavalry Squadron & Troops. Cavalry Regiment(Infantry). Medical Squadron, Ordinance Troop. Tables of symbols, equipment silhouettes, abbreviations index, staff organization, supply system, communications & engineer equipment 295x210mm x +139 + vi pages, 125 tables & illustrated diagrams.
ISBN 978-0-85420-274-4 Hardback Edition £32.99
ISBN 978-0-85420-279-9 Softback Edition £19.99



Volume 4 : The Cavalry Division : Part III :
Division Artillery, Field Artillery Battalions 105mm Howitzer, Field Artillery Battalions 75mm Howitzer, Quartermaster Squadron Tables of symbols, equipment silhouettes, abbreviations index, staff organization, supply system, communications & engineer equipment.
295x210mm ix + 139 + vi Pages. 124 tables and illustrated diagrams.
ISBN 978-0-85420-284-3 Hardback Edition £32.99