Pentagon Plans to Shrink Army to Pre-World War II Level

[happyslug]

43. This is NOT that big a CUT, for two reasons

Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 06:07 PM - Edit history (2)

First, in 1939 to 1941 the US Army included the then US Air Corp, which was classified as part of the Army. When the US Army Air Force was formed up in 1941, it became a forth branch of the Military but as part of the US Army just like the Marines is an Independent service, but under the Department of the Navy. When the Air Corps became the Air Force, it took with it not only the planes but security and other support elements that had previously been run by the Army. I.e. the Army not only lost the planes, but security around Air Force Bases, supply lines to the Air Bases and other support personnel. At the same time the Air Force remained under technical Army Command (and would remain till 1947, when the Air Force would emerge from the Army as an independent service.

Now the Air Force expanded greatly in the 1920s and 1930s. Congress put more and more money into Air Planes. Thus the Air Service slowly became to big, it first become the Air Corp then the Army Air Force and in 1947 the US Air Force. Thus the Army in 1939 not included US Ground forces, but also US Air Forces. Thus a "Reduction" to US Army size to its Size in 1939, means how large NOT only US Army ground Forces were but also the US Air Corp (Which was already flying the B-17 Flying Fortress by 1939).

Thus this reduction does NOT mean total GROUND FORCES are reduced to what the US Army had in 1939, but the total personal in the US Army in 1939, which also included anything that is now part of the US Air Force.

The Second problem is that in 1939, the US Department of War was the lead Department when it came to actual war planning. The Department of Navy was its equal, but when it came to joint planning that was a US Department of War mission. That Duty was transferred from the Department of War to the Department of Defense in 1947, at the same time the Department of War was renamed the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force was created. The general rule is that 1/6th of the total Defense Budget goes to the Department of Defense to coordinate the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The US Navy gets 1/3 of the Budget, the Air Force gets 1/3 and the US Army gets 1/4. In many ways this reflected the fact that duties done by the Department of War in 1939 was to be done by the Department of Defense after 1947. This is a further removal of personal from the Army of 1939, without actually eliminating them.

Between these two actions, we are talking of a cut in the Army, but not down to what the Army, as the Department of War, was spending in 1939.

Also remember the term "Before WWII" in the US means before December 7th, 1941. In this article they are using 1940. by 1940 the US army was expanding do to what Germany was doing in Poland and later France. By May 1940 the US was building up its Military (For the first time in Peace time the US Army organized itself into Divisions). . The Draft started in May 1941 seven months BEFORE Pearl Harbor. In the above I used 1939, but I suspect the number reflects 1941, as the draft kicked in and as the Army Air Corp became the Army Air Force.

Due to where transportation and housing was located, Maneuvers ended up in Louisiana from 1939 onward (Some indication that FDR forced Louisiana for such maneuvers both to show the people of Louisiana the might of the US Army, rural Louisiana had been the heart of Huey Long's support before his death in 1935 and also to show what financial help FDR could provide the people of Louisiana so they would vote for FDR).

These maneuvers were part of the slow expansion of the US Army during the late 1930s as FDR decided it was time to build up the US military as Japan and Germany both expanded their militaries.