Order of Battle of the United States Army Ground Forces in World War Ii
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THE COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE LIBRARY Call Number _94QJU U565o Col CGSC Form 164 (Rev) 22 Oct 52 USACGSC—PO-3396—1 Apr 60—5M ORDER OF BATTLE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY GROUND FORCES IN WORLD WAR II PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF MILITARY HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY WASHINGTON, D.C., 1959 OGT 1 196 ORDER QF BATTLE of the UNITED STATES ARM* GROUND FORCES in WORLD WAR II Pacific Theater of Operations Administrative and Logistical Commands, Armies, Corps, and Divisions Office of the Chief of Military History Department of the Army Washington, D.C., 1959 MAY ~ 1961 PREFACE This volume, prepared as a work of reference and an aid to research, is concerned with the organization and disposition of United States Army ground forces that opposed the Japanese during World War II. The area covered includes Alaska, the islands of the central and South Pacific, Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Okinawa, China, Burma, and India« The period covered is 7 December l<?4l, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbor, through 15 August 19^5, the date of cessation of hostilities in the Pacific. Unless otherwise indicated, local time has been used. With a few exceptions, only major units are included, that is, units commanded by a major general or officer of higher rank. Exceptions made were in the case of garrison forces, island commands, and similar units in order to provide a complete organizational picture in a given area. Political, strategical, tactical, logistical, geographical, and personal factors which may have influenced a commander in organizing his headquarters or employing his troops in a particular way have been omitted as being outside the province of this book. Similarly, evaluation of the performance of any individual, command organization, or method will have to be sought in the appropriate volume in the series UNITED STATES AEMI IN WORLD WAR II. Although much material was available, the researcher was often limited in his effort by the lack of some necessary data. Whenever documentation was lacking, assumptions based on experience and general documentation were made and noted as such. production of this volume has been a co-operative venture. Preliminary work on the record of events of the various commands was begun under Maj. Charles P. Byers, the first chief of the Order of Battle Branch. His successor, Maj. Felix Kampschroer, was responsible for the research and compilation of the volume in its original form. Capt. Jasper R. Johnson, Major Kampschroer1s successor, was responsible for revising the manuscript and readying it for the editorial and publication processes. For whatever errors and ommissions the volume may contain, these three officers share responsibility. iii The various records of events as here published were prepared by Captain Johnson and Mrs. Louise S. Milburn, who was a member of the Order of Battle Branch from its inception. Others who did research and writing in the Record of Events Section, Order of Battle Branch, for varying periods of time were Mr. Eugene L. Flynn, Mr. Murray Friedman, Mr. Charles A. Karl, Mr. Loren A. Matthews, and Mr. George R. Barley. In addition to performing research and writing, Dr. A. John Alexander, Dr. Louis A» Persh, Captain Johnson, and Mrs. Milburn, each . serving in turn as Assistant Chief, Order of Battle Branch, reviewed the drafts of the records of events. Mrs. Loretto Carroll Stevens and Mrs. Gay Morenus Hammerman did the final editing of the entire manuscript. The burden of typing the final copy in its present form was shared by Mrs. Elvera May Burch and Mrs. Delores Dobbins Williams. IV EXPLANATION TO THE USER This volume provides information on the following subjects: activations; reorganizations; redesignations; location of units; location of command posts; missions; operations; designations, formation and dissolution of task forces; commanders; assignment of units; attachment of units; and intraservice command relation ships . Part One is devoted to administrative and logistical commands. Each chapter deals with the administrative and logistical commands within one geographical area. The highest administrative command within the area is usually treated first, followed by the subordinate administrative and logistical commands. Each command has a short introduction, followed by a record of events of the headquarters, a list of commanders, a list of the next higher commands to which the command in question was assigned or attached, a brief treatment of the subordinate commands, and a list of the types of documents used in the compilation of the record of events. Part Two is devoted to armies, corps, and divisions. Commands of equal rank are arranged numerically within each chapter. There is a record of events for each command, followed by a list of commanders, a list of the next higher commands to which the command in question was assigned or attached, a list of organic units for each division, and a list of the types of documents used in the compilation of the record of events. The reader will find that the organization of the record of events is basically the same for each command. However, in the case of some commands the mission, organization, or other factors required a slightly different treatment in order to produce a clear picture• The record of events for each army or corps contains a list of units that were designated to participate in a particular operation under that army or corps. Certain units on the list were assigned to the army or corps after the designation date, and their date of actual assignment will be found in the record of events for divisions. If the reader wishes to follow an operation listed under OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC (see Appendix C), he should turn to the record of events of the unit or units listed opposite the name of the operation. By following the cross reference, he can assemble the entire operation. For example, the unit listed opposite RECKLESS Operation is ALAMO Force. The reader can turn to the record of events of ALAMO Force where he will find that I and XI Corps and the 2^th, 32d, *Hst, and 4 3d Divisions participated in the operation. After examining the record of events of these units, the reader will have a picture of the operation. The list of commanders for some units is not complete; nor are the dates of departure and arrival of units always known. However, the reader's attention is called to these omissions. The list of assignments and attachments of commands shows only the next Ldgher headquarters to which the command was assigned or attached. In compiling the data for this volume many problems were encount ered for which a completely satisfactory solution was not found. For example, the terms "regiment" and "regimental combat team" were used interchangeably in source material, that is, a source might show a regimental combat team attached to a division or other unit and show the relief of the combat team as an infantry regiment. On many occasions, one source referring to the attachment of a regiment identified the unit as a regiment and another source identified the unit as a regimental combat team. This volume gives the official effective date of activation as shown in the activation order. Sometimes the effective date and the actual date of the activation of a unit conflicted. There were instances when the physical organization of the unit actually began several days or weeks prior to the official effective date and others in which the organization began several days or weeks after the official effective date of activation. Occasionally the orders which set up a provisional or overhead unit would err in using the terms "activate" or "constitute"; some orders used such terms as "formed," "established," or "organized." In each case the term and effective date is given as stated in the order. In some instances locating units exactly was rendered most difficult by the failure of many sources to distinguish between the island group and the principal island of the group, both of which might bear the same name. For example, the principal island of the New Georgia group is New Georgia; that of the Palau group, Balau. Whenever the source was ambiguous, every effort was made VI to determine on which island of the group a unit was located. At times the researcher suspected that some of the sources consulted referred to islands near New Guinea as New Guinea • This suspicion could not always be confirmed; consequently, some units may be shown as having been on New Guinea when they were actually on one of the near islands. While some general orders showed that an officer was assuming command temporarily in the absence of the permanent commander many general orders did not. Therefore, all lists of commanders include temporary and permanent commanders, with no distinction made between the two. The terms "assignment" and "attachment" as shown in the source material presented a problem. Most attachments were for operational control; some attachments were for administration, supply, or other purposes. In this volume the term "attachment" is used to indicate operational control primarily. The term "assignment" indicates administrative and operational control, unless a unit was attached to another command while administrative control remained with the command to which the unit was assigned. Often it was difficult to determine the exact date on which a mission was assigned to a unit. Many times a mission was given orally and later confirmed by a field order. The date the verbal order was given is not always known. Whenever possible the date that a verbal order or warning order was received is shown in the record of events.