Size of American Armies

What was the size of a typical American Army? Did it depend on if the army was in Europe? How many divisions or corps?

Also can someone list the amount of Armies America created during World War II.

Thanks
SK85

 

Army = 3 corps, with 3 divisions each plus extra unattached battallions and HQ/ logistics groups

other than airborne divisions, each division has a minimum of 10,000 men

the 29th infantry (Va /Md national guard ) was 'over stuffed' on D-Day,

so for D-Day it had 25+ /- thousand men, it could have been 29 thousand

Including extra attached tank and ranger battalions

At the end of the war 12.5 Americans were in the military, plus Coasties and Merchant marines


In WWII the USA had lots (more than others) of unattached units, not in a division..

Like the "red ball express" transport battallions


The US 100th Infantry Division in WWII - ... out of an authorized strength of 13688 officers and enlisted men,


http://www.100thww2.org/100wund.html



(more or less all from memory)

 

Thanks for that info. How meny soldiers were usually in an Army?

 

Since an army is made up of 3+ corps which is made up of 3+ divisions plus some additional attached units a reasonable estimate for an army can be anywhere from 150,00 to 300,000 plus men.

 

Cool. Good info guys, really interesting. Ty for posting it.

Tomba

 

Composition of armies (and corps) changed constantly, although the model was three corps of three divisions (two infantry and one armored).
There were four US Armies in North West Europe in 1944-45, First, Third, Seventh and Ninth organized in two Army Groups, the 12th and 6th.


Corps & Divisions of US Third Army on 28 March, 1945:

Third Army (XXXX)
VIII Corps (XXX)
76th Infantry Division (XX)
87th Infantry Division
89th Infantry Division
4th Armored Division
XII Corps
26th Inf Div
71st Inf Div
90th Inf Div
6th Arm Div
XX Corps
5th Inf Div
65th Inf Div
80th Inf Div
11th Arm Div

Base establishment of an infantry division was 14,253 men.
Base establishment of a (light) armored division was 10,937 men. Neither of the heavy divisions (2nd and 3rd; 14,620 men) served in Third Army. Airborne divisions had 12,979 men (and frequently had a fourth regiment attached).

The 100th Inf Div link is great!
An infantry division in the attack usually had attachments of a GHQ tank battalion. Infantry and armored divisions normally had a Tank Destroyer battalion (SP or towed) and an Anti-aircraft battalion (SP or mobile-towed) attached. Chemical mortar battalions were frequently split into companies (12 tubes) and assigned to the divisions. Combat Engineer battalions could be attached at any level. Heavy (90mm) AA Bns and Service engineer battalions would be attached at the army level. Third Army was usually supported by XIX Tactical Air Command.

 

That is actually quite a small army. :lol:

 

yes, but that .5 guy was really tough

I think he left out the "million" part.
I have read numbers ranging from 12 million to 16 million Americans in uniform by the end of the war..hard to pin down definite numbers. It may be that the 16 million figure included those who had been in uniform but were now discharged, wounded or dead.

 

well it was

superman,

bat man,

robin,

the fantastic four,

clint eastwood,

john wayne,

spiderman,

captain marvel,

wonder dog


and a really bitchy half done transvestite from Las Vegas..

LOL

 

"We'll send them all we've got, John Wayne and Randolph Scott..." :lol:

Actually I hadn't ever heard of any ideal composition of armies and corps in the US army (or any other for that matter), because in practice it was an ever-changing thing. During the Ardennes Offensive, 10th Corps (1st, then 3rd US Army) counted up to 8 divisions IIRC.

 

Which is why I said 3+ rather than assign a particular number. It can vary quite a bit.

 

yep,

I just said three, times three just becuase it was a minimum plus independent units.

Like it has been pointed out, an infantry divison was 14, 000 men and the 29th had 25k+/- for D-Day.

3X3X25+ independent units

200k minimum

Just being conervative with the numbers...

 

The 21 Army Group had 30 full-strength divisions, 11 each in the Second British and Ninth U.S. Armies and 8 in the First Canadian Army, providing Montgomery with more than 1,250,000 men.


http://www.world-war-2-history.com/campaigns-page/4/4/

 

It wasn't an ideal, it was the model used for planning and training. As you correctly point out the actual composition varied widely and from day to day. In the Pacific Corps frquently ahd two (or less!) divisions. But the triangular model was the base.