The Organization of Ground Combat Troops (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Organization of Ground Combat Troops

With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in September 1939, the War Department, already alerted by the activities of the Axis in Europe and the Far East, intensified its preparations for the possibility of war. Through the winter of 1939 - 40 Great Britain and France held the line of the Rhine, and the Ameri can public found it difficult to see the danger. In April and May the dam broke. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France were overrun by the German armies, and in June Italy declared war. With the Axis in control of western Europe Great Britain faced immediate invasion. The threat to the security of the United States could no longer be disregarded, and public opinion rallied to the support of extraordinary measures to meet it. Mobilization and intensive training began during the early summer of 1940 on the basis of agencies and plans which had been elaborated within the framework of the National Defense Act of 1920.

One of the first steps toward mobilization, taken 26 July 1940, was the activa tion of a nucleus of General Headquarters. 1 To understand this measure it is necessary to have in mind the organization of the military establishment in 1940 and the general plan of mobilization then in effect.

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