LTC Keith E. Bonn mentioned in his book, “When the Odds Were Even”,  the 70th ID was an erratically trained outfit. That is absolutely true. We were erratically trained. I was the Asst Division G-3 for nine months during our year of training and I helped draw up the programs for it. I can tell you, we were erratically trained. In spite of this we did in combat what we we were supposed to do.  That we were erratically trained is not our fault. The bad part is that because of this incomplete training, we took too many casualties. It’s like training a football team where you teach them their positions and the plays, but never let them go out on the field for a practice game. You can’t expect them  to show up at their first game against live opposition and play like professionals. That is what happened to us. It wasn’t our fault; it wasn’t anyone’s fault. The U. S. Army took more casualties than anyone expected in Europe, in Africa and in the Pacific. As a result, it was short of people and had to throw us in there. To show you that our situation was impacted by major events leading up to our commitment in Europe, first  we’ll look at  the Army Mobilization Plan, beginning with a short snapshot of the WW I-WW II inter-war period--in other words, where we started from; then a quick look at our WW II Army 52 week Mobilization Plan for new divisions. Then I’ll show you how divisions were built, what we did, what training we did have, and what training we did not have. I’ll show you that we were to go to Seventh Army in Europe, finish our training  that was not completed in the States, and then be committed in the final offensive in the spring of 1945.  But as you know, we were not used that way. Because of the Bulge and Nordwind, more Infantry troops were very badly needed, and we were rushed off to Europe despite the fact that  a significant portion of our training was incomplete.  With that as introduction, we’ll start with  the Army Mobilization Plan for WW II.

Between WW I and WW II, you may recall, the Kellogg Briand Pact was signed  in  which nations pledged never to use  force again. At that time, everything was great. All our enemies were destroyed, the stock market was going through the ceiling, and everything was wonderful in America. And everyone forgot about the military. Doesn’t that remind you of today? Then, you remember what happened: the stock market crashed in ‘29, a worldwide depression followed,  Mussolini attacked in  Africa, Japan invaded Manchuria, Hitler began to rearm. All that only a few years after the halcyon times  of the mid  20’s.  Keep in mind what can happen to us in only a few years down the road. You always have to be prepared for the worst.

Now to mobilization planning for WW II: At the time, we had had nine divisions in the U.S. Army. They weren’t really divisions. The Infantry companies were 90 men each, with one officer. Infantry battalions were commanded by a major and had a 2d lieutenant, usually just out of West Point,  who was the adjutant and detachment commander. The entire battalion staff was made up of sergeants. That was the peacetime Army. Then we had the draft in 1940.  The Army had the Mobilization Plan laid out.

Phase 1 was building up the nine Regular Army divisions. At that time I went to my first regiment. All the draftees came in and the companies went up to 215 men. We took them down to the warehouses and opened up the uniform boxes. Some boxes had long handle underwear that was older than I was.  Others had hobnailed boots, wrap leggings, three quarter length overcoats made out of blankets. The Army came up to wartime strength.

Phase 2 was calling up the  National Guard divisions, which ran from the 25th to the 45th with some in between missing. They were called to active duty in the fall of 1940. The Regular Army moved out to tents in the snow so the National Guard could move into the barracks.  In the meantime with the National Guard called up, my division, which  had the 1st, 20th and 3rd regiments, was tasked to send  one regiment   to Newfoundland. We had to take the draftees out, as they couldn’t be sent overseas. They stripped the regular soldiers out of the other two regiments to fill up the regiment bound for Newfoundland. Then they took another regiment from my division, stripped out the draftees, refilled it with regular army soldiers and sent it to Alaska, then refilled the division with draftees. So you can see how the units were watered down in experience. In addition, they went through the NCOs; most first sergeants with good records were made lieutenants and captains and sent to the Provost Marshall Corps so they could start giving these young draftees some law and order. They pulled still others out for the training base to support the divisions. You can see how we lost experienced people from the divisions.

Phase 3 was calling up the reserve divisions. These divisions ran from the 46th to the 106th with a few in between missing and they were basically cadre only. They had  few officers and the senior officers they had were old and fat, and couldn’t fit into their uniforms. However, there were thousands of lieutenants from ROTC units of land grant colleges. The cadre for reserve divisions also had to come from the Regular Army. Key officers for the National Guard and Reserve divisions attended a one month course before reporting to their new assignment. At their new units, they organized and conducted the orientation courses for the key officers and non-commissioned officers  of their subordinate units. This is how we went from 9 to 90 plus divisions.

Our training was to be done in accordance with the training portion of the MTP, so 172 of the division senior officers were given a one month course. When the division was to be activated, they went to the post where the new division was to be activated and conducted. A minimal cadre there assisted in training of key positions in the battalions and companies. All headquarters and staff positions were filled and planning for the training of draftee fillers was done. When the draftees arrived, basic and advanced unit (infantry, artillery, signal, medical, etc) was begun. This training was restarted several times because of draw downs and refills to the units of the division. In this regard, by the time we left Fort Wood for Europe, 73.9 % had received only 5-10 weeks of training with the division and 26% had received  from 0-5 weeks of training with the division. Most of that training was basic and advanced individual training.  The maneuver and combined arms training that the division was to take for the final weeks before deployment to a combat theater was eliminated, except for 9 days of field training conducted in September at Fort Wood. Even this training was  changed so that  instead of free movement that would provide realistic training to commanders and staffs,  the action was of the set-piece variety where everyone knew ahead of time just what was to happen and when. You can see why I use the word erratic to describe our training.

During the  summer of 1944, we were running short of divisions. Ike and General Marshall decided to call up the 70th, the 63rd, and 42nd Infantry divisions for deployment to Europe even though none had completed programmed training. We were supposed to be employed in the rear of Seventh Army so we could complete our training. As you remember, when we landed the Bulge happened. So they stripped riflemen from us to fill the divisions in the Bulge that had been heavily pounded. Then we found from the super secret Ultra,  that the Nordwind offensive was coming. The Germans were to come from Bitche and Strasbourg to pinch off VI Corps in the Vosges. The American forces  did not have enough troops to  stop the Germans, so it was first decided to use these nine new regiments on the Rhine River in defensive positions for additional training. Then our commanders  got the word that the Germans were pouring south from Bitche. They hit an American cavalry screen which consisted of a cavalry group and an armored infantry battalion. It disintegrated. They had to use something and Task Force Herren and the other six new regiments were all that were available. All the plans for completion of our  training were wiped out. The 274(-) and 276 were moved to the Moder River in Corps reserve in time for the 6th SS to hit them and you know what happened.  Second Battalion 274 and 276 were on one side of the gap and 274 (-) and 275 were holding the flank.  We freed a lot of American prisoners there, most from the 45th ID. The 45th tries to blame us but we were in the corps reserve line--they got caught in a trap, were captured  and we freed them from captivity at  the church there--in spite of our incomplete training program.

As a result of our incomplete training, we took more casualties than we should have. But they had no one else to put in--like during the Civil War when the Confederacy put in the VMI cadets.  You use whatever you’ve got, and we were there. So that is the bad aspect of our erratic training program. Just what would have happened if they didn’t have those nine regiments and the Germans had broken through? We might have lost part of the VI Corps. From General Marshall at the top on down, they knew the situation and what we did  without that missed training.

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