2nd Cavalry Division (United States)
Encyclopedia

Heraldry

SHOULDER SLEEVE INSIGNIA
  • Description: On a yellow Norman shield with a green border, a blue chevron below two eight-pointed blue stars.

  • Blazon: Or, a chevron azure, in chief 2 mullets of eight points of the second, a bordure vert.

  • Symbolism: The shield is yellow, the Cavalry color. The stars (representing spur rowells) are taken from the coat of arms
    Coat of arms
    A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

     of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which had initially been a part of the division.

  • Worn from 20 August 1921 – 10 May 1944

Organization (1921–1942)

On 20 August 1921, as a result of lessons learned from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Adjutant General
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...

 constituted the 1st and 2nd Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 Division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

s to meet future mobilization requirements. As organized, 2nd Cavalry Division was to be an integrated division.

Units assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division included:
  • US 2nd Signal Troop
  • US 2nd Antitank Troop
  • US 2nd Medical Squadron
  • US 9th Engineer Squadron (Motorized)
  • US 17th Quartermaster Squadron
  • US 24th Ordnance Company (Medium Maintenance)
  • US 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron
  • US 3rd Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)
  • US 16th Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)

  • US 3rd Cavalry Brigade : 15 October 1940 (Redesignated the US 9th Armored Division Train on 15 July 1942.)
    • US 2nd Cavalry Regiment : 15 August 1927 (Transferred on 15 July 1942 to 9th Armor Division), reorganized as 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in 1943).
    • US 14th Cavalry Regiment : 1 April 1941 (Transferred on 15 July 1942 to 9th Armor Division), reorganized as 14th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in 1943).

  • US 4th Cavalry Brigade : 21 February 1941 (Deactivated on 23 March 1944)
    • US 9th Cavalry Regiment : 10 October 1940
    • US 10th Cavalry Regiment : 24 March 1923 (Transferred to 3rd Cavalry Division
      3rd Cavalry Division (United States)
      The United States Army's 3rd Cavalry Division was created from the perceived need for additional cavalry units in the interwar period.The 3rd Cavalry Division was largely a "paper" formation existing from 1927 to 1940. Its units were never assembled in a single location. The 3rd Cavalry Division...

       on 15 August 1927. Transferred to 2nd Cavalry Division on 10 October 1940.

Organization (1943–1944)

Division headquarters reactivated on 25 February 1943 at Fort Clark
Fort Clark, Texas
Fort Clark was a frontier fort that later became the headquarters for the 2nd Cavalry Division.-Founding:The land that became Fort Clark was owned by Samuel A. Maverick at the time its potential for military development was recognized by William H.C. Whiting and William F. Smith in 1849...

. Mobilized for deployment to North Africa 12 January 1944. Inactivated in Oran, Algeria on 9 March 1944. Components used to create service and labor units.

Support Units
  • 35th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) (Colored)
  • 162nd Engineer Squadron (Colored)
  • 3rd Medical Squadron (Colored)
  • 2nd Cavalry Division Military Police Platoon (Colored)
  • 20th Cavalry Quartermaster Squadron (Colored)
  • 114th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company (Colored)

  • US 4th Cavalry Brigade : 21 February 1941 (Deactivated on 23 March 1944)
    • US 10th Cavalry Regiment : 24 March 1923 (Transferred to 3rd Cavalry Division
      3rd Cavalry Division (United States)
      The United States Army's 3rd Cavalry Division was created from the perceived need for additional cavalry units in the interwar period.The 3rd Cavalry Division was largely a "paper" formation existing from 1927 to 1940. Its units were never assembled in a single location. The 3rd Cavalry Division...

       on 15 August 1927. Returned to 2nd Cavalry Division on 10 October 1940.
    • US 28th Cavalry
      28th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
      The 28th Cavalry Regiment was a short-lived African-American unit of the United States Army. The 28th Cavalry was the last horse-mounted cavalry regiment formed by the U.S. Army...

       : Activated at Fort Lockett on 25 February 1943.

  • US 5th Cavalry Brigade : 25 February 1943
    • US 9th Cavalry Regiment : Assigned 10 October 1940.
    • US 27th Cavalry
      27th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
      The 27th Cavalry Regiment was a short-lived African-American unit of the United States Army. The regiment was formed as part of the 2nd Cavalry Division in 1943 and inactivated in north Africa in 1944 without seeing combat.-History:...

       : Activated 25 February 1943

  • 2nd Cavalry Division Artillery (Colored)
    • 77th Field Artillery Battalion (Colored) (75mm)
    • 78th Field Artillery Battalion (Colored) (75mm)

Organization (1944)

  • 3rd Signal Troop: Converted into a signal construction company.

  • 4th Cavalry Brigade (Colored): Converted into the 6495th Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion, Provisional (Colored); later converted into the 1553rd Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion (Colored).
    • 10th Cavalry Regiment (Horse) (Colored): Converted into the 6486th Engineer Construction Battalion, Provisional (Colored) on 20 March 1944; later converted into the 1334th Engineer Construction Battalion (Colored) on 29 March 1944.
    • 27th Cavalry Regiment (Horse) (Colored): Converted into the 6404th Port Battalion on 31 March 1944.

  • 5th Cavalry Brigade (Colored): Converted into the 6400th Ordnance Ammunition Battalion (Provisional) on 12 June 1944.
    • 9th Cavalry (Colored): Broken up and personnel reassigned to various service units on 7 March 1944.
    • 28th Cavalry Regiment (Horse) (Colored): Converted into the 6487th Engineer Construction Battalion, Provisional (Colored) on 31 March 1944; later converted into the 134th Quartermaster Battalion (Mobile) (Colored).

World War II Narrative

Placed on the rolls of the Army in 1921, the 2nd Cavalry Division was not activated until April 1941. As part of the Protective Mobilization Plan, the division was reserved for activation at Fort Riley, Kansas, but due to manpower constraints it never reached full strength. The 2nd received the appropriate number of cavalry regiments, but units providing the organic support and service troops remained unfilled. The first divisional activations came in October 1940, with the organization of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade and the assignment of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and 14th Cavalry Regiment. The 4th Cavalry Brigade
4th Cavalry Brigade (United States)
The 4th Cavalry Brigade is an AC/RC unit based at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The unit is responsible for training selected United States Army Reserve & National Guard units that are based East of the Mississippi River. The brigade was originally formed as an element of the 2nd Cavalry Division but was...

 activated during February 1941 with the 9th Cavalry Regiment and 10th Cavalry Regiment as its cavalry regiments. These last two regiments, the only two available for assignment, were black units. The division, therefore, was unique to Army structure at that time, a racially mixed unit.

Split between Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

 and Camp Funston, Kansas, neither post having adequate facilities for the division's horse cavalry, personnel shortages continued and divisional elements were activated using provisional assets. General Milliken, the 2nd Cavalry Division commander in June 1941, envisioned a combined use of mechanized and horse cavalry within the division. During July, Troop A, 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron, was formed provisionally as a mechanized divisional element. The division, now organized with horses, scout cars, jeeps and motorcycles, spent most of the rest of the summer training with its new equipment.

The 2nd Cavalry Division participated in the Second Army Maneuvers of late August as a component of the Red Forces facing the VII Corps' Blue Army. Given the task of capturing Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, the 2nd's mission ended on 9 September with divisional elements at Chatham
Chatham, Louisiana
Chatham is a town in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 623 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.Southwest of Chatham is Caney Lake and the Jimmie Davis State Park.'-Geography:...

, Louisiana. During the next week the division became part of a second training operation. This time the division served with the Second Army's Red Force, now challenging the Third Army's Blue Force. Second Army's first goal was to defeat and remove the Blue Forces from southern Louisiana, and then to keep the enemy from capturing Shreveport. At the close of these maneuvers the 2nd Cavalry Division returned to Kansas, having prevailed with Blue Forces still forty miles from the city.

By 2 November possessed a number of its organic support troops, although most were still functioning in a provisional status. The end of the month found the division involved in another set of training maneuvers. The operation, "PRACTICE BLITZKRIEG", was based in Kansas and finished with the 2nd Cavalry Division's capture of Topeka. The exercise ended when the divisional military police unit seized the governor who feigned a surrender of the state.

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 triggered fears of assaults on the west coast and invasion threats from south of the border. A new emphasis was placed on the continent's western defenses and the division deployed its 3rd Brigade to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. General Coulter, the brigade commander, was also given command of the Southern Land Frontier Sector of the Western Defense Command. Under him the 2nd Cavalry, stationed at Phoenix, and the 14th Cavalry at Tucson, patrolled the Mexican Border for the next seven months. Meanwhile the 4th Cavalry Brigade, still at Camp Funston, continuing an endless cycle of training. Constantly called on to provide cadre for new units, the 9th and 10th Cavalry routinely lost veteran personnel and received untrained recruits.

During the spring of 1942 a War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...

 decision to increase the number of armored divisions within the United States Army resulted in the planned conversion of the 2nd Cavalry Division. White troops in the 3rd Brigade were used in the formation of the 9th Armored Division. The 2nd and 14th Cavalry were inactivated and their personnel transferred into the newly formed 2nd and 14th Armored Regiments, both elements of the new armored division. On 15 July 1942 the 2nd Cavalry Division was inactivated. The 4th Cavalry Brigade with its black regiments, however, remained active.

The activation of the 9th Armored Division created logistical problems at Fort Riley and Camp Funston. The installations that had accommodated a single division were now home to a division and an additional cavalry brigade. Consequently, the 4th Cavalry Brigade Headquarters and the 10th Cavalry, relocated to Camp Lockett
Camp Lockett
Camp Lockett was a United States Army military base located in Campo, California, east of San Diego, and north of the Mexican border. Camp Lockett has historical connections to the Buffalo Soldiers due to the 10th and 28th Cavalry Regiments having being garrisoned there during World War II. It was...

, California. The 9th Cavalry, although still assigned to the brigade, moved to Fort Clark
Fort Clark, Texas
Fort Clark was a frontier fort that later became the headquarters for the 2nd Cavalry Division.-Founding:The land that became Fort Clark was owned by Samuel A. Maverick at the time its potential for military development was recognized by William H.C. Whiting and William F. Smith in 1849...

, Texas.

As the number of black personnel entering the Army rose, the need for negro units for these soldiers to join also increased. In November 1942 the War Department directed that the 2nd Cavalry Division would be reactivated, and that two new black regiments would be assigned. It was also announced that the 2nd, now the Army's third black division, would remain divided between Texas and California. Construction was started at both posts since neither had the facilities to support an entire division. The work completed, the 2nd Cavalry Division activated on 25 February 1943 with Headquarters at Fort Clark. The 9th and 27th Cavalry, active at the Texas post, were the assigned troops of the 5th Cavalry Brigade. The 10th and 28th Cavalry, located at Camp Lockett, made up the 4th Cavalry Brigade.

Filled using recruits straight from the induction centers, the 2nd Division spent most of the spring and summer of 1943 training its soldiers. The division provided these men with their basic training as well as instruction in Cavalry operations. The divisional training as a whole, however, would not be tested. Stating that there was no intrinsic need for a second cavalry division, the War Department had devised a plan to use the 2nd Cavalry Division personnel to form needed service units. Black community leaders, reacting against the criticism of the performance of negroes in combat units, protested the possible conversion of the division. The debate over the capabilities of black units continued but the decision concerning the status of the 2nd Cavalry Division was already made. The War Department ordered the division to be shipped overseas where the conversion would take place. During January 1944 the 2nd Cavalry Division was dismounted and shipped back east for deployment abroad. Arriving at Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...

, North Africa on 9 March 1944, the division was inactivated the next day.

The division was never engaged in combat and was instead assigned to construct airfields for the Tuskegee Airmen
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps....

 in North Africa and perform garrison and supply duties there. The division also provided replacement troops for the all-black 92nd Infantry Division which was heavily engaged in combat in Italy and southern France.

Commanders

  • Brigadier General
    Brigadier General
    Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

     Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr.
    Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr.
    Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr. was a division-level United States Army officer during World War II. Allen was a decorated World War I veteran who commanded the First Infantry Division in North Africa and Sicily during 1942-43...

    : 1 April 1941 – May 1941
  • Brigadier General John Millikin: June 1941 – April 1942
  • Brigadier General John B. Coulter
    John B. Coulter
    John Breitling Coulter was a Lieutenant General in the United States Army. Coulter served during World Wars I and II and the Korean War.-Early life:Coulter was born on April 27, 1891 in San Antonio, Texas...

    : May 1942 – 15 July 1942
  • Major General
    Major General
    Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

     Harry H. Johnson
    Harry H. Johnson
    Harry Hubbard Johnson was born in Glenflora, Texas, six miles from his later hometown of Eagle Lake, Texas. He was the only son of Harry Stafford Johnson and Annie Bell Hubbard .His mother Annie died in 1908 when he...

    : 25 February 1943 – 10 May 1944.

External links

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