Notional or Real?

[Taldozer]

Is anyone familiar with the WWII US Army 19th Infantry Division (re-designated 109th Infantry Division), 112th and 125th Infantry Divisions? I am curious what the SSI look like. If they are notional units were SSI ever produced? I did some Google searches and referenced some of my books with no luck.

 

[tredhed2]

While there were a number of divisions, incl inf, abn, and amored that were ghost, or phantom units w/ insignia, the 109th 112th and 125th were none of them. If you go to the Forum reference section, (all the way to the bottom of the home page) go to Army divisions and search. There is some, although minimal, info.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/26-divisions/

[Taldozer]

Thank you! I am new and still sifting through the forum.

[Teamski]

While there were a number of divisions, incl inf, abn, and amored that were ghost, or phantom units w/ insignia, the 109th 112th and 125th were none of them. If you go to the Forum reference section, (all the way to the bottom of the home page) go to Army divisions and search. There is some, although minimal, info.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/26-divisions/

 

 

There were a series of numbers that were allocated for units that were due to be activated but never were. These were not ghost units as mentioned, but were units that the army never got to activate before the war ended. These units even had their regiments assigned and, of course, those regiments were never activated as well. There was a chart showing these divisions and their assigned regiments but that might take some digging to find. It is out there, though.

 

-Ski

[Teamski]

From Wikipedia (note that it isn't footnoted):

 

"This relatively low number (compared to the high estimates) was partially due to the army's policy of assigning many combat units, particularly artillery and tank destroyer units, directly to corps and higher-level commands. These non-divisional units numbered approximately 1.5 million soldiers, enough personnel to man roughly 100 more divisions. The strategic philosophy was that such units could be assigned to divisions on an as-needed basis, and would allow divisions to remain as mobile and flexible as possible. By the end of 1943, U.S. Army strength stood at more than 70 divisions.

Allied gains in 1942 and 1943 resulted in a further contraction of U.S. mobilization, and the last wartime division, the 65th Infantry Division, was activated on 16 August 1943. In all, 91 divisions served in the U.S. Army in World War II. When the decision was made to halt the increase in divisions, 12 more divisions were still on the rolls, but would not be organized, though several of these would be organized following the war. They were the 15th Airborne Division, the 18th, 21st and 22nd Armored Divisions, the 19th Armored Division, which was in fact activated following the war, the 61st, 62nd, 67th, 68th, 72nd, 73rd, and 74th Infantry Divisions, and the 105th and 107th Infantry Divisions, which were intended to be Negro formations.

Unique among the 14 unorganized divisions, the 15th Airborne Division was not only a victim of the decision to set the size of the Army at 89 divisions (the 2nd Cavalry Division had been deactivated during the war and the Philippine Division was destroyed as a result of the Japanese victory in the Philippines), but also because it had become evident that the Army Air Forces lacked enough transport aircraft to support a sixth airborne division. The 13th Airborne Division never saw combat for this very reason.

The 105th and 107th Infantry Divisions were to join the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions as Negro divisions. A shortage of manpower resulted in the activation of the 105th and 107th being canceled in 1942."