Known as the “Big Red One” because of its distinctive shoulder patch-a red numeral on an olive-drab shield-the division was constituted on May 24, 1917, as the First Expeditionary Division. Only four of the divisions were based in the continental United States the other two were based in the Hawaiian and Philippine islands.Īmong the former was the 1st Division. In contrast, the United States Army had just under 200,000 men parceled into five under-strength and ill-equipped infantry divisions and one cavalry division. Poland, weak by comparison, fielded 30 infantry divisions, 11 cavalry brigades, and two motorized brigades. Germany, for example, invaded Poland with more than 1.5 million men organized into five armies comprising six armored divisions, eight motorized divisions, and 27 infantry divisions. It was a good thing-the nation was wholly unprepared to fight a large-scale war. The outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, found the United States in an isolationist mood that precluded, for the time being, any direct involvement in the conflict.
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