The Pittsburgh Press (September 16, 1946)
U.S. wartime armed force shrinks to 2,300,000 men
Army, Navy scheduled for further cuts from 12 million size of Sept. 1, 1945
WASHINGTON (UP) – The United States today, just a little better than a year since Japan’s surrender, has 2,300,000 men under arms.
The gigantic war machine which helped crush Germany and beat Japan is now down to about a sixth of its peak fighting strength. And it is going to shrink some more during the next nine months.
On September 1, 1945, the United States had approximately 12,100,000 men in uniform. By June 30 next, the armed forces are slated to drop to around 1,615,200 and to stay close to that level unless Congress decides on an increase or directs a further decrease. The armed forces are counting on maintaining trained reserves of several million men.
Efficiency low
Top-flight Army and Navy officers said today the combat efficiency of our fighting forces was at a low ebb. But they indicated they were not particularly worried.
For one thing, they said, this was expected in the transition from war to peace. When the shakedown is completed, they added, there will be left a firm foundation for building a small, but well-trained, modern fighting force. This will be the “hard core” Army and Navy around which any future wartime expansion could be built.
Despite the comparatively small size of the new peacetime armed forces, they still are considerably larger than before the war, when the Army and Navy together mustered less than 450,000 men.
Atom bomb cited
Furthermore there is the atom bomb to consider in assessing our present strength.
The top personnel officers in the Army and Navy – Maj. Gen. W. S. Paul and Vice Adm. Louis E. Denfeld – said they feel the combat efficiency of both services soon will begin showing an improvement.
“Our peacetime Navy,” said Adm. Denfeld, “will be a good Navy. We have good ships and we’re getting better men. It’s true that our recruits are not all battle-scarred but they are generally of a higher type than we got during the war.”
“We’re striving for an efficient Army,” said Gen. Paul. “Right now we are trying to eliminate the deadwood.”
This is the picture presented by the armed forces – past, present and future:
ARMY: Present strength is about 1,600,000, of which 120,000 men are non-effectives – those on terminal leave, sick in hospitals and unable to return to duty or being processed for discharge.
Ground forces constitute 14 divisions – 10 infantry, one armored, one cavalry, two airborne and a constabulary force composed of leftovers from three disbanded armored divisions.
A year ago, the Army had a strength of 8,026,000 and 86 divisions, 66 of them infantry.
By June 30 next, Army’s manpower is scheduled to fall to 1,070,000.
Most of the existing divisions are below full strength. For instance, the 82nd Airborne Division is down to almost 5,000 men. Even among these cut-down divisions there is a 40 percent shortage of company officers.
400,000 in Air Forces
Air Forces strength is now down to 400,000 from a wartime peak of 2,411,294, and it is organized into 70 air groups. This strength is to be maintained. Combat efficient is low because of rapid demobilization which broke up air groups and a shortage of technicians.
Latest available figures on aircraft strength showed 36,075 planes of all types on hand May 1. Of these, 19,588 were fighters and bombers. On May 1, 1945, the air forces had 82,936 planes, 40,983 of them bombers and fighters.
NAVY: The Navy had an estimated 598,000 officers and men at the start of this month. This compared with 3,408,000 a year ago. Its demobilization program is completed. It has cut its manpower recruiting down to 1,625 a month for general service and all the acceptable electronics men it can get.
In an immediate emergency, Navy estimates it could call up 20,000 reserve officers and 250,000 additional trained men. At least two of its major fleets – the Seventh in the Far Pacific and the 12th in European waters – are fully manned.
Other ships in the active fleet are manned with about 70 percent of their wartime strength. But this 70 percent constitutes a larger number of men than the 85 percent which manned the pre-war type ships. By March 1, 1947, the Navy’s personnel is expected to drop to 437,000 men.
The fleet strength is difficult to determine because it changes from day to day but it is soon expected to get down to the numbers set for the post-war navy. This will mean an active fleet of 291 combat ships, a reserve fleet of 42 vessels and an inactive fleet of 632 warships. Laat January 1, the fleet had 746 warships in active service.
Naval aviation cut
Naval aviation is getting down close to its proposed peacetime strength. But it is hampered by lack of sufficient technical personnel, especially ground crews. Latest available figures show the Navy had 8,309 combat planes in operation, in replacement pools and in storage. Naval air reached its peak strength in 1944 when it had 26,000 aircraft on all types deployed.
The Marine Corps had 112,564 officers and enlisted personnel on its rolls September 6. This was close to its post-war authorized strength. A year ago, the Marines numbered 486,000.
The Coast Guard, which was part of the Navy but is now back in the Treasury, had 170,000 men in service on V-J Day. Today its strength is down to 19,000.