Corps area

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For the century preceding the passage of the National Defense Act of 1920 (or the 1920 amendment to the 1916 National Defense Act), the U.S. Army was geographically divided into series of "departments" and smaller areas named "divisions." Departments and divisions were numbered from after the War of 1812 to just before the Civil War. Before the War of 1812 and from the Civil War until 1920, they were typically designated by geographical names; i.e. Department of the East or Department of the Missouri and subordinate units were called divisions or districts.

With the passage of the 1920 legislation, nine corps areas were established by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff through General Order 50, War Department on August 20, 1920. The corps areas were formed for administration, training, and tactical control of the army, replacing the six geographical (or territorial) military departments into which the continental United States had been divided since 1917. Three overseas commands: the Hawaii, Panama Canal, and the Philippine Department continued to be identified as departments.

The 1920 act was a realization the mobilization of a citizen army could no longer meet the defense needs of the United States and for the first time placed an emphasis on peacetime preparedness. Yet with its passage, Congress never fully funded the program, but it recognized the value of a professional officer education program, enhancing existing general service schools such as the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and establishing new ones to meet more modern military demands like the Army War College and the Army Industrial College; along with 31 special service schools that provided training in the various branches.

The act also established the division as a basic army unit, replacing the pre-World War I notion of the regiment in war planning. The legislation also envisioned extending planning and mobilization organizations into the corps, division and army level. Each corps area was allocated six infantry divisions: one Regular Army division, two National Guard divisions and three of a newly established, but rarely funded Army Reserve. By 1927, in the face of steady Congressional budget cutting, the army only had three divisions nationwide, the rest organized only on paper.

By October 1933, organization at the army level was initiated, at least on paper. An army area generally included three corps areas, and in the early years was concurrently staffed and headquartered with one of the corps. For example U.S. First Army headquarters staff was also the Second Corps headquarters staff based in New York City on Governors Island at Fort Jay.

First Army Area included:

First Corps Area replaced the Northeastern Department and was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, encompassing Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.

Second Corps Area replaced the Eastern Department, headquartered at Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York City and encompassed New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Puerto Rico.

Third Corps Area headquartered at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland and included Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. From 1921 to 1927, Washington, D.C. was withdrawn from III Corps Area and established as the District of Washington.

Second Army Area included:

Fourth Corps Area, headquartered Fort McPherson in Atlanta Georgia, replaced the Southeastern Department based in Charleston, South Carolina and encompassed the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Fifth Corps Area was variously headquartered at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana and Fort Hays in Columbus, Ohio and encompassed Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

Sixth Corps Area was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, then Fort Sheridan, Illinois and covered the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois.

Third Army Area included:

Seventh Corps Area was headquartered at Fort Crook in Omaha, Nebraska and included Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.

Eighth Corps Area, variously headquartered in Dallas and Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas, replaced the Southern Department and included Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

Ninth Corps Area, headquartered at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, replaced the Western Department and included Alaska, Idaho, Montana, California, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.

The Civilian Conservation Corps were organized roughly along army corps area boundaries since most of the logistical support for this 1930s Great Depression-era emergency work program was provided by the U.S. Army.

On October 3, 1940, the War Department transferred tactical command functions to General Headquarters, U.S. Army. After the start of World War II, the army level organizations took to training or the field as combat commands and the corps areas were designated as service commands to serve as the Army's supply system, and perform administration, and "housekeeping" functions within the United States in support of the war effort. In 1946, service commands areas were abolished, replaced by army level organizations that were originally hinted at in the 1920 amendment. These six "Army Areas" roughly followed along the old corps areas boundaries. Seventh and Eighth Armies were outside the continental United States. This organizational scheme served into the 1970's and 1980s.

[edit] References

Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.