The 24th Cavalry Division was a cavalry division of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
, mostly drawn from the
National Guards of the Midwest states. It was created after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
from the perceived need for additional cavalry units. It numbered in succession of the Regular Army divisions, which were not all active at its creation. Going into World War II, the
US Army Cavalry Branch contained three Regular Army, four National Guard, and six
Organized Reserve cavalry divisions, as well as one independent cavalry brigade.
Like the other National Guard cavalry divisions, the 24th Cavalry Division was geographically dispersed across the United States. At various points during its existence, the division was composed of, or intended to have been composed of, personnel from the
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
,
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, and
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
National Guards.
History
The 24th Cavalry Division was constituted in the National Guard in 1921 and assigned to the
Third Army. It was reassigned to the
Fourth Army in 1932. The division was not as affected by reorganizations as the other three National Guard cavalry divisions, and was able to organize its headquarters by 1936, three years before the other divisions. Like all National Guard cavalry divisions, a significant impediment to training was the geographical dispersion of the division's units, which made the assembly of units larger than a regiment difficult.
Organization (1940)
The headquarters location of the unit is shown where organized. Two asterisks indicated the unit was allotted, but unorganized or inactive, with the state of headquarters allocation shown.
* Headquarters (
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...
)
* ''Headquarters, Special Troops (
Iowa National Guard
The Iowa National Guard consists of the:
*Iowa Army National Guard and the
* Iowa Air National Guard
The Iowa National Guard headquarters is at Camp Dodge in Johnston, several miles north of the state capital Des Moines. The facility serves do ...
)'' **
** Headquarters Troop (
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
)
** 24th Signal Troop (
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
)
** ''128th Ordnance Company (Medium) (Iowa National Guard)'' **
** ''24th Tank Company (Light) (Not allotted)''
* 57th Cavalry Brigade (
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...
)
** Headquarters Troop (Des Moines, Iowa)
** 113th Cavalry Regiment (Des Moines, Iowa)
** 114th Cavalry Regiment (Topeka, Kansas)
* 58th Cavalry Brigade (
Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...
)
** Headquarters Troop (
Nampa, Idaho)
**
115th Cavalry Regiment (
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne metropolitan statistic ...
)
** 116th Cavalry Regiment (Boise, Idaho)
* 24th Reconnaissance Squadron (
Torrington, Wyoming
Torrington is a city in, and the county seat of, Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,501 at the 2010 census.
It is the home of Eastern Wyoming College, and is the surrounding region's center of commercial activity. Wit ...
)
*
168th Field Artillery Regiment
The 168th Field Artillery Regiment was a Field Artillery Branch regiment of the Army National Guard.
During World War II the unit was configured under the 75th Field Artillery Brigade with the following units-
* 168th Field Artillery (155mm)(Mot ...
(
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
)
* ''128th Engineer Squadron (Colorado National Guard)'' **
* ''124th Medical Squadron (Colorado National Guard)'' **
* ''124th Quartermaster Squadron (Iowa National Guard)'' **
* 120th Observation Squadron (Denver, Colorado)
Disbandment
Pre-war United States Army planning did not contemplate the use of National Guard or Organized Reserve cavalry divisions in wartime. After the disbandment of the National Guard cavalry divisions, former division units either remained intact and separate, were absorbed by other units, were converted to units of other arms, or were disbanded. The 24th Cavalry Division was inactivated on 6 October 1940, and was disbanded on 1 November 1940.
References
*Colorado. National Guard of the State of Colorado: Pictorial 1939 Review. Atlanta: Army-Navy Publishers, 1939. Provided a detachment to the 24th Cavalry Division.
*
U.S. Army Order of Battle 1919–1941, Volume 2. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919–41' by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Steven E. Clay, Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 2011
The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades, by John B. Wilson, Center of Military History, Washington D.C., 1998
*
Cavalry Regiments of the U S Army' by James A. Sawicki Wyvern Pubns; June 1985
External links
*
Formations of the United States Army
24
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