Here's How America Became a Military Superpower during World War II
Warfare History Network
History,
The size of the U.S. military exploded in World War II, as army numbers alone soared from 174,000 to over 11 million.
During World War II about 16,000,000 personnel served in the U.S. Military: approximately 11,200,000 in the Army, 4,200,000 in the Navy, and 660,000 in the Marine Corps.
On 1 July 1939, the strength of the active Army was approximately 174,000, three quarters of whom were scattered throughout the continental United States; the rest stationed overseas.
The Regular Army was supplemented by the National Guard, which had just 200,000 men. The Guard organization had only come into being in 1933. An Organized Reserve, which existed for the purpose of supporting mobilization, contained a pool of over 100,000 trained officers, mainly graduates of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
State of Emergency
On 8 September 1939, President Roosevelt declared a limited national emergency, raising the strength of the Regular Army to 227,000. Then, with the growing war in Europe, the US Government approved the Selective Service Act in September 1940. This authorized the Army’s strength to be increased to 1.4 million men—500,000 Regulars, 270,000 Guardsmen, and 630,000 Selectees.
In March 1942, the Army was re-organized into three forces: the Army Ground Forces (AGF), Army Air Forces (AAF), and the Army Service Forces (ASF),the latter included the corps of engineers, quartermaster corps, medical corps, signal corps, chemical warfare service, ordnance department, and the military police corps.
Growing the Air Force
In 1941, the Army Air Corps had just 152,125 personnel. The AAF grew to a peak of over 2.4 million personnel and approximately 80,000 aircraft in 1944.
The US Army would eventually mobilize 91 divisions as compared to 120 for the Japanese, 313 German, 50 Commonwealth, and 550 Russian divisions. However, unlike some countries, the American divisions would be maintained near full strength throughout the war.
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