Lex Anteinternet: The 1st Division in World War One.

Friday, July 6, 2018

The 1st Division in World War One.

I've oddly, I suppose, posted on the 2nd Division and the 3d Division, but not the 1st Division. We seek to correct that omission here.

Rather obviously, the 1st Division was one of the very first U.S. Army divisions to be formed as the United States sought to build an Army to send to France. Like the 2nd and the 3d, it was a Regular Army division made up of units of the standing U.S. Army.

The 1st Division is the oldest continually serving division on the U.S. Army. Most sources will indicate that the division was formed on May 24, 1917, just after the American declaration of war, but like the 2nd Division and the 3d Division, it has a Civil War antecedent and a case can be made that the 1st Division first existing during that conflict. At any rate, it's been serving continually as the 1st Division ever since May 24, 1917 and its seen action in every major American conflict since that time. It's arguably the most famous U.S. division, although that could be contested I suppose. It's the only US division to have its nickname, The Big Red One, used for the title of a movie, which says something.

The 1sts was the first U.S. division to fire an artillery mission during World War one and the first to sustain casualties. It was also the first to launch an offensive operation, Cantigny.

It's make up was typical for an American "square division" for the war:

Headquarters, 1st Division
1st Infantry Brigade
- 16th Infantry Regiment
- 18th Infantry Regiment
- 2nd Machine Gun Battalion
2nd Infantry Brigade
- 26th Infantry Regiment
- 28th Infantry Regiment
- 3rd Machine Gun Battalion
1st Field Artillery Brigade
- 5th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm)
- 6th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
- 7th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm)
- 1st Trench Mortar Battery
1st Machine Gun Battalion
1st Engineer Regiment
2nd Field Signal Battalion
Headquarters Troop, 1st Division
1st Train Headquarters and Military Police
- 1st Ammunition Train
- 1st Supply Train
- 1st Engineer Train
- 1st Sanitary Train
  - 2nd, 3rd, 12th, and 13th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

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