Paramilitary: July 28, 2004

Archives

The United States National Guard deactivated its last armored division, the 49th, and replaced it with the reactivated 36th Infantry division. The 49th Armored division was in Texas. The 49th never saw combat, and was organized after World War II as a way to make the National Guard useful if the Cold War got hot. The 36th Infantry division, however, goes back to World War I, where it was created in 1918. The division saw extensive action during World War II. As part of the south France invasion force, the 36th suffered 2,503 killed and missing during 226 days of combat (between August 15, 1944 and the end of the war.) The 36th remained a National Guard division until 1968, when it was deactivated. In 2005, a brigade of the 36th Infantry Division will go to Iraq. Thats a very different war, where divisions suffer maybe a dozen combat dead per month. During World War II, the 36th Infantry division suffered an average of 336 combat deaths a month. 


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close