162d Depot Brigade (United States)

The 162d Depot Brigade was a training and receiving formation of the United States Army during World War I.[1]

162d Depot Brigade
Active1917–1919
DisbandedMay 1919
Country United States
BranchArmy
TypeDepot
RoleTraining and receiving
SizeBrigade
Garrison/HQCamp Pike, Arkansas
EngagementsWorld War I

History

Secretary of War Newton Baker authorized Major General Samuel Sturgis to organize the 162d Depot Brigade, an element of the 87th Division (National Army).[2] It was later detached and placed directly under Camp Pike, Arkansas, as an independent unit.[3][4][5] The brigade filled two purposes: one was to train replacements for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF); the other was to act as a receiving unit for men sent to camps by local draft boards.[6][7] Commanded by Brigadier General Benjamin A. Poore beginning in August 1917, during most of 1918 the brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Frederick B. Shaw.[8][9]

Purpose

The role of depot brigades was to receive and organize recruits, provide them with uniforms, equipment and initial military training, and then send them to France to fight on the front lines. The depot brigades also received soldiers returning home at the end of the war and completed their out processing and discharges. Depot brigades were often organized, reorganized, and inactivated as requirements to receive and train troops rose and fell, and later ebbed and flowed during post-war demobilization.[10]

Depot brigades were organized into numbered battalions (1st Battalion, 2d Battalion, etc.), which in turn were organized into numbered companies.[11]

The major U.S. depot brigades organized for World War I, which remained active until after post-war demobilization included: 151st (Camp Devens); 152d (Camp Upton); 153d (Camp Dix); 154th (Camp Meade); 155th (Camp Lee); 156th (Camp Jackson); 157th (Camp Gordon); 158th (Camp Sherman); 159th (Camp Taylor); 160th (Camp Custer); 161st (Camp Grant); 162d (Camp Pike); 163d (Camp Dodge); 164th (Camp Funston); 165th (Camp Travis); 166th (Camp Lewis); and 167th (Camp McClellan).[12]

See also

Notes
  1. Directory of Troops, 1949, p. 1299.
  2. Wilson, 1998, p. 60.
  3. Organizations and Activities of the War Department, 1949, p. 1277.
  4. Territorial Departments, Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918, and Posts, Camps, and Stations, 1949, pp. 843-45
  5. Directory of Troops, 1949, p. 1277.
  6. WD Cir 23, 1918, p. 7.
  7. Wilson, 1998, p. 76n32.
  8. Cullum, George W. (1920). Robinson, Wirt (ed.). Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. Vol. VI–A. Saginaw, MI: Seemann & Peters. pp. 423, 427 – via Google Books.
  9. "Colonel Shaw To Be Transferred". Arkansas Gazette. Little Rock, AR. April 16, 1918. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. U.S. Army Adjutant General, Training Circular No. 23, Training regulations for Depot Brigades, September 1918, Table of Contents
  11. Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co., Memorial to the Employees of the Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. Who Served at Home and Abroad in the Great World War, 1920, pages 42, 47. Harold A. Chalford is listed as a member of 31st Company, 8th Battalion, 152d Depot Brigade. Ernest O. Sandstrom is named as a member of 9th Company, 3d Battalion, 152d Depot Brigade
  12. "List of General Officers and Their Commands". Army and Navy Register. Washington, DC. December 1, 1917. p. 674.

References
  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 1: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-3—Zone of the Interior: Organizations and Activities of the War Department. Wash., DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO:1949].
  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 2: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-4—Zone of the Interior: Territorial Departments, Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918, and Posts, Camps, and Stations. Wash., DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO:1949].
  • Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. Vol. 3, Part 3: Center of Military History Publication No. 23-5—Directory of Troops. Wash., DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army. 1988 [1st. pub. GPO:1949].
  • Wilson, John B. (1998). Center of Military History Publication No. 60-14-1—Maneuver and Firepower: The Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades (Army Lineage Series ed.). Wash., DC: U.S. Dept. of the Army.
  • U.S. War Dept. War Plans Div. A.W.C. (1918). Trng. Circ. No. 23—Training Regulations for Depot Brigades (Report). U.S. War Dept. Document No. 859. Wash., DC: U.S. War Dept.
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