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1 Prelude to World War II
Following Germany’s attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, the U.S. War Department accelerated the training of the National Guard. Annual weekly drills increased from forty-eight to sixty per year, and summer field training was increased from fifteen to twenty-two days. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing an increase in the size of the army. The cycle of field maneuvers was changed so that in the summer of 1940, all of the available army divisions in the First Army area (both regular and National Guard) were able to participate in the maneuvers held at De Kalb Junction, New York (near the Canadian border). One of the first obvious facts observed by the commanders of the participating units was that the National Guard units, in particular, were seriously understrength. The 27th Infantry Division, for example, had only 10,414 personnel, about one-half of the 22,000 authorized personnel. It was clear that these divisions had to be bulked up to full strength before they could become effective forces in the new war that had exploded in Europe.
Under these circumstances, the National Gusrd’s summer camp of 1940 was given high priority. The war in Europe was almost a year old, and it was inevitable that the United States would soon become involved. Large-scale maneuvers and war games between regular army and National Guard units from New York and other states took place August 13–14, 1940. More than 100,000 troops participated, including a mechanized brigade of tanks from Fort Knox, Kentucky, and more than 600 planes of all kinds. It was clear to everyone that something big was up.
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On August 23, 1940, the day before summer training at De Kalb Junction ended, the men were reviewed by President Roosevelt. The 105th Infantry (known as the “Apple-knocker” Regiment) was lined up along the roadway as the president and his entourage sped by in open vehicles. It was brutally hot, and the men were passing out by the score. It was clear to everyone, and certainly the Apple-knockers, that they would shortly be inducted into federal service and would soon be at war.
On September 16, 1940, President Roosevelt signed the Selective Service and Training Act, the first peacetime conscription law in U.S. history, a tacit confirmation that the country would soon be involved in the brutal war in Europe. The act required that all men aged twenty-one to thirty-five years register and, if selected, serve for a training and service period of twelve consecutive months and then serve in one of the reserve forces for ten years or until age forty-five. Moreover, under the act, if Congress declared a national emergency, the president could extend the period of service indefinitely. One month after the signing of the bill, 16 million men were registered for military service. The “selectees,” as they became known, would augment the understrength National Guard divisions about to be mobilized.
On September 25, 1940, the mobilization order was signed inducting the 27th Division into federal service beginning October 15, 1940, for one year of active duty. Under the terms of the mobilization order, all men with dependents were authorized to request honorable discharges. On October 1, 1940, those men in the 105th Infantry Regiment who were not eligible for dependency discharges received notices from their company commanders. They were directed to report to their respective armories in their local communities on October 15 at 0800 for induction. The “Apple-knockers” were going back into active service.
Since World War I, there had been several changes in the structure of the 27th Infantry Division, many of which were significant. The 107th Infantry Regiment (formerly the 7th New York of Civil War fame) was transferred out of the division and redesignated the 207th Coast Artillery. To replace the 107th, the 165th Infantry Regiment (formerly “the Fighting 69th” New York) famous from Civil War and World War I, was assigned to the division. The 165th and the 108th Infantry Regiment from the Syracuse area of New York formed the 54th Infantry Brigade.
In September 1940, the 106th Infantry Regiment from Brooklyn, New York, was redesignated the 186th Field Artillery Regiment and was transferred out. Its place in the 53d Infantry Brigade was taken by the 10th New York Infantry from Albany, Utica, and other New York communities. In November 1940, the 10th New York was designated the 106th Infantry and became known as the “Knickerbocker” Regiment. The Apple-knockers, which had served with the 27th during World War I, joined the Knickerbockers to form the 53d Brigade.
For the 105th Infantry, this was the fourth time in less than one hundred years that the regiment, or one of its predecessor units, had been called into active duty to serve the United States. One of the oldest military organizations in the country, the 105th’s predecessor militia units served in the French and Indian War during the 1750s, the Revolutionary War in the 1770s, and the War of 1812. The New York State Militiamen particularly distinguished themselves at the Battle of Saratoga, where the British were forced to surrender in September 1777. One of the 105th’s core units, Company A, was formed as the Troy Citizen’s Corps by the New York state legislature on September 23, 1835. During the American Civil War, this unit served as Company A of the 2d New York Volunteers for two years, from April 1861 to April 1863, and participated in numerous battles throughout the state of Virginia. Company A existed as a separate unit until the late 1870s when it was incorporated into the New York National Guard.
The National Guard in the northeastern part of New York had its origins in the late 1870s and 1880s when twelve separate companies of militia were formed in a number of upstate New York communities and organized as the 2d New York Infantry Regiment. This unit was called into active service during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the Mexican border war in 1916. On July 12, 1917, shortly after the United States declared war on Germany, Pres. Woodrow Wilson called the entire National Guard into federal service. The 2d New York then became a part of the newly designated 27th Infantry Division, also known as the New York Division. On October 1, 1917, the 2d New York was redesignated the 105th Infantry Regiment and was augmented by approximately 1,500 officers and enlisted men from the 12th and 71st Infantry Regiments of the New York National Guard. It served with distinction in France and Belgium and participated in the successful assault on the Hindenberg line. It was mustered out of federal service on April 1, 1919, after precisely two years and seven days of service, and after demobilization, reverted to National Guard status and once again became the 2d Regiment, New York National Guard.
During the period between the notice of induction and the actual induction, an extensive reorganization took place. The division needed to be brought up to war strength as soon as possible, with some 7,000 men needed immediately. Details were sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey; Camp Upton, New York; and Fort Niagara, New York to begin the process of moving recruits from reception centers to Fort McClellan, an abandoned military reservation near Anniston, Alabama. The new recruits were expected to begin arriving in January 1941. On October 9, 1940, approximately six weeks after completion of the De Kalb maneuvers, Lt. Gen. Hugh Drum, in command of the II Army Corps, ordered the 27th Division to concentrate at Fort McClellan for field training. Major General William N. Haskell, commander of the 27th Division since 1926, established a regiment to facilitate initial combat training of the recruits. After completing their training, these men would be added to the four infantry regiments—105th, 106th, 108th, and 165th—already at Fort McClellan.
Meanwhile, on October 9, 1940, plans for rail and motor movements of the 105th Infantry were discussed at a meeting of the commanders and staff at the Troy Armory. The plans called for the main body of troops to leave by train for Fort McClellan on October 23, 1940, a trip of more than 1,100 miles. One train of twenty cars would carry units of the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry, from Troy, Cohoes, and Hoosick Falls. A second would originate at Malone, New York, and pick up the 3d Battalion along the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Line. A third train would move from Schenectady, New York, with Companies E, F, and H of the 2d Battalion; G Company of the 2d Battalion would be picked up at Amsterdam. All trains were scheduled to arrive at Anniston no later than October 25.
