Official Government Statistics.
Comparative Losses of Merchant Shipping During the War
About 200,000 commissioned officers were required for the Army. Less than 9,000 were in the Federal Service at the beginning of the war,—5,791 were Regulars and 3,199 were officers of the National Guard in Federal Service. Thus out of every six officers one had had previous training in the army, Guard or ranks; three trained for their commissions in officers' training camps; two went from civil life into the army with little or no military training—the latter being in the majority physicians, ministers or technical men.
CAMPS AND TRAINING
Shelter was constructed in a few months for the accommodation of 1,800,000 men under training. For the National Guard and National Army divisions there were 16 camps and 16 cantonments, chiefly in the North. For National Guard Units organized during the summer of 1917 there were canvas camps in the South. One division, the Rainbow, required no training field, as it was assembled directly at Camp Mills for early transportation to France. The average American soldier who went to France received six months' training before he sailed and two months more in a quiet sector after reaching France, before entering the battle line.
The infantry soldier was trained in the division, the American typical unit, composed of about 1,000 officers and 27,000 men. Before the signing of the armistice there had been trained and sent overseas 42 divisions, the training of 12 more was well advanced and 4 others were being organized. Had the war continued this country would have had 80 divisions overseas before July, 1919, and 100 by the end of that year.
This country had the benefit in its training camps of 547 of the ablest French and English officers who had seen service on the Western front and were sent over to bring to the training of our men the approved methods developed in the experiences of the war. There were besides 226 non-commissioned British officers detailed as instructors. Colonel Ayres says they rendered services out of all proportion to their number, being a significant contribution to our training program.