| Existing comment:
President Roosevelt proclaimed a "limited national emergency" in September 1939, when he approved an increase of 35,000 men in the National Guard, which reached its authorized strength of 200,000. Between September 1940 and October 1941, over 300,000 Guardsmen in 18 divisions, 28 separate regiments, and 29 observation squadrons were inducted into federal service, doubling the size of the US Army. All eighteen National Guard divisions fought in World War II, half of them in Europe and half in the Pacific. Guard forces were among the first U.S. divisions to deploy overseas. |