2nd Cavalry Division (United States)

2nd Cavalry Division
Shoulder sleeve insignia of the 2nd Cavalry Division.
Active	1921–1944
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Cavalry
Size	Division
Nickname(s)	Buffalo Soldiers
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr.

The 2nd Cavalry Division was a cavalry division of the United States Army.

Shoulder sleeve insignia[1]

On 20 August 1921, as a result of lessons learned from World War I, the US Army Adjutant General constituted the 1st and 2d Cavalry Divisions to meet future mobilization requirements. As organized, 2d Cavalry Division was to be an integrated division.

Units assigned to the 2d Cavalry Division included:

Division headquarters reactivated on 25 February 1943 at Fort Clark. Mobilized for deployment to North Africa 12 January 1944. Inactivated in Oran, Algeria on 9 March 1944. Components used to create service and labor units.

Support units

Placed on the rolls of the Army in 1921, the 2d Cavalry Division was not activated until April 1941. As part of the Protective Mobilization Plan, the division was reserved for activation at Fort Riley, Kansas, but due to manpower constraints it never reached full strength. The 2d received the appropriate number of cavalry regiments, but units providing the organic support and service troops remained unfilled. The first divisional activations came in October 1940, with the organization of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade and the assignment of the 2d Cavalry Regiment and 14th Cavalry Regiment. The 4th Cavalry Brigade activated during February 1941 with the 9th Cavalry Regiment and 10th Cavalry Regiment as its cavalry regiments. These last two regiments, the only two available for assignment, were black units. The division, therefore, was unique to Army structure at that time, a racially mixed unit.