Panama Canal Division

Panama Canal Division
Active	1921–1932
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Part of	Panama Canal Department

The Panama Canal Division was a unit of the United States Army, established in order to ensure the United States could adequately defend the Canal Zone in Panama. When it was authorized in 1920, similar divisions were organized to defend Hawaii and the Philippines.

On July 9, 1918, the 10th Division was activated for World War I.^[1] It was organized in August, and mobilized and trained at Camp Funston, Kansas.^[1] The 10th Division completed training in October and moved to Camp Mills, New York to await transport to France.^[1] Advance units of the division had departed Camp Mills by early November, but the Armistice of November 11, 1918 ended the need for the division to serve overseas.^[1] Most units had been demobilized by early 1919, and the 10th Division was inactivated in March.^[1]

The organization of the 10th Division included:^[1]

Divisional Troops

Headquarters Troop

28th Machine Gun Battalion

210th Engineer Battalion

210th Field Signal Battalion

19th Infantry Brigade

41st Infantry Regiment

69th Infantry Regiment

29th Machine Gun Battalion

20th Infantry Brigade

20th Infantry Regiment

70th Infantry Regiment

30th Machine Gun Battalion

10th Field Artillery Brigade

28th Field Artillery Regiment

29th Field Artillery Regiment

30th Field Artillery Regiment

10th Trench Mortar Battery

Trains

10th Train Headquarters and Military Police

10th Ammunition Train

10th Supply Train

210th Engineer Train

10th Sanitary Train

Commanders of the 10th Division included:^[1]

• Major General Leonard Wood, August 10, 1918 - January 6, 1919
• Brigadier General Howard Russell Hickok, January 7, 1919 - January 16, 1919
• Major General Leonard Wood, January 17, 1919 - February 18, 1919

The Panama Canal Division was organized in 1921 and included units of the 10th Division that had not been inactivated after World War I. The Panama Canal Division was active until 1932.^[2][3] Its initial composition included the 19th Infantry Brigade commanding the (14th and 65th Infantry Regiments, of which the 65th was stationed in Puerto Rico) and the 20th Infantry Brigade commanding the (33rd and 42nd Infantry Regiments).^[2] The two brigades appear to have been active until 1927.^[4]

The commander of the Panama Canal Department, Major General Preston Brown, later determined that the defense of Panama would be better served by command groups representing the Atlantic and the Pacific. In 1932, the Army inactivated the division, keeping its Tables of Organization on file should the need arise to reactivate it. It never has.^[2]

• BG Edwin B. Babbitt: July 3, 1921 – October 10, 1921
• MG Samuel D. Sturgis Jr.: October 10, 1921 – April 17, 1923
• MG Edwin B. Babbitt: April 17, 1923 – September 15, 1923
• MG William Lassiter: October 1923 – September 19, 1924
• BG Fox Conner: September 19, 1924 – January 1925
• MG Charles H. Martin: January 23, 1925 – October 10, 1926
• MG William S. Graves: December 13, 1926 – October 1, 1927
• MG Malin Craig: October 13, 1927 – March 31, 1928
• MG George LeRoy Irwin: April 1, 1928 – December 21, 1930
• BG Charles DuVal Roberts: December 21, 1930 – April 3, 1931
• BG Harold B. Fiske: April 3, 1931 – April 15, 1932

• MG Ben Lear: February 16, 1940 – September 20, 1940
• MG William E. Prosser: September 21, 1940 – March 1942
• MG Robert H. Lewis: March 1942 – December 21, 1942
• MG Harry C. Ingles: December 22, 1942 - February 1943
• BG Jesse C. Drain: February 1943 - April 2, 1943
• MG Phillip E. Gallagher: September 3, 1944 – April 1, 1945
• BG Thomas J. Camp

• Divisions of the United States Army
• List of former United States military installations in Panama