aff at periods during the absence of General Bliss in France, from
October 29, 1917, to December 16, 1917, and from January 9, 1918, to
March 3, 1918. I assumed the duties of Acting Chief of Staff on March 4,
1918, became Chief of Staff May 20, 1918, and have continued on that
duty since.

It was evident, as the war progressed, that the General Staff was acting
under an organization and in accordance with regulations which were not
only unsuited to the duties and responsibilities confronting it, but
were wholly out of date and were not suited to any General Staff
organization. Successive revisions of the orders under which the General
Staff was acting were made as events demanded, until the experience of
the year crystallized the organization of the General Staff into that
set forth in General Order No. 80 of the War Department. This order
divides the work of the General Staff into four primary divisions: 1.
Operations; 2. Purchase, Storage, and Traffic; 3. Military Intelligence;
4. War Plans. Each of these divisions is under the direction of a
director; who is Assistant Chief of Staff and is a general officer.

OPERATIONS DIVISION

The Operations Division is under the charge of Major-General Henry
Jervey, United States army, as Director of Operations and Assistant
Chief of Staff. This division is a consolidation of the former
Operations Committee and Equipment Committee, which pertained to the War
College under the previous organization. The Operations Division has had
charge of the increase in the personnel of the army during the year. On
June 30, 1917, the Regular army consisted of 250,357 officers and
enlisted men. On August 5,1917, 379,323 officers and men of the National
Guard were drafted into the Federal service. There were a few special
drafts of small numbers of National Guardsmen into the Federal service
after August 5, 1917. During the period covered by this report this
division handled the calls into service of men obtained under the draft,
the organization of these men into divisions and units necessary for the
army, and turned over for shipment overseas up to November 8, 1918,
2,047,667 men. The grand total of men in the army from returns for the
period ending October 15th is 3,624,774. This force was organized into
divisions, the proper proportion of corps, army, and service of supply
troops, and of replacement camps and training centers for Infantry,
Field Artillery, and Machine Guns in the United S