Major Patton Relinquishes Command of the 304th Tank Brigade in September 1920

On 30/09/1920, George S. Patton Jr. relinquished command of the 304th Tank Brigade at Camp Meade, Maryland, during the post World War I reorganization of the United States Army. The restructuring eliminated the Tank Corps as an independent branch and transferred responsibility for tanks to the Infantry. Patton, who had held the temporary wartime rank of colonel while commanding tank formations in France, reverted to his permanent rank of major as the Army reduced and reorganized its wartime structure. Following the change, Patton returned to the Cavalry branch. He had been one of the Army’s early advocates of armored warfare, having commanded tank units during the St. Mihiel offensive in September 1918 and later the Meuse-Argonne operations. The 1920 decision placed tank development under infantry doctrine, which limited independent armored experimentation. Patton subsequently resumed cavalry duties, while continuing to express interest in mobility and mechanization concepts that would later reemerge in U.S. Army armored doctrine during the late 1930s.