variety of other factors, including the entry of the Soviet Union into the war on the side of the Allies after Adolf Hitler broke his non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin by launching Operation Barbarossa, the need to ensure that enough farmers and agricultural workers were available for food production, and the need to maintain a U.S. workforce large enough to handle the production of weapons, vehicles, ammunition, and other equipment caused Army Chief of Staff Marshall to decide that maintaining the Army's ground combat strength at 90 divisions would strike the balance between too few soldiers to defeat the Axis powers, and so many that there were not enough civilians in the U.S. workforce. To accomplish this goal, McNair and the AGF staff created new division manning and equipping tables, which reduced the number of soldiers required to man a division. This initiative had accomplished Marshall's goal by 1945, enabling the Army to field 89 divisions with the same number of soldiers it would have required to man only 73 divisions in 1943. The Army's effort to create and field a number of divisions sufficient to achieve victory also included the creation of airborne units. The Army had begun testing and experimenting with airborne formations in 1940; by 1943, William C. Lee, an early proponent of airborne forces, had convinced McNair of the need for division-sized airborne organizations. Though McNair and a few other Army leaders sometimes advocated for creation of all-purpose light divisions that could be adapted for unique missions, the Army did create some specialized divisions, including airborne. This initiative included activating the Airborne Command to oversee the organization and training of airborne units, conversion of the 82nd and 101st Infantry Divisions to airborne, and preparation of these divisions for paratrooper and glider missions in Europe. Another initiative McNair incorporated into the effort to field the Army's World War II division was the creation of light divisions. Recognizing that the rugged terrain of the Italian mountains and Pacific jungles required specialized units, the AGF reorganized three existing divisions as the 89th Light Division (Truck), 10th Light Division (Pack, Alpine), and 71st Light Division (Pack, Jungle). The results of pre-deployment training demonstrated that the 71st and 89th Divisions were too small to sustain themselves in combat, so they were converted back to regular infantry divisions. The 10th Division's early training results were also less than encouraging, but its identity