Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

108 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
aerial observation. Regimental supply companies were also authorized to centralize the
coordination of battery supply elements. If necessary, sections from both headquarters
and supply companies could act independently at the battalion level. The entire field
artillery brigade numbered 4,030 officers and men, while the maximum authorized
strength of the division (not including trains) was set at 25,871. 41
The 1916 tables strengthened other artillery units as well as those in the infantry
division. The 1914 tables had allotted a cavalry division 3.11 guns per 1,000 rifles,
the men and equipment being organized into a two-battalion horse artillery regiment.
The cavalry division in 1916 was still authorized only one regiment, but it was organized
into three battalions rather than two. The additional battalion headquarters
and the regimental headquarters and supply companies in creased the maximum
authorized strength of the regiment from 1,265 to 1,374. The regimental commander
in the cavalry division and the artillery brigade commander in the infantry division
functioned as the chief of artillery on the division headquarters staff. Corps
artillery brigades became fixed organizations under the 1916 tables and reflected
changes that were taking place in transportation. Although horse-drawn brigades
were still authorized, motorized ones were planned. The horse-drawn brigade, having
an aggregate authorized strength of 4,135, comprised three regiments of three
battalions each—one more than specified in the 1914 tables. The motorized brigade
also contained three regiments of heavy guns and howitzers, but was authorized an
aggregate strength of 3,685, the reductions mainly due to motorization. 42
The effective coordination of fire from a single commander demanded further
advances in communications and equipment. For visual communications, artillerymen
used signal lanterns and searchlights, flares, flags, and rockets. For telephone
communications, the batteries used buzzer wire and hand reels. Units larger than
the battery used heavier wire and four-horse carts (mule carts in mountain units) to
carry the wire, reel, and signal and fire control supplies. The signal detail in a battery
included a corporal and two privates manning three telephone stations. Each
battalion and regiment was authorized two telephone stations. By 1918, over half
the authorized divisional signal equipment was in the field artillery brigade. 43
Aerial reconnaissance played an increasing role in field artillery. Although
aerial observation had been tried as early as the Civil War with balloons, artillery
observation by airplane was not attempted in the United States until November
1912. Locating targets and giving range corrections by experimentation, aerial
observers found the most successful method of transmitting their information to
a battery was through radiotelegraphy. 44 From 1915, aerial photography supple-
41 Ibid., 1917, pp. 12–13, 38–39; Act of 3 Jun 1916, ch. 134, 39 Stat. 166–217; WD Bull 16, 22 Jun
1916. The Treat board, appointed under WD SO 89, 17 Apr 1915, used the 1914 tables to recommend
the proportion of 5 guns per 1,000 rifles. See Rpts, Treat Board, box 13, Charles P. Summerall Papers,
Ms Div, LC.
42 TO, 1917, pp. 16, 20, 38, 57.
43 Spaulding, Notes on Field Artillery, pp. 121–23; U.S. War Department, Office of the Chief of
Staff, Provisional Drill and Service Regulations for the Field Artillery (Horse and Light), 1916, 4 vols.
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1916), 4:31–35; TO 1, ser. A, 14 Jan 1918.