Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

148 THE ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY OF FIELD ARTILLERY
achievement in design, the weapon was in reality inadequate for either of its primary
purposes. It did not have the necessary characteristics of a first-class antiaircraft gun,
and it was too heavy and complicated for divisional supporting mis sions. 50
The 2d Division completed testing the new division structure on 31 August
1939, and the preliminary report showed the division artil lery to be sound. General
Craig’s replacement, Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, recommended the
reorganization of five Regular Army divisions at peacetime strength under the new
structure. The recommendation was approved on 16 September 1939, but the new
tables were slow in being published and some of the equipment was not available,
resulting in having the medium artillery armed with the 155-mm. howitzer rather
than the 105/155 combination. The 1939 reorganization finally eliminated the field
artillery brigade in the infantry division. An artillery section within the division
headquarters became the means by which the division artillery commander exercised
control. The brigade ammunition train was also eliminated. The remainder of
the division artillery consisted of one light regiment containing three battalions of
75-mm. guns, for a total of thirty-six weapons, and a medium regiment containing
two battalions of 155-mm. howitzers, for a total of sixteen weapons. The total number
of field artillery pieces in the division was fifty-two. By October 1939, the five
authorized Regular Army divi sions and one complete corps artillery brigade were
reorganized under the new structure. The organization of the divisions was termed
triangular, because each division was organized around three infantry regiments
rather than four as in the former so-called square division. 51
In addition to reevaluating the organization of the infantry division, the War
Department was also consider ing the reor ganiza tion of the cavalry division and the
develop ment of a mechanized cavalry force. In 1936, the 75-mm. howitzer was in
the process of replacing the M1897 75-mm. gun in both the 1st Cavalry Division
and the experimental mechanized cavalry brigade. By 1938, a review board at
Fort Bliss, Texas, recommended that the cavalry division field artillery regiment
be expanded and strengthened. The board suggested a field artillery regiment of
three battalions—two three-battery battalions of four 75-mm. howitzers each and
one three-battery battalion of four 105-mm. howitzers each. It also recommended
further testing of the suita bility of motor vehicles for drawing the cavalry division
weapons, but the new tables of organization, giving the cavalry division twenty-four
75-mm. and twelve 105-mm. howitzers, were not adopted until 1940. 52
50 Sunderland, Field Artillery School, pp. 154–55; Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1938, p.
34; Field Artillery School, Development of Field Artillery Materiel, p. 67.
51 Ltr, AG 320.2 (9-7-39), HQ, 2d Div (Provisional) to CG, Eighth Corps Area, 7 Sep 1939, sub:
The Test of New Division Organization, and Memo, 6541–Gen 597, G–3 for CofS, 16 Sep 1939, sub:
Organization of Regular Army, First Priority (17,000 Increase), copies in MHI files; Ltr, AG 320.2
(12-5-39) M–C–M, 18 Dec 39, sub: Reports from Triangular Divisions, CMH files; Memo, 35651–55,
G–3 for CofS, 14 Sep 1939, sub: Reorganization of the Infantry Division, CMH files. See also Sunderland,
Field Artillery School, p. 186.
52 Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1936, p. 37; ibid., 1937, p. 35; “Report of Board of Review
[on Field Service Tests of the Proposed Cavalry Division],” 2 Jul 38, copy in CMH files. See also suppl.
to Annual Rpt, CofFA, FY1935, p. 6, file 319.12, box 370, Entry 37i; and Ltr, AG 320.2 (9-11-40) P,
TAG to CofArms&Svcs, 13 Sep 1940, sub: Cavalry Division, Horse, file 320.2, box 1974, Entry 363.
All in RG 407, NARA.