Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

wOrld war ii
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blow, and the third could remain in reserve. Each infantry regiment still could rely
on its direct-support art illery battalion. 5
During the late 1930s, the power of the chiefs of the combat arms declined as
the Chief of Staff became more convinced that the branch chiefs were the cause of
much of the factionalism within the Army. In March 1942, during a massive reorganization
of the War Depart ment, these positions, including that of the Chief of
Field Artillery, were eliminated. General Danford was the only one of the branch
chiefs to place his objections in writing. He recounted the marked advances in the
organization, weapons, tactics, and techniques of field artillery, all of which he attributed
to the centralized direction and leadership of the branch chief. The Chief
of Field Artillery had been responsible for all doctrinal matters pertaining to the
branch, but these responsibilities now passed on to special branches within the newly
created Army Ground Forces (AGF). Included in the transferred functions were the
preparation of tables of organization and equipment. Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair,
who had served with the test triangular division in the late 1930s, took command
of the new organization. 6
General McNair, like General Pershing before him, believed that the division
should be kept lean and that, based on operational requirements, units and equipment
could be drawn from pools maintained at the next higher level. By keeping organic
elements of the division at a minimum, greater flexibility could be realized through
the use of attached units as needed. In April 1942, a general revision of tables of
organization occurred, reflecting some of General McNair’s concepts. The division
artillery was reduced by about 200 personnel, largely through the elimination of
the antitank battery of 75-mm. guns in the 155-mm. howitzer battalion (Table 13).
More success in streamlining the division artillery appeared in tables prepared in
1943 by the AGF Reduction Board established in 1942 to cut the existing tables
because of shortages in shipping space. McNair pronounced the new tables “a
monumental advance in de-fatting.” 7 Most of the cuts were made in headquarters and
maintenance personnel and did not adversely affect the actual weapons crews. For
example, the firing batteries in the 105-mm. howitzer battalion were each reduced
from 111 to 93, but each howitzer crew lost only one man. The greatest savings
were accomplished by consolidating the headquarters battery and service battery
of each battalion into a single unit and by eliminating the antitank and antiaircraft
sections within the headquarters batteries. The primary armament of the division
artillery remained the same—thirty-six 105-mm. howitzers and twelve 155-mm.
howitzers. An increased number of .50-caliber machine guns and 2.36-inch rocket
5 Ltr, AG 320.2 (8-31-40) M (Ret) M–C, TAG to CG, All Corps/Corps Areas, 10 Sep 40, sub:
Reorganization of Triangular Divisions, copy in CMH files; TO 70, 1 Oct 1940; TO 7, 1 Sep 1939; TO
6–80, 1 Oct 1940.
6 WD Cir 59, 2 Mar 42; Frederick S. Hayden, “War Department Reorganization, August 1941–March
1942,” pts. 1 and 2, Military Affairs 16 (Spring 1952): 12–29 and 16 (Fall 1952): 97–114; James E. Hewes,
Jr., From Root to McNamara (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1975),
pp. 67–76, 78–82.
7 As quoted in Kent Roberts Greenfield, Robert R. Palmer, and Bell I. Wiley, The Organization of
Ground Combat Troops (Washing ton, D.C.: Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1947), p.
304.