Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

wOrld war ii
Table 16—Principal Artillery Equipment,
Armored Division, 1940–1945
169
15 Nov 1940 1 Mar 1942 15 Sep 1943 24 Jan 1945
Entire 105 105 Entire Div Entire Div Entire Div
Equipment Div How How Div Arty Div Arty Div Arty
Regt Bn
Airplanes, liaison 8 6 8 8
Antitank guns 194 30
Assault guns 42
Guns, 37-mm. 30 8 6
Guns, 57-mm. 30 30
Guns, 75-mm. 8
Howitzers, 75-mm. 17 17
Howitzers, 105-mm. 36 24 12 54 54 54 54 54 54
Machine guns, 233 23 15 103 24 404 78 382 80
.50 caliber (HB)
Rocket launchers 607 120 609 126
2.36-inch
Tanks, light 273 158 77 77
Tanks, medium 108 232 168 168
Tanks, 105-mm. 18 27
HB = heavy barrel
all four battalions were tractor-drawn. Several times during the Leyte campaign, the
947th Field Artillery Battalion, a 155-mm. howitzer unit, was attached to the division
for specific opera tions. During the Luzon campaign, the battalion accom panied the
division and remained attached to it throughout the fighting there. 21
Nondivisional Field Artillery
Because of the desire for mobility and maneuverability and because of the
belief that the newly developing Army Air Corps would provide much of the support
formerly furnished by the field artillery, the War Department did not place a
very high priority on heavy artillery. In September 1942, the AGF recommended
one hundred one battalions of heavy artillery (155-mm. and 8-inch guns and
240-mm. howitzers) and one hundred forty battalions of medium artillery (155-mm.
howitzers and 4.5-inch guns) to be or ganized in addition to the division artillery
units, but the following year, the War Depart ment drastically reduced this number
21 Bertram C. Wright, The 1st Cavalry Division in World War II (Tokyo: Toppan Printing Co., 1947),
pp. 199–202; unit histories for 1st Cav Div, 1st Cav Div Arty, 82d FA, 62d Armd FA Bn, and 61st, 99th,
and 271st FA Bns, CMH files.