Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

190 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
Division Artillery
The Army published new tables
of organization and equipment for
the infantry and armored divisions in
1948. Under these tables, the artillery
of both was organized similarly (Chart
1), except that the howitzers in the
infantry division were truck-drawn
and those in the armored division
were self-propelled. The provision
for towed weapons, however, was regarded
as an interim measure until new
self-propelled weapons could be
developed. The tables confirmed the
rank of the infantry division artillery
commander as brigadier general but
retained that of the armored division
artillery commander as colonel until
1950, when the position received equal
rank. The 1948 tables authorized each
105-mm. howitzer battery three forward
observer sections, one for each
supported maneuver company, and
each 105-mm. howitzer battalion four liaison officers. Each 155-mm. howitzer
battalion was authorized two forward observers in the head quarters battery and one
liaison officer. In the armored division, a tank in each of the line tank companies
replaced the forward observer tanks. (During World War II, vehicles differing
in appearance from those around them were usually hit first.) Another personnel
change added two enlisted computers to the battalion fire direction center and one
enlisted computer to each firing battery, for a total of five additional computer
personnel. 3
Forward observers in Korea
The new structure of both the armored and infantry division artil lery resembled
the infantry division artillery of World War II, except that an antiaircraft automatic
weapons battalion was added and each infantry division artillery firing battery was
increased by two howitzers. The number of field pieces in both the armored and
infantry divisions totaled seventy-two, consisting of fifty-four 105-mm. howitzers
and eighteen 155-mm. howitzers. The authorized strength of the infantry division
artillery stood at 3,688 and that of the armored division artillery at 3,735. The
authorized aggregate strengths of the infantry and armored division artillery were
3 TOE 7N, 2 Jun 1948, and related tables; TOE 17N, 8 Oct 1948, and related tables; TOE 17N, change
1, 2 Oct 1950; Ralph M. Click, “Armored Artillery in the Team,” Field Artillery Journal, July-August
1949, pp. 168–70.