Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

194 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
in the 4.5-inch rocket battalion, which lost its service battery; a platoon in the
headquarters battery took over the function. 9
Because wide corps zones averaging 25 to 40 kilometers (15.5 to 24.9 miles)
in the European theater during World War II had prevented the corps observation
battalions, each consisting of a headquarters and two observation batteries, from
providing adequate coverage with their sound, flash, and survey instruments, new
tables published in 1948 authorized a third observation battery. Also provided were
a countermortar radar platoon in each observation battery and additional personnel
and equipment for a survey infor mation section, a meteorological section, and a
topographical platoon in the headquarters battery. The changes almost doubled the
authorized aggregate strength of the battalion, rais ing it from 439 to 836. Minor
reductions later lowered the figure to 787. 10
In 1952, field artillery took over the function of battlefield illumination from
the engineers. Thereafter, one field artillery searchlight battery was allotted to
each corps and given the mission of furnishing indirect and direct illumination in
support of night operations. Each battery was author ized three platoons and a total
of eighteen searchlights. A platoon comprised six sections, each equipped with a
searchlight, and was capable of providing battlefield illumination for a division. 11
Major reorganizations in the nondivisional artillery command structure were
recommended, but they were never implemented. Some officers considered the
flexibility of the group-brigade design used during World War II to be unsound
because the constant shift ing of battalions within organizations reduced teamwork
and esprit de corps. They proposed a return to the regimental organiza tion. Other
officers believed the field artillery group structure had been a decisive factor
in enabling corps and army commanders to give maneuver elements adequate
support in varying tactical situations, suggesting that the field artillery group be
redesignated as a regiment and that all corps field artillery be organ ized into an
“artillery division,” commanded by a major general . 12 Sixty-seven of the eightytwo
representatives at the artillery conference in March 1946 at Fort Sill agreed
that an artillery division should replace the corps nondivisional artillery organization
and recommended that corps artillery be organ ized with a headquarters
and headquarters battery, an observation battalion, and a minimum number of
9 TOE 6–55, 31 Jan 1946; TOE 6–65, 31 Jan 1946; TOE 6–365, 31 Jan 1946; TOE 6–415, 18 Jul
1950; TOE 6–515, 18 Jul 1950; TOE 6–25N, 21 Apr 1948; TOE 6–165N, 5 Aug 1948; TOE 6–195N, 11
Aug 1948; TOE 6–225, 1 Apr 1950; TOE 6–225A, 1 Jan 1953; TOE 6–235, 1 Apr 1950; TOE 6–335N,
12 May 1948; TOE 6–395, 31 Jan 1946; TOE 6–435, 18 Jul 1950; TOE 6–85, 5 Jan 1949. No 8-inch gun
units were organized after World War II, although tables continued to be published for them.
10 TOE 6–75, 16 Nov 1948; TOE 6–575, 15 Jun 1953; Arthur B. Hercz, “On Target Acquisition . . .
Again,” Field Artillery Journal, November-December 1975, pp. 35–41; “The Field Artillery Observation
Battalion,” pts. 1 and 2, Field Artillery Journal, November-December 1948, pp. 252–57, and January-
February 1949, pp. 14–20; H. P. Rand, “Meet the FA Observation Battalion,” Combat Forces Journal,
February 1953, pp. 24–27.
11 TOE 5–27T, 11 Sep 1950 (redesignated TOE 6–558 by DA Cir 44, 4 Jun 1952, as amended by
DA Cir 54, 18 Jun 1952); TOE 6–558A, 14 Jul 1952.
12 General Board, United States Forces, European Theater, “Organization and Equipment of Field
Artillery Units,” Study no. 59, pp. 47–48 (quoted words), copy in CMH files.