Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

196 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
Table 20—Regular Army Field Artillery Units, July 1950
Divisional Nondivisional Total
Battalion Type Battalions Battalions Battalions
75-mm. pack howitzer, mountain 1 1
105-mm. howitzer, truck 26 8 34 a
105-mm. howitzer, self-propelled 3 2 5
155-mm. howitzer, tractor 9 3 12 b
155-mm. howitzer, self-propelled 1 1 2
155-mm. howitzer, self-propelled/tractor 1 1
155-mm. gun, self-propelled 1 1
8-inch howitzer, tractor 1 1
Rocket 1 1
Observation 1 1
Total 39 20 59 c
aPlus one separate battery. Divisional battalions include airborne units.
bPlus one separate battery.
cIn many cases, these units were not at full strength, nor did they have all their authorized equipment.
Western response. Task Force Smith, consisting of 24th Infantry Division elements,
including the 52d Field Artillery Battalion, entered the con flict from Japan on 2
July. The remainder of the division, the 1st Cavalry Division, and the 25th Infantry
Division soon fol lowed. By 13 August, all of the 1st’s and 25th’s field artillery battalions
had arrived in Korea, as well as the first non divisional one—the 17th, armed
with 8-inch howitzers. To help compensate for the eleven missing batteries in the two
divisions committed, the 9th Field Artillery Bat talion from the 3d Infantry Division,
the 92d Armored Field Artil lery Battalion from the 2d Armored Division, the 555th
Field Artil lery Battalion with the 5th Regimental Combat Team in Hawaii, and the
personnel and equipment of two batteries in the 14th Regimen tal Combat Team were
ordered to Korea. 16
Lacking nondivisional artillery, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur,
commander-in-chief of the Far East Command and newly appointed commander of
the United Nations Command in Korea, asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 13 July
for fifteen battalions, including six 155-mm. howitzer battalions with self-propelled
weapons. MacArthur projected a commitment of four Army divisions and one provisional
Marine brigade in Korea. Because of wide frontages, broken terrain, and
lack of adequate roads, he believed that the division commanders would employ
their units by regimental combat teams and expected that at least ten regiments
would be on the front lines at the same time; having only four 155-mm. howitzer
battalions among the divisions, he wanted six more so that each regiment could
have a medium artillery battalion when operating as a regimental combat team. For
general support, MacArthur requested 8-inch howitzer and 155-mm. gun battalions,
16 James F. Schnabel, Policy and Direction (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History,
United States Army, 1972), pp. 90–92; Weathersby, “Field Artillery Group,” p. 124.