Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse
Chart 3—Infantry Division Artillery Organization, 1960–1963
HHB
105-mm./155-mm.
HOW BN (Towed)
DIV ARTY
105-mm./155-mm.
HOW BN, SP
253
The reorganizations did not affect the armored division as much as they had the
infantry and airborne units. Basically, General Taylor was reluctant to reorganize
it under a pentagonal structure that might make the division too large. As a result,
the plans did not change the division artillery structure as drasti cally as that in other
divisions. The antiaircraft artillery battalion was eliminated, as in the other organizations,
but few changes were made in the 105-mm. howitzer battalions. To provide
atomic fire support, a four-gun self-propelled 8-inch howitzer battery replaced
one 155-mm. how itzer battery in the general-support battalion. On 5 November
1956, the Department of the Army approved the organization but directed that the
general-support artillery battalion consist of two 155-mm. howitzer batteries, one
8-inch howitzer battery, and a battery of 762-mm. rockets (Honest Johns). As in
both the airborne and infantry divisions, aviation assets were pooled at the division
level. 19 The final tables, published in May 1960, gave the armored divi sion artillery
an aggregate strength of 2,533 and seventy howitzers (compared to the former
strength of 3,411 personnel and seventy-two howitzers). The new tables authorized
additional personnel for the fire support coordination center in the divi sion artillery
head quarters in order to operate the center on a 24-hour basis and to provide it with
an uninterrupted displace ment capability. Basically, Army planners believed that
the intrinsic mobility and protection of armored vehicles precluded the need for a
major reorganization. 20
When the infantry regiment was eliminated from the force structure, the regimental
combat team simultaneously suffered the same fate. But soon, a flexible
separate combined-arms brigade replaced it. As with the regimental combat team,
no fixed TOE existed for the brigade as a whole, but each of the first two such units
19 CONARC, “Summary,” FY 1957, vol. 1, copy in CMH files; TOE 6–300T, ROCAD, 1 Dec
1956. 20 TOE 6–300C, 20 Jan 1956; TOE 6–300D, 1 May 1960.
762-mm. ROCKET (Towed)
8-in. HOW BN, SP