Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

268 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
during the conflict. By the end of 1965, artillery strength was about one-third of
that for the peak year of 1969.
With the American troop buildup proceeding apace, an additional corps-level
headquarters (like Task Force Alpha and the III Marine Amphibious Force) became
critical for coordinating the ground war throughout the respective Army of
the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) corps areas. The ARVN remained primarily
responsible for the IV Corps Tactical Zone; the III Marine Amphibious Force,
functioning also as a service component command, controlled activities in the I
Corps Tactical Zone; and in March 1966, when the II Field Force Vietnam began
to coordinate operations in the III Corps Tactical Zone, Task Force Alpha in the II
Corps Tactical Zone was renamed I Field Force Vietnam. Also in March, a similar
administrative change occurred for controlling all nondivisional artillery resources.
The XXX Corps Artillery, already in country, became the I Field Force Vietnam
Artillery and the newly arrived Fort Sill unit, the II Field Force Vietnam Artillery.
Under the command of a brigadier gener al, each field force artillery headquarters
was organized in the same manner as a corps artillery headquarters and performed
similar functions, although its target acquisition elements were at skeleton strength
with only survey and meteorological elements. During the remainder of the year,
three more divisions and two additional separate maneu ver brigades, along with
their organic artillery, arrived. 1
With the buildup, the number of field artillery units also grew. The cannon battalions
had more than doubled by December 1966, totaling forty-three; increased
to fifty-four by end of 1967, the year of the so-called big battles; continued to rise
in early 1968 after the Tet offensive and reached sixty-one by December; and then
finally peaked at sixty-three in July 1969 (Table 25).
Of the seven additional field artillery battalions sent into the battle area in 1968,
two were from the Army National Guard—the 2d Battalion, 138th Artillery, from
Kentucky, and the 3d Battalion, 197th Artillery, from New Hampshire, both deploying
full strength in the fall. The chaotic individual rotation policy, in existence in
the Regular Army since the Korean War, did not adversely affect these federalized
Guard battalions. Because they retained the same troops who had spent most of their
time in their own particular skill specialties and in cross-training until redeployment
in October 1969, they reported few problems in maintain ing a high level of
training and combat effectiveness. Three other field artillery battalions were called
up from the Army National Guard in 1968, but they did not serve in Vietnam. No
Army Reserve field artillery units were called to active duty. 2
1 DA Msg 728790, 18 Aug 1965; USARPAC GO 56, 11 Mar 1966; and Ltr, AGSD–C (M) (30 Mar
66) ACSFOR, 30 Mar 1966. Copies in HHB, 420th FA Gp, and II FFV Arty fldrs, CMH files. See also
historical unit card, 420th FA Gp, CMH files. Both field force artil lery headquarters were organized as
corps artillery under TOE 6–501E, 11 Dec 1964. On the selection of the term field force, see U[lysses] S.
G[rant] Sharp and W[illiam] C. Westmore land, Report on the War in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1969), p. 103.
2 U.S. Army Concept Team in Vietnam, “Final Report: Organization and Employment of U.S. Army
Field Artillery Units in RVN,” ACTIV ACG–58F, October 1969, p. 2-38, copy in MHI files (hereinafter
cited as ACTIV Final Rpt); Army Directory and Station List, December 1966, 1967, 1968, and June
1969.