Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

vieTnam
Table 25—Field Artillery Units in Vietnam, 1965–1971
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec
Unit Type 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
175-mm. Gun Bn/8-inch How Bn* 4 7 11 11 11 10 4
155-mm. How Bn/8-inch How Bn 1 4 4 5 4 2
155-mm. How Bn 1 5 6 8 6 7 1
105-mm. How Bn 11 27 33 37 32 17 6
Total 17 43 54 61 53 36 11
Corps/FFV Artillery HQ 1 2 2 3 3 3
Division Artillery HQ 2 5 7 7 6 4 1
FA Group HQ 2 4 5 5 3 3 1
Aerial Rocket Bn 1 1 1 2 2 2 1
Aviation Btry 1 1 1 2 2 2 1
Target Acquisition Btry 2 2 3 4 3
Searchlight Btry 1 4 4 4 4 4 2
*The self-propelled (SP) 8-inch howitzer was interchangeable with the 175-mm. gun. Battalions
were sometimes listed as 8-inch howitzer battalions (SP) and sometimes as 175-mm. gun battalions.
Frequently, a battery would have two 8-inch howitzers and two 175-mm. guns.
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The reserve components found 1968 and 1969 to be turbulent, for both
underwent a massive reduction and reorganization. The Army Reserve lost its last
six combat infantry divisions, leaving it with three combat brigades and thirteen
training divisions; its nonbrigade artillery thereafter consisted of three groups, three
searchlight batteries, and fifteen cannon battalions. The Army National Guard lost
fifteen divisions, leaving it with eight divisions and eighteen brigades; its nondivisional
artillery units thereafter consisted of two corps artillery headquarters, twenty
groups, forty-six cannon battalions, four target acquisition battalions, and three
searchlight batteries. 3
This period of retrenchment did not affect the active component, its divisions
being committed to counter the escalating Communist threat in Southeast Asia.
By the spring of 1968, the U.S. ground forces in South Vietnam under General
William C. Westmoreland included seven divisions, two separate maneuver brigades,
and one armored cav alry regiment, 4 all with their supporting artillery. In addition
to the division, brigade, and regimen tal supporting artillery, I Field Force Vietnam
Artillery, operating in the II Corps area, had two groups and ten bat talions, while
II Field Force Vietnam Artillery, operating in the III and IV Corps areas, had two
groups and eleven battalions. The 108th Artillery Group served under the control
3 See Vietnam, Reserve Components in, and Army Reserve, 1967–1968 Reorganization, fldr,
CMH files; Reserve Components Troop Basis of the Army, Fiscal Year 1969, ann. I.
4 On the 11th Armored Cavalry, see Stubbs and Connor, Armor-Cavalry, pp. 81–83, 211–13.