Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

vieTnam
8-inch howitzer from Battery D,
8th Battalion, 6th Artillery, at Fire
Support Base Thunder II
in Tay Ninh Province
273
composite 8-inch howitzer and 175mm.
gun batteries (four pieces each)
usually were arranged in a diamond
pattern, the 175s emplacing farthest
from the battery’s fire direction center
and administrative elements to reduce
the effects of the blast upon personnel,
buildings, and equipment. 12
Individual artillery weapon emplacements
(sometimes referred to
as parapets) varied, but all were constructed
in a manner reminiscent of defenses
in siege warfare. Often circular,
the designs gave all-around protection
for the weapons and crews from direct
fire through the use of sandbags, ammunition
boxes, timbers, fencing, and
other materials. Ammunition bunkers
and quarters for the crew were built
into opposite sides of the walls and
given overhead cover. The longer a unit
remained within the emplacement, the
more the position was improved. 13
The infantry maintained a continuous
perimeter around the guns,
dug in wherever possible or bun-
kered with overhead cover. Digging in was preferred, but in lowland central
and southern regions where the water table was high, aboveground bunkers
usually had to be built. Barbed wire, trip flares, and other early warning devices
and explo sives were placed forward of the infantry positions, while the
infantrymen defended the positions with rifles, grenade launch ers, machine
guns, recoil less rifles, and 81-mm. and 4.2-inch mortars. Some firebases also had
air defense artillery weapons on the perimeter—dual 40-mm. guns (“dusters”)
and M55 quad .50-caliber machine guns, both of which had also been used in a
ground-support role during the Korean War. 14
Units larger than a battalion occupied base camps, which were larger than the
firebases and contained the headquarters for both combat operations and the necessary
support activities. A perimeter of bunkers surrounded the camps, beyond
which were barriers of barbed wire reinforced with flares and mines. Field artillery
guns and howitzers fired harassing and interdiction fire on suspected enemy routes
12 Ott, Field Artillery, p. 59.
13 Ibid., pp. 63–68, 70; Ltrs, Lt Col William G. McAninch, USA (Ret.), to author, 11 and 29 Jun
1988, Historians files, CMH.
14 ACTIV Final Rpt, October 1969, pp. 2-17 to 2-18, copy in MHI files; Ott, Field Artillery, pp. 59–60;
Rpt, 23d Arty Gp, 1969, sub: Artillery, Vietnam, copy in 23d Arty Gp fldr, CMH files.