Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

312 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
155-mm. howitzers during Operation De s e r t sh i e l D
considerable amount of artillery, with the Iraqis having the advantage in the number
of mostly towed pieces that outranged comparable American models and were
extremely well dug in and camouflaged. Yet, in battle, the Iraqi artillerists were no
match for their well-trained counterparts. When it became clear that the enemy could
not locate opposing artillery, allied batteries ceased their “shoot ‘n scoot” tactics,
remaining in position or closing in to deliver their devastating fire. And the coalition
forces overcame the numbers gap by employing the multiple-launch rocket system
(MLRS) as well as radar and aerial reconnaissance to acquire targets. 3
For the Southwest Asia campaigns, the Army deployed two corps artillery
headquarters, seven division artillery headquarters, and seven field artillery brigade
headquarters, comprising forty-three battalions in all. 4 Two of the seven brigades and
their six battalions, including the only multiple-launch rocket battalion in the reserve
components, were Army National Guard units that performed with distinction. Both
3 Alberto Bin, Richard Hill, and Archer Jones, Desert Storm (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998),
pp. 125–26; Frank N. Schubert and Theresa L. Kraus, eds.,The Whirlwind War (Washington, D.C.:
Center of Military History, United States Army, 1994), pp. 164–65, 188; Robert H. Scales, Jr., Certain
Victory (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Staff, United States Army, 1993), pp. 257, 365;
Creighton W. Abrams, “The Gulf War and ‘European Artillery,’” On Point, Spring 2001, p. 8.
4 See De s e r t st o r m campaign participation credit fldrs, CMH files; Boyd L. Dastrup, Modernizing
the King of Battle, 1973–1991 (Fort Sill, Okla.: U.S. Army Field Artillery Center and School,
1994), pp. 56–57.