January-February - Air Defense Artillery

16
DEFENSE OF Y-94
184 AM AUTO WPHS 8N
1000 _____ soo 01 1000 I
!OALE IN YARDS
cal Air Command. This line was connected to an SCB 593
radio used as an amplifier to receive data and relieve the
plotter from the necessity of wearing a head and chest set.
An SCR 543 radio, tuned to the frequency used for broadcast
of early warning by T.A.C., was set up as a stand-by in
event of failure of telephone line.
Personnel required to man AAOR were one AA operations
officer, one telephone operator for each battery, one
plotter, and one switchboard operator to handle liaison
switchboard and OP's. During hours of darkness, the
searchlight platoon kept a plotter and an officer or qualified
noncommissioned officer in the AAOR to control the searchliohts.
o
The apparent simplicity of this s)'stem is misleading.
The allthor neglects to state that the men of his unit,
faced with the defense of the airfield against hostile
ground attack as well, put in incredibly long hours under
conditions that were not condudl'e to keeping one's
)'olltl1. This is inserted out of admiration for the officers
mId men of the 784th AAA A\V Bn. PRO, IX ADG
To improve local security, a barbed-wire fence was
erected by battalion personnel. This fence completely encircled
the airfield, the AI\A installations and the OP's.
For construction of the fence, captured German concertina
wire and wooden poles were used. Two rolls of wire,
one on top of the other, were placed to make a rather for-
~:--l~l..1~ l..~_....:~_ ,,_ .:_ • __ • __ 1. ... 1. _ .. \ 1.1.
THE COAST AHTILLEBY JOUR~AL
airfield itself the fence was strung between gun
except in cases where local terrain features made it d
to run the fence in front of the ouns. Gun sections ~
o
fencing, personnel of each section running the wire l
next section in a clockwise direction.
All roads, except those used as main entrances
field, were blocked off with barbed wire. The m
trances were guarded by fighter group attached ~lP'
battalion constructed fourteen road blocks.
The wire itself was rather difficult to obtain. The
ion S-4, Captain Harold L. Donnan, located sever
dumps about fifty miles from the field. A total of
rolls of wire and 1,350 poles were used. Fifty-five ~
truckloads of material were hauled to the field to co
the project.
When airfield Y-94 was occupied by the 784th Al
Battalion, it was discovered that there were anum
German 1\AI\ guns on the field; in very good conditi
apparently intact. Bealizing the danger that a fa
enemy might slip in and use them-and also aware
sometimes dangerous curiosity of American troops
ing enemy weapons, the battalion commander deci
disarm them. T /3 Ewald P. Boettcher, fire contro
trician, and 1'/4' Donovan G. Hansen, artillery me
of Battery B, were given the task. Both of these m
attended the disarmament school conducted bv the I
Defense Command. Equipped with a map of' the fi
plot location of Aak positions, the two men started the'
of rendering the guns incapable of being fired in accor
with instructions passed on at the disarmament school.
work proceeded without incident until they reach
sixth gun. On this weapon, a 20mm single mount, a
in the chamber exploded when they attempted to r
the bolt. Shrapnel struck Hansen and Boettcher i
arms, shoulders and legs. It is believed that the gu
boobytrapped. After receiving first aid treatment the,
ceeded to complete the disarmament the following day
The disamlament school mentioned above was cond
by the IX Air Defense Command. Their object, which
attained, was to train at least two men in each barrali
the disarmament of German weapons. The course
a week, in which time the student soldiers were
familiar with every type of German Aak weapon fr
collection assembled early in the campaign in Norm
The training proved extremely useful to the AA batta
many of them were engaged in this type of work for
after V-E day.
German guns disarmed included the following:
Two 37mm guns, three 20mm guns (single mo
thirteen 20mm guns (triple mount), three .30-cal. ma
guns (quadruple mount).
A coordinated ground defense plan, employing
Air Force and AAA personnel, was prepared by the bl
ion as follows:
I. Fields of fire were determined for each AA g~
pro\'ide complete coverage of the airfield fence line w'id
endangering friendly installations. The plan involved
oeneral. that each unit would defend itself, with a m4
"reserve available to be employed at the direction of the I
r .1 _ t