Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/203

nication, and service personnel accounted for most of the other regimental personnel losses.^[1]

General McNair

The board carved 475 men and 95 trucks from the division artillery. Firepower did not decline since the number of artillery pieces remained at twelve 155-mm. and thirty-six 105-mm. howitzers. The headquarters and service batteries were combined, and antitank and antiaircraft platoons were eliminated. An antitank capability remained with the addition of 166 bazookas. To save personnel spaces, the number of truck drivers, mechanics, cooks, and orderlies was reduced.^[2]

The board provided for the return of the airplane to the infantry division, a step that reflected the expanded width and depth of the battlefield. The aero squadron had been eliminated from all divisions by 1940, but field artillery officers continued to request their own aircraft to guide counterbattery and indirect fire. In 1941 and 1942 the field artillery experimented with light planes, and on 6 June 1942 two light observation aircraft were added to each field artillery battalion and two to the headquarters of the division artillery. The board's decision formalized these additions.^[3]

Divisional combat support and service support units were severely cut. The engineer battalion and signal company each lost about 100 men, mostly because certain bridging equipment was taken from the engineer battalion and the radio intelligence platoon was detached from the signal company. Both functions moved to army level. The quartermaster company lost about 150 men, but the number of trucks remained approximately the same. No basic changes took place in the medical battalion, ordnance company, or military police platoon.^[4]

The board also believed that the division headquarters and its headquarters company had grown too large. To reduce the size of the headquarters company, its strength was cut almost in half by eliminating the defense platoon and some vehicles, drivers, and orderlies. The band assumed the mission of protecting the divisional headquarters as an additional duty. Divisional staff sections remained the same, but the board cut some assistant staff officers and enlisted men. Total reductions in the division represented a 13.5 percent decrease in all ranks and 23 percent in vehicles.^[5]

Marshall tentatively approved the new division but directed that its tables of organization be sent to the theater commanders for comment. To sell the new

 

1. Ibid., pp. 274–75, 303–14; T/O 7–11, Infantry Regiment, 1 Apr 42; T/O 7–11, Infantry Regiment, 1 Mar 43. The 1942 cannon company had six 75-mm. self-propelled howitzers and two 105-mm. self-propelled howitzers.
2. Greenfield et al., Organization of Ground Combat Troops, pp. 304–05.
3. T/O 6–10, Division Artillery, Motorized, Infantry or Motorized Division, 1 Mar 43; Memo, G–3 for AGF, 6 Jun 42, sub: Organic Air Observation for Field Artillery, WDGCT (Assistant Chief of Staff, G–3, General Staff) 320.2 (2–5–42), reprinted in Richard Tierney, The Army Aviation Story (Northport, Ala.: Colonial Press, 1963), pp. 68–69; William E. Vance, "History of Army Aviation," Aviation Digest 3 (Jun 1957): 7–12.
4. T/O 5–15, Engineer Battalion, Infantry Division, 1 Apr 42; T/O 5–15, Engineer Battalion, 1 Mar 43; T/O 11–7, Signal Company, Infantry Division, 1 Apr 42; T/O 11–7, Signal Company, Infantry Division, 1 Mar 43; T/O 10–17, Quartermaster Company, Infantry Division, 15 Sep 42; T/O 10–17, Quartermaster Company, Infantry Division, 1 Mar 43; Greenfield et al., Organization of Ground Combat Troops, pp. 309–11.
5. T/O 7–1, Headquarters, Infantry or Motorized Division, 1 Jun 42; T/O 7–1, Headquarters. Infantry Division, 1 Mar 43; T/O 7–2, Headquarters Company, Infantry or Motorized Division, I Jun 42; T/O 7–2, Headquarters Company, Infantry Division, 1 Mar 43: Greenfield et al., Organization of Ground Combat Troops, pp. 311–14.