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Foreword
Direct Support
Do not try to digest this section all at once, but keep it on hand for reference.
In this document I will refer frequently to battalions and batteries, and it might help to get
a rough idea of what they are.
A field artillery battalion (Bn) was made up of something over 500 men and necessary
equipment, divided into five batteries, plus a medical detachment. The batteries were
Headquarters Battery (Hq Btry), Service Battery (Svc Btry), and three firing batteries, A, B, and
C. Each battery contained roughly 100 men and was commanded by a captain. The Hq Btry
Commander had the additional job of Communications Officer (ComO). The Svc Btry
Commander was also the Battalion S-4¹, or supply officer.
Most of Hq Btry were communications people, handling two-way radios, laying
telephone wire, manning switchboards, etc., but it also included a survey section, a fire direction
center, liaison sections, a kitchen crew, and some other odds and ends.
Svc Btry contained a sizable motor maintenance section to do preventive maintenance
and repairs on the vehicles, an ammunition train to haul shells for the howitzers, and a supply
section to deliver food, clothing, gasoline, and other amenities. And, of course, a kitchen.
Batteries A, B, and C each had four howitzer sections, consisting of a howitzer (cannon),
a truck to tow it, and the cannoneers and driver to operate same. There was also a "fifth section"
with two trucks and a crew of ammunition handlers (traditionally the men too dumb to do
anything else). The battery executive officer commanded these five sections.
A firing battery also included communication (radio and telephone) personnel, instrument
(survey) people, and forward observer? (FO) parties. And last but not least, a kitchen truck with
equipment and personnel to feed everyone.
The Medical Detachment of our battalion didn't have much to do, fortunately. Most of
our casualties were forward observer and liaison personnel who were up with the infantry and
got treated or evacuated by the infantry medics. Our battalion surgeon, Lt. Davis, a pathologist as
a civilian, had an ambulance and a jeep plus several aid men, and took care of colds and fluxes.
Much of the time he spent-hanging out around the S-2 Section where there was company. A few
times we were shelled or bombed, and then he was a tower of strength.
In the 90th Division Organization Chart (page iii) the 915th Field Artillery Battalion
(915th FA Bn) is shown as under the command of the 90th Division Artillery (Div Arty), and its
box is right under that of the 359th Infantry Regiment and connected to it by a dotted line. That
means that the 915th was in Direct Support of the 359th. The chart on page iv shows what other
units were also in direct support of the 359th. To clarify much of what follows, I must explain
just what that relationship implies.
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