US Army artillery replacements system

My wife came home from the hospital today and said she got talking to one of the volunteers there who told her he was a WWII veteran. Remarkable enough in itself as he's worked there for the past 17 years and must be 89 years old! When she asked what regiment or battalion he was with, he told her he was in a field artillery replacement unit and never had a permanent unit. He said his crew would be assigned to relieve other crews in different outfits all along the front whenever they got "down time" (R&R?), but they were kept so busy they never got any down time themselves!

I know infantry riflemen were sent off as indivdual replacements and stayed wherever they were put, but I have never heard of artillery replacement crews being handled in this way.

He remembers being in a tented camp in South Wales for about a month in June 44 and landing in Normandy about four weeks after the invasion, everyone very relieved to have missed the carnage of D-Day; he went on to fight in Normandy and the Bulge. My wife has another appointment there next week and will try to talk with him some more

 

Wow - that's actually slightly in excess of the artillery battalions organic to divisions, around 225 depending how many the airborne divisions had. And the majority of the separate battalions are 155mm or better, more than doubling the firepower of the front line divisions.

 

Dang it LRusso........ya went and left out my dad's group which was mentioned down at the bottom......the 545th Field Artillery...yep hard to find any specifics on these groupings.....always have hoped to find a member of that group that could tell us all about their service when and wheres. I am one of those who should have asked a lot more questions of my dad.........but I thought I had until trying to get the "whole picture" showed me I had not.

 

Honestly now......it is no problem as there are so many of them....it would be so easy to miss several....I sometimes think that is why details of these groups are so hard to find.....also read many were attached to marine units so each time I read about a marine action I am trying to see if there were any Army attached to them.....something that is rarely mentioned.

 

This sounds like a tale of Chinese whispers. Your post is based on a story told by an old man and repeated by your wife. It doesn't sound right. Artillery replacement units was a holding pool for individual replacements. As the name suggests they replaced soldiers lost through casualties in fighting units. It may be possible that individual replacements might have been sent to a unit temporarily and then withdrawn, e.g. to cover some temporary losses from sickness. I find it hard to believe that the US Army would retain a surplus of artillerymen when there was an acute shortage of infantry replacements. Ask the wife to check the story.

 

Sheldrake raises an interesting point.

An artillery unit was integral to a Division and it would seem like the height of folly to withdraw an entire unit and then try to plug in a replacement unit. Artillery is an extremely complex arm, with a myriad of map coordinates, unit codes, communications channels and so on, all tying it into a division down to the company level at a particular time and place.

I know that there were supplemental artillery units held at Corps and Army level that were released for particular operations. Perhaps the vet in question was in one of these units? Or perhaps there were trained artillerymen who replaced individuals in a unit... I just can't imagine pulling out an entire battery and trying to plug in a replacement battery.

 

I'm almost certain this gentleman was assigned to one of the Field Artillery Groups that were formed to operate at corps level
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/eto/eto-065.pdf The organization of these groups was extremely fluid, to say the least!

There's a hint of a clue here: http://www.seemyaccount.com/558thFAB/Docs/WWII%20558th%20FAB%20History.pdf
"However, during combat, batteries, platoons and even all 12 individual sections were detached for short missions to other units of the Third Army." So in one outfit at least, they definitely were pulling out entire sub units as temporary replacements.

Interesting!

 

Looking for information on the 282nd field artillery battalion ww2. I think they entered Normandy the first of August then straight to St. Lo breakout. Any information would be grateful. Chuck

 

Chuck, I would suggest you start your own thread on the 282nd under this same category (Info Req). Most folks are going to think you've made a comment on the original subject of this thread. Let us know what info you've already gathered (saves us from duplicating work you may have already done), if you had a relative that served in the unit, and, if so, posting any paperwork you may have on him is very helpful.

Good luck with your search.

 

Chuck,

The 282d FA Bn was activated 25 June 1943 at Camp Rucker, Alabama. It departed New York 22 June 1944 and arrived England 29 June, then landed in France on 10 August 1944. It was a 105mm Howitzer battalion, truck drawn and was non-divisional. Typically those units were assigned to armies and attached to corps, where they would be attached to divisions as reinforcing artillery, supplementing the 105mm direct support howitzer battalions of the division. I know it was attached to the 90th ID 30 December 44- 1 January 45, but that is about it. You could request their records from NARA, I don't think they completed a unit history.

 

Lou, no need for an apology, that is my ETO list. The 545th was Pacific.

 

Thank you for your support in researching my father unit the 282nd field artillery battalion. I have several pictures of the Concentration Camp Ohrdruf he took personally and I have many stories he passed on to me as well as pictures of them in the field during the war. I like many should have my rear kicked for not asking him more. I will be happy to share anything I have with anyone interested. Thank you again Chuck

 

Chuck,
My father — Robert Culhane — was in Battery A of the 282nd Field Artillery Battalion. Have you posted the pictures that your father took at Ohrdruf or of the 282nd in the field during the war? I would very much like to see them. Garrett Culhane

 

If you're interested in Ohrdruf be sure to see Matthew Nash's documentary, 16 Photographs at Ohrdruf: 16 Photographs At Ohrdruf.

 

I have not posted them yet however, I will start working on that asap.

 

I have done a bit of research on the 270th FA Bn. It was a non-divisional 240mm howitzer unit that would occasionally "loan" a battery to a needing Division. The battalion as whole would be aligned with various FA Groups and/or Divisions as missions needed too.