How to operate an artillery battery ?

Hello everyone, I am conducting research on an artillery battalion during a World War 2 and I would like to understand how this type of unit works.
For example, how were the soldiers distributed because not all of them were at the cannons and what did he do in that case ?
Could it act as infantry when necessary ?

 

What Opana said, but also:

Which Battalion? There were many types of artillery battalions.
Whose Battalion? There were many countries fighting.
When? It was a long war.
Where? It was a world-wide war.

All matter to the answer.

 

This is Battery C of the 7th Field Artillery Battalion of the 1st Infantry Division during the Normandy campaign.

 

Okay then. The 7th FA was part of the 16th Infantry Regimental Combat Team. For D-Day it was part of Force O with 476 O & EM and 88 vehicles. Basically that was its firing sections, 12 of them, with four to each battery, and a small detachment from HQ & HQ Battery and Service Battery, the bare minimum to be able to fire in support of the 16th Infantry. One major complication was the landing plan restricted the number of standard wheeled vehicles landing under the assumption they would bog down in the sand. The solution, in part, was to land separate self-propelled battalions attached to the assault divisions, but they required more LCT. which complicated things. On UTAH, two of the 4th Infantry Division FA battalions were re-equipped with 105mm SP, but the 1st Division took a different route. They mounted their M2A1 105mm howitzers in the cargo hold of DUKW amphibious trucks. That unfortunately led to 7 of the 12 being lost in rough seas on the run in, so it was a few days before the battalion was fully effective.

 

Hi
Your question may be more complex than it appears. To properly understand the role of the crews of artillery in Normandy it needs some insight into the higher-level structures. I’m guessing you are asking as a writer rather than as a historian.

So wrt to the issue fighting as infantry, then yes, they can and in 1944-45 some Anti-Aircraft units are converted to infantry in other armies. I’m note sure if the Americans needed to do this.

Good news the US is probably the easiest as many manuals are available online and places such as
a) HyperWar: U.S. Army Field Manuals
b) CONTENTdm

As a basic guide there are several types of documents, but as a start note that there are
- Field Manuals (e.g. FM 100-5 …) – these define the doctrine and working of units
- Technical Manuals (e.g. TM 9-1326 …) these are weapon specific manuals
- The link a) above goes into some of this in more details on the page in the link

FYI – the titles below are from my collection of files. I have adapted some details for sorting purposes, so to clarify, the documents below generally follow the Harvard system with;
- US, = United States (because I have from several countries)
- WD = War Department (i.e. the government body at the time, now the Department of the Army)
- (####) year published
- FM or TM = Field Manual or Technical Manual
- The number sequence of the actual manual. For sorting purposes I have inserted leading zeros so that items sort alphabetically. For example FM 100-5 is listed as “FM 100-05” and the artillery are all “09-” rather than “9-“
- Titles are as they appear on the cover of the document

Step 1 - To get an overall insight I suggest first reading these and focus on the sections on Artillery. The 1941 would be the most relevant as the 1944 was issued 15 June and so was probably not implemented for the initial troops who landed in June/July 1944.
- US, WD (1941) FM 100-5 Field Service Regulations, Operations
- US, WD (1944) FM 100-5 Field Service Regulations, Operations

Step 2 - Then look at artillery specific manuals. A good feature is that the US groups manuals by type of service, so “FM 6-“ is about artillery as opposed to “FM 17-“ which is tank units.
- US, WD (1939) FM 06-05 Field Artillery Field Manual - Organization and Drill - This will cover haw a battery is to operate – i.e. the high-level doctrine
- US, WD (1944) FM 06-20 Field Artillery - Tactical [Fire Control] – This may give more specific details on how to bring down fire – key is sections III and IV for understanding of how guns are employed in battle
- US, WD (1941) FM 06-75 Field Artillery Field Manual - Service of the Piece - 105mm Howitzer, M2, Truck-drawn – this will give some insight to a typical gun’s operation. Key is Section VII which specifies each gunners’ duties.
- US, WD (1945) FM 06-40 Field Artillery Gunnery (incl C1 and C2) – again on how a battery functions. Note Part VI and Chapter 2.
- US, WD (1944) TM 09-1326 105-mm Howitzer M3 and Howitzer Carriages M3 and M3A1 – this gives details such as how to clean, oil and maintain a gun. Possibly good for jargon correct details.

Many more appear documents on these sites, but this may do. Let me know if you have any more queries.

The Ike Skelton library also has many other documents which may be on interest such as Military Science theses and Combat Studies Institute studies. See links from CONTENTdm

Regards
Scott