101st Airborne Division Artillery

Distinctive Unit Insignia
Country United States United States of America
Branch Army
Type Field artillery
Role Division Force Fires HQs
Size Brigade
Part of 101st Airborne Division
Garrison/HQ Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Nickname(s) "Guns of Glory"
Equipment M119A3 Howitzer
M777A2 Howitzer
Website <http://www.campbell.army.mil/Units/Pages/DIVARTY.aspx>
Commanders
Current
commander		 COL Kyle J. Marsh
Command Sergeant Major CSM Carl Fagan

The 101st Airborne Division Artillery (DIVARTY) is the force fires headquarters for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The DIVARTY has served with the division in World War II, Vietnam, Operations Desert Shield and Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in peacetime at Camp Breckinridge and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The DIVARTY was inactivated in 2005 as part of transformation to modular brigade combat teams, but was reactivated on 16 October 2014 to provide fire support coordination and mission command for the training and readiness of Field Artillery units across the division.

History

The 176th Field Artillery Brigade was constituted in the Organized Reserve on 24 June 1921, assigned to the 101st Division in the Sixth Corps Area with its headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The brigade consisted of two 75mm gun regiments (the 376th and 377th Field Artillery regiments) and the 326th Ammunition Train. In 1929, a 155mm howitzer regiment (the 378th Field Artillery, replaced within a month with the 572nd Field Artillery) was added to the brigade when the Army adopted a lighter 155mm howitzer. The brigade conducted its summer training at Camps Custer and McCoy in Wisconsin.[1]

World War II

Early Cold War

Vietnam

The 101st Airborne Division Artillery deployed to Vietnam as part of Operation Eagle Thrust, from 3–18 December 1967. During the first 30 days, DIVARTY units integrated into the existing artillery fires of their base camps, while concurrently executing a required, in-country training program. The 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, already in Vietnam with the division's 1st Brigade, returned to the Division Artillery in mid-January. During the first six weeks in country, the DIVARTY fired 54,969 rounds of 105mm, and conducted 59 days of training, 10 days of troop movement, and 23 days of combat operations.[2]

Throughout February 1968, the DIVARTY expanded its responsibilities and communications capabilities as the 101st Airborne Division assumed responsibility for larger areas of operation. on 2 February 1968, the DIVARTY assumed responsibility for coordinating fires in AO Uniontown Center and North. On 7 February 1968, the 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery (- Battery A) was attached to the DIVARTY, providing a 155mm reinforcing capability. From 17–23 February, personnel from HHB, 2-319th and 1-321st received M18 Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer (FADAC) training from 1st Infantry Division Artillery, to operate FADAC computers issued on 9 February 1968. When 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Vietnam and came under the operational control of the 101st, the DIVARTY assumed responsibility for the 2-321 which was attached to the brigade. On 1 March 1968, the DIVARTY Fire Direction Center (FDC) coordinated the fires of five batteries in support of B/2-506 Infantry. In early March, the DIVARTY moved to the I Corps Tactical Zone (CTZ), the DIVARTY passed fire control for AO Uniontown to 2nd Battalion, 40th Field Artillery. On 8 March 1968, the drivers from HHB DIVARTY and HSB/2-11 left Bien Hoa for sea embarkation in Saigon. The remaining personnel moved by air on 15 March 1968. On 17 March 1968, seaborne elements arrived at Da Nang and moved to Camp Eagle, establishing the DIVARTY Operations Center on 18 March. In I CTZ, the DIVARTY began receiving heavy General Support artillery from Provisional Corps Vietnam Artillery, and B/2-11 arrived in the division AO as a reinforcing medium battery. On 31 March 1968, the DIVARTY received a 105mm battery (A/1-40, replaced on 16 April by C/6-33). On 15 April, C/6-16 was attached to the DIVARTY as a third reinforcing medium battery, and subsequently attached to 2-11. During February - April, the DIVARTY's three organic 105mm battalions fired over 200,000 rounds in support of the division's infantry.[3]

Post Cold War

Global War on Terror

In February and March 2003, the DIVARTY deployed to Kuwait in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The DIVARTY provided close support fires to the division's attack north into Iraq, including the battles of Karbala, An Najaf, Kifl and Al Hilla. Following the liberation of Bagdad, the DIVARTY conducted stability operations around the city of Mosul before redeploying in the spring of 2004.[4] As part of the Army's transformation to modular brigade combat teams, the DIVARTY was inactivated in 2005 at Fort Campbell.

In October 2014, as part of another restructuring, the DIVARTY was reactivated at Fort Campbell. The unit will have a dual mission: provide the 101st Airborne Division with a Force Fires Headquarters to plan, integrate and employ Joint Fires for the division; and provide trained and read Field Artillery units and fire support elements for the division's brigade combat teams.[5]

Lineage and honors

Lineage

Campaign participation credit

Note: the official Army lineage, published 15 February 2015, lists "Campaigns to be determined". Estimate that the unit will be entitled to campaign credit for two campaigns based on deployment dates.

Decorations

Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in France and Belgium

Heraldry

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clay, Steven E. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery and Coast Artillery, 1919-41, vol. 2 of U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press), 697,736-737,876-877, 921.
  2. ↑ Headquarters, 101st Airborne Division. "Operational Report for Quarterly Period Ending 31 January 1968." 31 March 1968. Web. Accessed 24 November 2015. <http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/390719.pdf>.
  3. ↑ Headquarters, 101st Airborne Division Artillery. "Operational Report of 101st Airborne Division Artillery for Period Ending 30 April 1968." 10 May 1968. Web. Accessed 24 November 2015.<http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/392040.pdf>.
  4. ↑ "Silhouettes of Steel: 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Artillery," Field Artillery HQDA PB 6-04-5 (November–December 2004): 39. Web. Accessed 8 November 2015. <http://sill-www.army.mil/firesbulletin/archives/2004/NOV_DEC_2004/NOV_DEC_2004_FULL_EDITION.pdf>.
  5. ↑ 101st Airborne Division. "'Guns of Glory' to return to Fort Campbell." Fort Campbell Courier. 2 October 2014. Web. Accessed 8 November 2015. <http://www.fortcampbellcourier.com/news/article_feafe39e-4a76-11e4-9643-6f396283d9d8.html>.
  6. 1 2 3 Lineage and Honors: Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 101st Airborne Division Artillery. U.S. Army Center for Military History. 20 February 2015. Web. Accessed 5 November 2015. <http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/div/101abdbat.htm>.
  7. ↑ "Afghanistan Campaign Medal or Iraq Campaign Medal." The Adjutant General Directorate (TAGD). United States Army Human Resources Command. 6 August 2015. Web, accessed 12 October 2015. <https://www.hrc.army.mil/TAGD/Afghanistan%20Campaign%20Medal%20or%20Iraq%20Campaign%20Medal>.
  8. ↑ 101st Airborne Division Artillery. The Institute of Heraldry. No Date. Web. Accessed 5 November 2015. <http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=5345&CategoryId=3050&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services>.

External links

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