hello all; regarding Marine Artillery, how was it broken up? how many men were assigned to each gun and what were their specific jobs? also, did Artillery Batteries have platoons commanded by 2nd or 1st lieutenants? how many men (approx.) would be in each platoon or group. I understand there are several different types of guns, i think my question is specifically geared towards crews manning 155mm Howitzers or 75mm Pack Howitzers. Any Help AT ALL would be great! thank you!
I had a fairly long response all ready to go on this one when my computer rebooted. The Tactical Notebook is an excelent reference for this sort of question at least in some cases. I'm not sure if back issues are available or not. Their address is (or used to be): Institute of Tactical Studies PO box 125 Quantico, Va 22134 From the July 93 issue it lists the following Provisional Marine Division 22 Oct 40 Arty Regiment - 12 155mm guns, 24 75mm guns, 12 75 mm pack howitzers 102-6-2,255/7-39 which I take to mean 102 officers, 6 ncos, and 2,255 enlisted not sure about the /7-39 Provisional Marine Division 7 March 41 Arty Regiment - 75mm pack howitzer battalion, 2x 75mm gun battalions, 155m gun battalion - 12 155mm guns, 24 75mm guns, 12 75 mm pack howitzers 102-6-2,255/7-39 which I take to mean 102 officers, 6 ncos, and 2,255 enlisted not sure about the /7-39 Marine Division 28 March 41 Arty Regiment - Special weapons battery, 3x 75mm pack howitzer battalion, 155m gun battalion - 12 155mm guns, 2 75mm guns, 36 75 mm pack howitzers, 4 37mm AA guns, 6 37mm AT guns 107-20-2,385/7-0-39 which I take to mean 107 officers, 20ncos, and 2,385 enlisted not sure about the /7-0-39 75mm and 37mm guns also exist elsewhere in the division. Marine Division 10 Jan 42 Arty Regiment - Special weapons battery, 3x 75mm pack howitzer battalion, 155m gun battalion - 12 155mm guns, 2 75mm guns, 36 75 mm pack howitzers, 4 37mm AA guns, 4 37mm AT guns 126-20-2,564/7-0-45 which I take to mean 107 officers, 20ncos, and 2,385 enlisted not sure about the /7-0-45 Special weapons BN - 4 75mm guns, 12 37mm AA guns, 12 27mm AT guns 22-3-477/2-10 In the defence battalions it mentions gun crews of 11 for the 155mm guns. I will post that data later. ***edit for*** I think the numbers following the / are USN personel attached to the USMC units.
Before I get started on additional issues. In the text describing the divisional organization it did mention at least for the provisional divisions that the battery organization was identical for all calibers. Now looking at the Speptember 93 issue The D series infantry regiment has a weapons company with 75mm gun platoon(2-0-53) organized into a HQ section(2-0-11) and 2 gun sections(0-0-21) with 1 75mm gun each. Going back to April 93 issue Marine Defence BN 7 may 42 has a gun group of 6 5", or 7" guns or 8 155mm guns The 155mm gun group (6-1-172) is organized as H&S battery (2-1-46) and 2 155mm gun batteries (2-0-63) with 4 155mm guns each. Let me know if you need more.
