PFAB TO&E and/or Field Manual Help?

Hi everybody...

The next step in my research revolves around what specific duties my grandfather had as a member of HQ and Service Battery, 680th GFAB. His MOS was 055 (Clerk, General), and he was later made 502 (Personnel Sergeant Major). I have read the general descriptions of these MOSs in the TM 12-427 manual, but that is pretty basic and vague. I am interested in learning specifically what a guy trained as an office worker would have done while in position in the field in places like Bastogne and Houffalize, or immediately after landing in a glider across the Rhine. I can't imagine they had proper offices set up in too many of these places, so what specific duties would he have performed, under what conditions and where?

Was he in a foxhole with a clipboard and a typewriter, or was he hundreds of yards back off the front line in a tent at a desk, processing paperwork (like that Upham guy in Saving Private Ryan)?

That is my main question, in a nutshell.

Anyone have any info or know where to look? I'd love to look at a TO&E for a GFAB so I can see what equipment he was issued, what weapon he carried (carbine I'm assuming), etc.

I'd love to find the field manual that lists what he was supposed to be doing specifically but I can't seem to find any pertinent ones online.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as usual.

Thanks! (I'm doing my best to keep the discourse going on this great website--it seems to be waning, sadly. I always ignore those malware warnings that I get as I'm on a Mac, but I'm guessing many don't.)

 

Wow did I stump the whole group? 159 views and not a single response?

 

[Edit: I overlooked the request for information on the Service Battery, disregard this post]

Just missed you...

Great post adambhoy, I really love your enthusiasm for getting a clear picture of your grandfathers war.

If I have not confused you with someone else I recall you got a complete personnel file for your grandfather (rather than the more common: Sorry it was lost in the fire).

If so, I imagine a lot of the documents you are looking at passed through your grandfathers "desk" or more appropriately one of the clerk/typists he managed. I imagine he worked closely with the battalion S-1, Personnel (sometimes called the Adjutant, I think, usually a Captain, signs many of the documents) keeping all the personnel files up to date. Since a FA battalion did not suffer heavy casualties they did not have the constant turn-over of personnel that kept an Infantry regiment's S-1 shop busy.

Not sure what other tasks the S-1 shop could have taken over in battle. Maybe someone with current military experience could shed some light on this.

I recall infantry regiments had a Red Cross representative that would act to verify home emergencies that might permit the Army to grant emergency leaves. I would think the RC rep stayed with the S-1 shop.

The book A Soldiers Journal by David Rothbart is by a veteran that worked in an Infantry regiment's S-1 shop (4th ID). I think he eventually made sergeant but he was not the top NCO in the office. There is very little description of what he does in the office, but if you get a chance to scan the entries you might find something interesting.

Final note, I've been avoiding coming here lately because there are few members discussing these minor aspects of WWII and no new members with inquiries. (I must admit that I do get tired of no acknowledgment to responses, but then there are some that do respond.)

Hope someone can correct any errors I made above lest you are forced to accept my ramblings as fact.

 

Awesome stuff, thanks Slipdigit! I'm sure the duties of someone in HQ are at least similar between a rifle regiment and an artillery battalion, so that will give me a nice start. I look forward to what your research in Stanton's book yields; no hurry though, take your time.

Earthican, I ordered that book from the library--good call. And yes, you are correct--it was me who got my grandfather's whole file. It is definitely a lot of fun to peruse! Something new to learn on every page.

 

I probably 'jumped the gun' with the assumption that your father worked in the S-1 section. Looking at his service timeline from your other thread it seems he was a Technician 5th Grade for his time in combat.

AND you clearly stated he was with the Service Battery of the 680th GFAB for his time in combat. I am not sure what the Service Battery does but it does not have to do with the battalion staff and headquarters.

I am so sorry.

Outside the firing batteries, other functions that need to be done are vehicle and gun maintenance, Fire Direction Center, a survey team, maybe ammunition handling. All of which might have paperwork associated with it. Not sure what the split in functions is between Service Bty and HHB.

So your original request for a TO&E is spot on.

I'll look around the Net to see if I can redeem myself. You might have to settle for a regular FAB TO&E but service battery functions should be the same.

 

Well here's a surprising development it appears there was a single:
Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Battery
(see attached, for regular truck drawn 105mm FA)

Kind of back to where I started, but keep an open mind about where he may have worked before he became a "personnel sergeant major".

Even though we have not found an official TO&E you might want to check his paperwork to see if it has a specific title (or code) in the battalion for the time he was in combat.

 

Found a detail to the above 'un-official TOE' for regular truck drawn 105mm FAB (see attached, 2 pages)

It details each man in the Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Battery.

Interesting, there is a Personnel Section, bottom second page. The only clerk outside of which is the Battery Clerk, top first page.

I'm sure you would like a an official TOE for a GFAB. But if you do find one I think these will help you read it. An official TOE can be a confusing table to read.

 

Hi guys--

Sorry for the delay in my reply, I was traveling all weekend... Anyway, thank you both for your help. Earthican, can you clarify something for me? You said "you might want to check his paperwork to see if it has a specific title (or code) in the battalion for the time he was in combat." Can you expand on this? Not sure what you mean--where should I be looking for this information?

I checked the morning reports that I have, and it looks like "HQ Battery" was redesignated "HQ & HQ & Service Btry" on May 18, 1945. ("in accordance with Par 2b AR 345-400 dtd 3 Jan 45 under T/O and E 6-225 dtd 16 Dec 44"). Before this time all the morning reports say HQ Battery on them. Plus I know from the photos in the 17th AB training "yearbook" that the battery was listed as being "HQ and Service Battery" in 1943. Does any of this make any difference?

I also have a copy of his Bronze Star citation, which states that he was Personnel Clerk in the Unit Personnel Section, Headquarters and Service Battery. I'll attach a jpg of it so you can see what it says; again I am interested in what he would have done/where he would have been stationed specifically when the battery was moving to different locations in the field. Does what it says in the citation offer any further clues?

View attachment 17136

 

Regarding my post "you might want to check his paperwork to see if it has a specific title (or code) in the battalion for the time he was in combat."

Having never seen a complete personnel file I can't say the exact document. But you mentioned one that lists his assignments by date. Whenever he is promoted, or transferred to a new unit, it might indicate his new "job" or it might use a code OR both. Looking at a real TO&E I see the Bugler is line 22 so a personnel action might indicate "assigned Bugler, 22". So anything like that.


But all that is unnecessary for your current question. With the BS citation you get his exact "title", Personnel Clerk. In the TO&E I posted for regular FAB, you find the Personnel Clerk in the Personnel Section in the Service Platoon.

Now the regular FAB TO&E put the Service Platoon in the "Rear Echelon". We can't be sure the GFAB did the same but most likely they did. I recall reading about MARKET-GARDEN where a portion of the 82d's GFAB and PFAB drove up "Hell's Highway" behind British XXX Corps.

My sense is that the "rear echelon" did not need to be forward for combat but could "push" their function forward when necessary. That is the Maintenance Section could send a "contact vehicle" forward to repair or recover a vehicle. Similarly the Personnel Section could send a person forward to the Battalion HQ's to pick up personnel changes (usually promotions/demotions) coming from the firing batteries.

All these individual unit "Rear Echelons" would be collected together by the Division and controlled as a "unit" in the Division rear area. So you might find it worthwhile to look at the Division documents to see if they cite the locations of the "Rear Echelon".


As far as the name changes from HQ Battery to HQ and HQ and Service Battery. It may have been only a name change OR the Service Battery could have been consolidated with HQ Battery, per that 1945 TO&E. The most positive way to tell is to see if there are separate Morning Reports for Service Battery prior to the change.


Did you ever find out if your grandfather rode by glider into VARSITY? The date for entering Germany would not be definitive. While there might have been a "rear echelon" it would not surprise me that personnel from headquarters would be taken for HQ security if there was space for them.


Another good book is On time, On Target by John McKenzie. He was PFAB in the 82d but rode glider into M-G and the section on Berlin should interest you.

 

Thanks for the reply as always, Earthican. In his personnel file (which is largely comprised of a booklet called Service Record AGO form no. 24), there is a section called "Army Specialty". Under that it lists Clerk, Gen 055 with a rating date of July 17, 1943, and then "Gliderman" under that, with no dates. That is pretty much it in that section.

Another section details his promotions ("Military Record--Appointment, Promotion or Reduction, with Authority Therefore"), and lists his promotions from Private to Tec/5 to Tec/4 to Staff Sergeant, with dates. Authority is given as various standing orders from unit headquarters (eg "SO 36, HQ 680 Gli FA Bn"). That is it for that section.

A third section a few pages later consists of a hand-written insert labeled "Insert to Service Record" that details his foreign service--basically a list of countries and dates.

Those are all the indications in his file in regards to his MOS and assignment locations/dates.

I think your thoughts on his duties being Rear Echelon are good ones--they certainly make sense to me. One bit of interesting conjecture I have however comes from the wife of a very close friend of his during his time in the 680th; this man was the guy who delivered the mail when it came, among other things, and served alongside my grandfather (and has a gold arrowhead on his EAME ribbon, which makes me think the battery made the Varisty drop; more on that in a minute). His wife (he passed away a few years ago) told me that as my grandfather had a speech impediment (something I hadn't even known about but I confirmed with my mother), it made her husband nervous about having my grandfather call in artillery strikes, as people could misunderstand the coordinates he was saying. Obviously this is all third-hand scuttlebutt, but it does make me wonder if some of his responsibilities did in fact involve fire coordination over the telephone/radio. A real head-scratcher anyway.

As for Varsity, I do have a copy of the Operation Varsity Report that was done by the Army after the operation had happened--it details all unit assignments and missions, lists specific LZs and DZs for gliders and paratroops, airfields used, what units ended up where, what they could have done better, etc. While I don't have rosters for specific glider loads, I do have listings of the gliders with numbers assigned to carry specific units, and HQ battery/680th is among them. A total of 12 gliders were assigned for HQ btry (if I remember correctly, it's not in front of me), so that would seem to imply that everyone was taken along. They landed at approx. 1140 in DZ "S", just north of Wesel along the Issel Canal, under heavy AA and small-arms fire. This information is confirmed by the morning reports as well.

 

OK, I am wrong about what might be in the personnel file. My other thought is, in addition to the daily company/battery Morning Report, there should exist monthly(ish) Unit Rosters that you might check-out. They might match names against the TO&E line numbers.


Regarding the the kidding he got for the speech impediment. The thought I had was, since your grandfather came straight to the 680th GFAB as an enlistee, he received Field Artillery basic training. It's hard to say how far he got as an artillerymen before being tapped for the Personnel Section. At some point in that training they may have practiced radio procedure. I imagine it could become a standing joke among his circle of friends in the outfit if he was hard to understand over the radio. And this joke could be repeated every time he had to use the radio/phone from the rear echelon.

The BS citation indicated that the Personnel Officer and Chief were absent from the Personnel Section for months. So I tend to think your grandfather had to run that shop with little time for extra duties. I have little doubt that he "visited" the batteries and was shelled by the enemy. And traveling roads always brings the danger of mines that were missed by the engineers, particularly in winter. His was not an easy war.


My thought on the 12 gliders for HQ Battery is, I would guess, about six were needed for a loaded jeep plus up to five men. I would have to check how many men a glider could carry, 16 or 20 comes to mind. So I think there is the possibility for a "residue" from HQ Battery. For major operations they called the parts not participating in the operation a "residue" because it could contain more than the "rear echelon".

Fun stuff to learn and speculate over, thank you for sharing.

Stanton shows T/O 6-225(1AUG44) for the 75mm Pack GFAB. That might be useful for searching.

 

Whoa was I wrong! My memory is apparently no good. Ouch!

I looked at my Operation Varsity report, and here is the info from the Air Movement Table (Glider)--

Serials A-14 and A-15 were used to move HQ Btry/680 (among some other units, including Battery B/680). There were 72 gliders in A-14 and 72 more in A-15.

Of the gliders in A-14, 65 total carried Battery B/680 and HQ/680 (it doesn't separate them further than that). Of the 72 gliders in Serial A-15, it lists 24 for B/680 and 8 for HQ/680.

So, that's 97 gliders total for B/680 and HQ/680. According to Wikipedia the capacity of a CG-4A Waco glider was 13 troops, or 1 1/4 ton truck (Jeep) ALONG WITH 4 troops, or 6 litters. I don't know specific numbers or TO&Es but I do have pics of both batteries from training in 1943 showing around 140 men in each battery. Call it 300 total men just for argument's sake, and that's 24 gliders to carry the whole complement of men for both B/680 and HQ/680, leaving 73 gliders to carry the 105mm guns (I think they were upgraded from 75mms just prior to Varsity), Jeeps, etc.

It sounds to me like there would have been room for the entire HQ and Service Battery--what do you guys think? Am I missing anything? I know that these are broad strokes, and that you guys know more about this stuff than I do, so I'm just throwing it out there. Not trying to be a contrarian or anything.

Earthican your suggestion vis-a-vis the Unit Rosters is a great one! I didn't know that those survived the war but if they exist I definitely want to look at them. Seeing T/O 6-225 from Stanton would be awesome too. Hopefully someone has a copy they could post?

Good points on his being busy running the personnel shop and everything too--I tend to agree. I'm sure if he was doing additional work he wouldn't have time for much else.

This stuff is a lot of fun! Thank you for keeping the dialogue going.

 

Stanton does not publish the complete TO&E, just the summary of men and equipment.

For Glider 75mm Pack Howitzer (T/O 6-225)
Officers - 24
WO's - 3
EM's - 345
75mm Pack How. - 12
MG .5 cal - 9
Truck 2-1/2 ton - 4
Truck 3/4 ton - 3
Truck 1/4 ton - 43
Motor scooter - 17
plus pistols, carbines,....

The TO&E for the 680th GFAB was no doubt modified, but likely similar. I think the 105mm they used was the same as the Infantry Regiment Cannon Company. Not sure what the prime mover was but had to be bigger than the 1/4 ton jeep and probably bigger than a 3/4 ton weapon carrier, not likely to fit in a glider. So along with the 2-1/2 tons and 3/4 tons these would be in the residue. Not sure what they would do for moving the 105's after landing, but can be manhandled short distances. Don't forget the ammunition for the 105's. I am thinking at least three gliderfuls per tube (trying some red leg speak)

I imagine the 4 gun carrying gliders (per battery) had a special place in the serial that would give them the best chance of landing together and near the spot they planned to fire from initially.

Another book you might be interested in, An American Glider Pilot's Story by Gale Ammerman. He flew in Normandy, M-G and VARSITY.

Here's the page for MR's and Rosters, Green Arrow Research has been praised around ww2f.com

Access to Morning Reports and Unit Rosters

 

With that many men, is that the TO&E for the entire battalion then? I think the 680th had A and B batteries, plus HQ.

Thanks for the book recommendation--I'm adding it to my list!

Can I order the unit rosters from NARA, or do I have have to go there in person/hire Golden Arrow Research or similar to view them?

 

Yes, those numbers from Stanton are for a 12 gun battalion with 4 guns per battery. A, B and C are the firing batteries.

(Actually Howitzers, because the Field Artillery has clear criteria for Gun versus Howitzer.)

I'll "shoot" you a PM on the Army Records Center at St Louis.

 

Ever since you asked and I answered with the best information available, I wondered if I was correct. Turns out I was wrong again. I found a chart of a T/O Airborne Division here:

Airborne Division Table of Organization (T/O) | Blood on the Talon

Attached is the portion of the Glider Field Artillery which shows each battalion with only two firing batteries of six howitzers each. The chart has this note "AIRBORNE DIVISION -- T/O 71 Corrected to 25 May 43"

 

Funny you should mention that!

I found that website about a month ago--GREAT info on there. He is putting a book together; can't wait until that comes out! Thanks for posting the info on the TO/E, Earthican. Good stuff.

If I read that right, it's 19 officers and 363 EM for an airborne artillery battalion then?