384th Artillery Battalion

The 103rd’s artillery section was comprised of four Artillery Battalions: the 382nd Artillery Battalion, the 383rd Artillery Battalion, the 928th Artillery Battalion (all three of these units operated 105 mm guns) and the 384th Artillery Battalion (manning 155 mm guns). The artillery pieces that these battalions used were essential for supporting the infantry and continuous advance of the 103rd Infantry Division during their time in combat. The various artillery battalions were mainly tasked with providing either pre-attack barrages, or providing fire support for the infantry units when called by their F.O.’s (forward observers). There were normally at least one F.O. assigned to each infantry battalion to call for fire support missions. Under “The War: Document Collection” tab, there are morning reports from each battalion which detail their locations from day to day while in Europe.

Depending on the mission the infantry was expected to carry out, or the fire support that was requested, different batteries and battalions would fire their weapons. The 155 mm artillery pieces that was operated by the 384th Artillery Battalion differed in some key aspects from the smaller 105 mm gun. Firstly, the size of the gun and artillery round was much larger and heavier. The average weight of the 155 mm projectile was nearly 100 pounds.

Due to its weight, the projectile was loaded into the gun at the back end (called the breech). After this, the gun crew would load bags of gun powder into the breech behind the projectile. This differed from the 105 mm gun where the projectile and the gun powder was all contained in one shell. Despite the heavier weight of the 155 mm projectile, it could be fired much further, going approximately 16,000 yards or around 9 miles accurately. This larger gun was often used for the same fire missions as the 105 mm gun, but its increased range and the increased damage that the larger 155 mm round could deliver was essential for providing fire support, pre-attack bombardments, and destroying enemy defensive positions.

Each artillery battalion has their own distinct unit insignia that have their battalion mottos attached. However, each insignia has some aspect of a red background which is historically the identifying color of the Artillery branch in the Army. Some of the unit insignia’s also have an image of a cannon or artillery round from previous American conflicts which is meant to showcase the heritage of the U.S. Army Artillery branch.