Need To&E for 1. Armoured Division(US) Jan.44 to Aug.44

[Panzer_M 2.0]

Looking for in for the 1. and 6. Armoured Regiments, thier makeup and such.

I'm looking for around the time of Anzio landing(1.22.44 i think is when 1. Arm landed), Fischfang and seitensprung and buffalo

also for July 3rd, Rosignano-Salvay where the 1. Arm assisted the 34. Infantry (Red Bull) Division against the 19. Luftwaffe Sturm Division which itself was assisted by elements of the 26.Panzer...and ended with the 19. LW holding up the Americans for a week, but as the cost of the 19.LW(which was disbanded with some elements going to 20. Luftwaffe Sturm Division which also was in Italy and some going to the new 19. Volks(or Just) Grenadier Division in Northwestern Europe).

Just orderd the Osprey Book on US Armour in North Africa and Italy 42-45..but I'm working on the Rosignano battle(s) for CMAK tonight and this weekend while inbetween working on a few model projects.

[Steve McClaire]

US 1st Armored Division was still configured as a 'heavy' armored division until after the fall of Rome -- it had the 1st and 13th Armored Regiments and the 6th Armored Infantry Regiment. 1/1st Armored was a light tank battalion, 2nd and 3rd battalions were medium. I believe the same was true of 13th Armored. 6th Armored Infantry had 3 battalions.

As far as battalion organizations, you can use CMAK's 1942 US Armored Infantry Battalion/Company for the armored infantry, I think. The Light tank battalions were all M5 Stuarts, and the medium battalions would be M4 Shermans.

Hope that helps.

[JasonC]

The new TOE for light ADs was effective 15 September 1943, and 1st AD eventually did convert, but not until after Rome as Steve says. By then it was reduced anyway and had to be rebuilt. Steve no doubt knows the rest below, I am just fleshing out his comments.

The old heavy structure was 2 armor regiments each 1 light and 2 medium battalions, 1 armored infantry regiment of 3 battalions, and 1 artillery regiment with 3 battalions (SP). The other organic units include an armored cavalry squadron, armored engineer battalion, and the usual support (medical signals ordnance etc).

The armored battalions of the old heavy divisions were triangular, in other words 3 uniform companies each - all Stuart in the light battalions, all Sherman in the medium battalions. There was an additional Stuart company in the armored cavalry squadron. Thus a heavy pattern division had 7 Stuart and 12 Sherman companies all told. The new light pattern had only 3 armored battalions but each of 4 companies, 1 Stuart and 3 Sherman, plus the cavalry's extra Stuart battalion. Thus 4 Stuart and 9 Sherman companies all told. The amount of armored infantry and field artillery was the same in either case.

2nd and 3rd AD kept the heavy pattern to the end of the war, 1st was the only other one that ever used it, and didn't keep it.

Even the light pattern didn't have enough infantry, in practice, for sustained combat. Besides cannabilizing inessential subunits for extra riflemen, the typical organizational expedient was to cross-attach a full infantry regiment from an infantry division in the same corps. At Anzio for 1st Armored, that was a regiment of the 34th ID, usually.

Other attachments that floated and were not permanent were TDs (SP) and AAA. I have seen reports of SP TDs working with 1st AD during the Anzio breakout fighting, but I don't have a unit designation.

After the reorganization to light (post Rome), the former regiments became battalion sized, and the division structure was 1, 4, and 13 tank battalions, 6, 11 and 14 armored infantry, throughout it had 27, 68, and 91st armored field artillery battalions, 81st cavalry squadron, and 16th armored engineer battalion.

I hope this helps.

[Panzer_M 2.0]

cool, thanks for the info both Steve and Jason.

[Panzer_M 2.0]

what would be the "most" common M4 in July'44..I figure it's all L38s and maybe a very few 105s(M4..but prob M7 SPGs? but no 76mm(since the 76s were rare or uncommon up to Lorraine in the ETO and Italy was 2nd fiddle to the actions in France...also did the M8 HMCs stick around for close support like the Pz III(75)s did in the 26.Pz til later/end in/of the campaign?

I have a few photos of M10s around Anzio in Feb?(Fischfang IIRC), but I can't find the TD Bat they are from, or well I haven't started to look yet. US units in Italy are a new field for me, as before I was working with British/Commonwealth and Heer/Luftwaffe formations-timelines.

[Panzer_M 2.0]

on a sidenote: between looking for maps/looking up units/and all the other work, I really do !appreciate! all the work the scenerio guys and mod guy do.

[Steve McClaire]

1st Armored exact equipment is going to involve a little bit of guesswork, or someone with primary source material, I think. The division took heavy losses in Tunisia and was rebuilt the first time in March 1943, and then spent several months refitting and training in Morocco before it went to Italy. It was rebuilt on the 1942 TO&E but some of the equipment from that TO&E was already obsolete and being replaced (like the T30 HMC, M3 GMC, etc) and I don't know exactly what was used to replace the obsolete equipment -- they could even have ended up replacing it with the original 'obsolete' models from 2nd Armored, which saw almost no action in North Africa but did provide a lot of replacements and vehicles for rebuilding 1st Armored the first time. Or they could have gotten the 'newer' equipment sent to them.

As Jason noted, the Tank Battalion was triangular with a Bn HQ, and HQ Company, and 3 tank companies.

The BN HQ had an HQ section (3 jeeps and a halftrack), a recon section (4 jeeps and a halftrack), and a tank section (3 medium or light tanks, depending on the type of battalion).

The HQ Company had an HQ section (2 jeeps, 3 trucks, 2 halftracks), mortar platoon (3 81mm mortar halftracks and one other halftrack), and an assault gun platoon. The assault gun platoon was originally 3 x T30 75mm SPG and 4 other halftracks in the 1942 TO&E. In the 1943 TO&E 3 x 105mm Shermans were used, so I would assume 1st Armored's medium tank battalions would have been rebuilt with 105mm Shermans in the AG platoon too. Light tank battalions probably got the M8 HMC for their assault gun platoons.

The three tank companies each had an HQ w/ a jeep, a halftrack, and 2 tanks, and three tank platoons each of 5 tanks. Each tank company also had a small maintenance and supply section, which originally contained an M6 SP AT gun (37mm AT on a jeep) -- I am pretty confident these were simply dropped, though. The tanks in the medium companies would probably have been M4 75mm Shermans and in the light companies M5 Stuarts.

Of these units, really only the tank platoons and company HQ tanks would have been intentionally sent into the front lines. Possibly the battalion assault gun platoon if there was a known need for them.

The M7 105mm HMC was a self-propelled artillery piece, so it would normally have been kept well to the rear, firing indirect (and represented by a spotter in CMAK). Still, Anzio was a pretty small area with some heavy fighting, so I would not have been surprised if some of the 'artillery' found itself firing directly at the enemy.

The Armored Infantry Battalion '43 in CMAK is probably correct for 1st Armored's battalions, though I seriously doubt they were still using the M3 GMC anyplace (if they could avoid it). In updated armored infantry battalions they used the M8 HMC in the assault gun platoon, so I assume that's what 1st Armored had too.

Steve

[JasonC]

I've seen no action reports of Priests used in a front line role at Anzio. It happened on other fronts typically on defense, but every mention in the higher level narratives I've seen of 1st AD armor at Anzio talks about Shermans. Even Stuarts are practically never mentioned. Rick Atkinson gives the tank strength as 232 on the day of the Anzio breakout offensive - with "armored vehicle" losses of 86 to 100 that day (including at least 30 tanks immobilized in friendly minefields). The US had no real tank shortage, so the division was probably rebuilt to full strength when operations permitted, including the move to Italy, to Anzio, and the build up in spring of 1944 before the final breakout attempt. In serious action, obviously the tank strength dropped well below TOE pretty rapidly.

[Kingfish]

...also did the M8 HMCs stick around for close support like the Pz III(75)s did in the 26.Pz til later/end in/of the campaign?

Yes, for the Cavalry regiments. They (or at least the turrets) even found their way onto Marine LVTs during the war in the pacific:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Iwo_Jima_amtracs_crop_LVTA4.jpg