Figure 1.--Soldiers positioned in their self propelled 8-inch Howitzers, during the Victory Parade of the 82nd Airborne Division down Fifth Avenue in New York (January 12, 1946) The chassis of a M-3 Sherman was used to limit the spare parts and maintensnce needed. The Germans had some self propelled guns, but most Germn artillery was moved with horses. Guns like these played as major role in holding Bastogne during the German Bulge Offensive.

The U.S. Army had the most mobile raillery arm of any World War II combatants, although we are not sure about the highly effective British Royal Artillery arm. A major advantage for the American artillery was that it was fully motorized and highly mobile. This of course was the consequences of the generally highly mobile and mechanized American military. There were specialized tractors for the larger pieces. A great deal of artillery was moved by standard trucks. And there was self-propelled units. All 105mm and 155mm howitzer battalions in the European theater were truck-drawn, although there was the possibility tractor-drawn 155mm guns. e 155mm gun battalions were almost all tractor-drawn, although a few evidently were also truck-drawn, depending on the available of vehicles. The 4.5 inch gun, 8 in gun, 8 in howitzer, and 240mm howitzer battalions were all tractor-drawn, although, again truck could be used. The prime mover was a standard two-and-one-half ton (duce and a half) truck for the 105mm and a 4-ton Diamond T truck for the 155mm howitzers. Tractors included the M5 thirteen-ton prime movers, which were utilized for the 105mm M2 howitzer, the 4.5 in gun, and 155mm M1 howitzer, and the M4 eighteen-ton hi-speed, full-track, heavy prime mover, which was utilized for the 3 in AA gun, the 90mm AA gun, the 155mm Long Tom gun, 8in howitzer, 8 in gun, and 240mm howitzer. The Artillery Arm also used M-3 medium tank chassis, without armament for self-propelled units (figure 1). [Dennis] Given the huge American tank production at efficient assembly lines. There were many usable chassis readily available. More than two-thirds of the tanks produced in World War II were produced in America and the Soviet Union.) M-31 and M-32 armored recovery vehicles were also used to move the heavier artillery pieces. The use of standard trucks and tank chassis were in keeping with army effort to maintain as few different vehicle models as possible. This greatly eased maintenance and vehicle repair efforts.

Created: 7:10 AM 11/27/2011
Last updated: 6:50 PM 7/26/2013