The Field Artillery Observation Battalion

Prepared in the Department of Observation, The Artillery School*

T HE success of our forces in World War II was due to a great many factors, one of which, and not the least, was
the very efficient functioning of our Field Artillery. It has been rated better than that of any other army. The
outstanding record of our corps artillery in counterbattery operations was due in large measure to the effectiveness
of the field artillery observation battalions. Strangely enough, this great "target-getting" agency is relatively
unknown to far too many artillerymen; its comparatively recent development and the small number of such units
have not publicized its existence. The publication of new revised tables of organization provides an excellent
opportunity to acquaint artillerymen with this battalion. It is the purpose of this article to review the history of the
field artillery observation battalion, its use in World War II, and some of the combat lessons related to its
employment. Also, to discuss the new tables of organization recently published, the missions of the battalion, and
the techniques used by the principle elements of the battalion, namely: sound, flash, radar, meteorology, and survey.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The field artillery observation battalion was gradually developed during the period between the two World Wars.
Two elements of the battalion, the sound- and flash-ranging components, were born out of the combat needs of
World War I. All major powers engaged therein employed some form of sound and flash ranging. The earliest flash
units were provided by a special group of observation posts accurately located and connected by a common wire, so
that simultaneous observations could be reported and a location made by intersection. This is essentially the same
technique now used except suitable equipment is provided to especially trained observers. The early sound units
consisted of a number of listening posts where men with stop watches listened for the sound of a hostile gun and
reported the time of arrival of such sounds at each position. From this information the hostile gun could be located.
These human listening posts were replaced by microphones and an automatic recording device. By the end of World
War I there were about eighty sound sections in the Allied forces covering the entire front. The German side of the
line was similarly covered, although there were somewhat fewer flash sections.
The American sound and flash sections were provided by especially trained engineer and coast artillery units. These
units operated under the direct tactical command of G-2 of the United States Army. Following the war the Coast
Artillery continued the development of techniques and equipment for sound ranging on artillery. In 1922 the Field
Artillery initiated experiments in flash and sound ranging at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, using the 1st Observation
Flash Battery which was organized on August 7 of that year. This battery later became "A" Battery of the First Field
Artillery Observation Battalion. In 1927, at the request of the Chief of Field Artillery, responsibility for sound and
flash ranging in the Army was assigned to the Field Artillery. In 1934 Headquarters Battery was formed and in 1939
"B" Battery was activated to complete the First Field Artillery Observation Battalion. This Battalion was authorized
a peace strength of fifteen officers and three hundred and fifty-three enlisted men. Thus, by 1939, the United States
Army had one complete field artillery observation battalion. The Second Field Artillery Observation Battalion was
formed in 1940. Four more battalions were formed in 1941. After Pearl Harbor, expansion continued until, by the
end of hostilities, there were about twenty-five complete battalions.
AFRICA AND EUROPE
The First Field Artillery Observation Battalion was among the first United States forces in action in North Africa.
Observation battalions were employed very successfully in North Africa, Sicily, Italy (including the Anzio
Beaches), Southern France, Normandy, Northern France, Luxemburg, Belgium (including the Battle of the Bulge),
Holland, and wherever American forces fought in Germany. These units landed early in all major amphibious
operations. The 13th and 17th Observation Battalions were scheduled to land on D+1 in the Normandy invasion.
Strong resistance delayed landings, causing the 17th to land on D+2. One of the batteries of the 285th Field Artillery
Observation Battalion was almost completely destroyed in the massacre at Malmedy. (F IELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL,
February 1946). A sound platoon of Battery B, 14th Observation Battalion, while operating in an incomplete
bridgehead, had its sound - ranging equipment destroyed during a German counterattack. The personnel of this
platoon volunteered to join a tank-destroyer platoon in defending the village of Loisy, France, a vital link in the
perimeter defense of the bridgehead. They fought in this role, despite several casualties, until later relieved by
infantry.
Combat records show that a vast number of hostile batteries were located

_________

* Under the direction of Col. Mercer C.Walter, Director of the Department, the bulkof the writing of this article was carried byMaj.
Charles A. Hearn, Supervisor of theFlash and Sound Section, with valuableassistance from Lt. Cols. Eugene M. Lee,John J. Kenney, and
William E. Grubbs, andMaj. Raymond W. Millican, all members ofthe Department.

252
1948 THE FIELD ARTILLERY OBSERVATION BATTALION 253

by sound ranging in all corps zones. The much smaller number of hostile batteries located by flash ranging was due to the
effective use of defilade, cover, and flashless powder by the German artillery. However, an unbelievably large number of
items of combat information were reported by flash observers. Flash ranging was used extensively for registration (both
ground and high-burst) of our own artillery; this method of registration is one of the most accurate means available to the
corps artillery.
While radar sections were not organic to observation battalions, some battalions received radar sets or had radar sections
attached before the end of the war. Radar was employed successfully by the British for countermortar purposes. American
countermortar radar sections had been trained and would have participated in the invasion of Japan. More than one
observation battalion used radar in lieu of visual equipment to determine metro data, thus permitting operations when
visibility was poor. The 15th Observation Battalion, operating in Italy, used an SCR-584 radar set for this purpose; they
also used SCR-584 to locate hostile artillery and to adjust artillery fire. Brig. Gen. Edward S. Ott in an article on radar
employment (FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL, August 1946) reports outstanding success in the use of the SCR-584 radar set to
locate hostile artillery, adjust artillery fire, and to detect and locate various moving ground targets.

PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The combat operations employed in the Pacific were different in many ways from those of Europe, principally because
troops were not employed in mass until late in the war. In the initial island-to-island warfare, where difficult jungle terrain
was often encountered, flash ranging was found impractical and was not attempted. Corps survey operations were also
adversely affected by such terrain, and there was far less need for large-scale survey operations. On the other hand, sound
ranging provided an excellent means of locating Japanese artillery and of adjusting our artillery. For these reasons, organic
field artillery observation battalions were not employed, but special sound-ranging platoons were formed by adding
limited maintenance personnel and equipment to the normal T/O and E of a sound-ranging platoon.
Four of these separate platoons, the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Sound-Ranging Platoons, were organized in the latter
part of 1943. They were used effectively from early 1944 until our forces landed in the Philippines. The First and Fourth
Sound-Ranging Platoons landed on D+1 on Leyte, a normal procedure. Later these four sound platoons were absorbed by
the 289th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, which had been sent to the Pacific Theater without sound and flash
platoons. This Battalion operated in the Luzon campaign and performed some flash ranging by making provisional flash
elements from the sound platoons. The 287th Field Artillery Observation Battalion also operated in the Philippines and on
Okinawa. These and several other observation battalions were busy training for landings on the Japanese homeland when
the Japanese surrendered.
COMBAT LESSONS
While the overall results attained by most observation battalions were outstandingly successful, there are many persons
who feel that even better results could have been achieved. Lack of combat experience on the part of some of the
observation battalion commanders and, perhaps to a greater degree, lack of understanding by commanders and staff
officers of the capabilities, limitations, and proper technique of employment of sound and flash elements, often decreased
the efficiency of a battalion.
Results show that for the type of operation most often encountered in Europe, all elements of the observation battalion
should be employed under centralized control. The letter batteries should be directly under the battalion headquarters,
which in turn should operate directly under a single corps fire-direction center. When attachment to a division is
necessary, a complete letter battery should be used instead of small provisional detachments of sound and flash units.
It was determined that, for the wide corps zones of European operations, the one organic field artillery observation
battalion (consisting of a headquarters and two observation batteries) could not provide adequate coverage by sound, flash,
and survey elements. To overcome this difficulty it was common practice to attach an additional observation battalion, or
part of a battalion, to the organic observation battalion. The new tables of organization and equipment provide for a third
observation battery in the battalion. Under normal conditions, this will allow a single observation battalion adequately to
cover its corps zone.

NEW ORGANIZATION
New T/O&E's recently published for the field artillery observation battalion (6-75N, 6-76N, and 6-77N, all dated
September 1948) provide for a number of important changes. Of vital interest is the addition of a third letter battery and of
a counterbattery radar platoon to each letter battery. Other changes include the addition of personnel and equipment for the
survey information center in headquarters battery. The aggregate strength of the battalion is increased from 449 to 836,
largely accounted for by the addition of the radar platoons and the additional letter battery.
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (16 Off, 5 WO, 182 EM) in cludes:
Battalion Headquarters
Bn Personnel Section
Bn Service Platoon
Medical Detachment
Battery Headquarters
Operations Platoon
Operations Section
Meteorological Section
Topographic Platoon
Topographic Section
Survey Information Center
Communication Platoon
Maintenance Section
Each letter battery (8 Off, 1 WO, 202 EM) includes:
Battery Headquarters
Flash Platoon
Operations Section
Topographic Section
Sound Platoon
Operations Section
Topographic Section
254 THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL November-December

Radar Platoon
2 Operations Sections
Communication Platoon
Maintenance Section
The sound, flash, and radar platoons are the observation elements. The operations sections of the sound and flash platoons
perform the sound and flash ranging. The topographic sections of these two platoons perform the necessary survey
operations to locate accurately each microphone of the sound base and each of the four to six flash observation posts.
Survey for the two radar positions of the battery will normally be performed by the sound or flash topographic sections,
although equipment is available within the radar platoon for limited survey. The communication platoon establishes wire
communication from battery headquarters to the sound and flash centrals and the radar positions. Extensive wire nets are
required to provide separate field telephone lines from the sound and flash centrals to each microphone and observation
post; in combat, this may require over sixty miles of field wire.
MISSIONS
The six principal missions performed by the field artillery observation battalion are:
1. Location of hostile artillery. This mission is performed by sound, flash, and radar platoons.
2. Adjustment and registration of friendly artillery. Adjustments are made accurately by the use of sound, flash, and radar.
Registrations are not made by sound ranging when other means are available. Registration by flash ranging is used
extensively, since results by this method are extremely accurate. Registrations may also be made by radar with excellent
results.
3. Collection of information. Collection of information (other than location of hostile artillery) is a duty of all personnel of
the battalion. Flash observers provide most of the great mass of combat information reported by the battalion.
4. Conduct and coordination of corps artillery survey operations. The battalion survey officer coordinates the survey
operations of the artillery with the corps. Plans for use of the organic survey parties in the observation battalion and any
attached topographic engineer parties must be coordinated with the survey plans of the divisions to avoid duplication of
effort. A survey information center is maintained in continuous operation near battalion headquarters or the corps fire-
direction center.
5. Comparative calibration of friendly artillery. The flash-ranging platoon performs this mission; the flash observation
posts locate each round and the flash survey parties locate each piece.
6. Provide ballistic meteorological data for friendly artillery (and for sound ranging). Metro messages are provided by the
meteorological section of headquarters battery.

FIELD ARTILLERY SOUND RANGING

Sound ranging may be defined as the technique used to locate the source of the sound created when a gun fires or a shell
bursts. To avoid a long and technical discussion of sound theory, a relatively simple explanation of sound-ranging
technique is provided below. (FM 6-120 contains complete information about sound theory.)
In Figure 1 the six black circles equally spaced along a straight line represent microphones suspended in a hole in the
ground. Each microphone is connected by a field telephone line to a sound recording set at the sound central. The line of
microphones is called a sound base. Two adjacent microphones such as M 1 and M2 and the imaginary line between is
called a subbase. The sound central is located a little behind and near the center of the base. Located generally in front of
microphones M2 and M3 respectively, at a distance of about two thousand yards, are the two sound outpost positions. Each
outpost has an operator equipped with a field telephone and a push-button switch connected by field telephone line to the
recorder at the sound central.
If a gun were fired in enemy territory on the right of the front, the sound, moving out in all directions, would soon reach
outpost #1. The operator there would then press the switch causing the recording set and the microphones to become
active (for technical reasons the equipment does not function continuously). As the sound wave reaches each microphone
position an electrical impulse is created. A sound record is produced by the recorder. The sound record has thereon six
generally straight lines, one for each microphone. The arrival of a sound wave at a microphone is indicated by a wave or
break in the line corresponding to the particular microphone. A time scale (or time dots) along the edge of the record
permits determination of arrival times to the nearest thousandth of a second. The difference in arrival times at adjacent
microphones such as M1 and M2 is used in conjunction with special plotting equipment to construct a ray on a plotting
board from the plotted position of a point halfway between the two microphones. Thus a ray may be drawn from the center
of each of the five sub-bases. The intersection of these rays is the location of the sound source, except for the effect of
wind, temperature, and a small plotting error called

Figure 1.—Sound-ranging installation

1948 THE FIELD ARTILLERY OBSERVATION BATTALION 255

Sound Plotting Board M-1

SOUND-RANGING CENTRAL

GR-8 Sound Recording Set at the left, plotting and correction equipment in the center, M-1 Plotting Board at
the right.

the curvature correction. If corrections, readily determined from graphical charts, are applied to the time differences and a
plot then made on a gridded chart, the coordinates may be determined. A special sound plotting board (M-1) and suitable
correction charts are provided.
The two general types of sound installations may be referred to as "deliberate" and "hasty" bases. The "deliberate" base is
the one usually employed. Six or more microphones at intervals of approximately 1,476 yards are placed at positions along
a straight line, along the arc of a circle, or in an irregular pattern. The most common base is one of six microphones along
a straight line. Such a base has many advantages over irregular bases. The location of each microphone of a "deliberate"
base is precisely surveyed to an accuracy of one yard in two thousand. It normally requires from six to eight hours to
install such a base, including necessary survey and wire communication. A "hasty" sound base may be installed in about
forty minutes and consists of only four microphones and a minimum amount of interval survey. Such a base can provide
adjustments of fire on targets located by the sound records of this base. The "hasty" type of installation provides only
relative locations, not coordinates; fire must be adjusted immediately to be effective. The "hasty" base may be used
effectively in a fluid situation. If operations stabilize, the base will be expanded to a deliberate type. In practice, the
expansion of a base is continued until a full-scale base is completed to provide coverage throughout the hostile area in the
assigned zone.
A sound base should be located as far forward as possible, but with sufficient distance (about 2000 yards) to allow the
outpost operator to start the recording operation before the sound which he hears from a hostile artillery piece reaches any
microphone. The azimuth of a base should be such that the perpendicular bisector passes through the center of suspected
locations of hostile artillery or center of zone of observation. To satisfy these conditions, a base is often not parallel to the
front lines.
Under average conditions, using a "deliberate" base, sound ranging produces locations with an accuracy of from fifty to
one hundred fifty yards at ranges up to fifteen thousand yards. Mountainous terrain may or may not materially affect
operations, depending upon the relative locations of the base and sound source, and on the ground contours in the area
under consideration. Abnormal battlefield noises—time-on-target missions, barrages, and preparations — tend to confuse
interpretation of the sound record. High winds impair accuracy.
Sound ranging is most valuable because of its ability to locate artillery pieces hidden to visual observation. The use of
smokeless propellants in daylight, flashless propellants at night, camouflage, and defilade by the enemy considerably
reduces the efficacy of visual observation. Such observation is further hampered by poor visibility due to fog, haze, and
darkness. Sound ranging is particularly effective in fog; the presence of fog normally indicates extremely low wind
velocities. Sound ranging does not require visibility or "line of sight" to the target.
Sound ranging in World War II played a vital role on every major front. As an illustration of the effectiveness of sound
ranging as a locating agency, the records of one corps artillery
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THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL November-December

headquarters state that 13,327 locations of enemy artillery were made over a ten-month period, crediting locating agencies
as follows:
Agency Locations
Sound ranging ··························· 75.6%
Air OPs ·········································· 9.8
Photo interpretation ························ 6.4
Prisoners of war ····························· 1.3
Other ·············································· 6.9
With regard to accuracy, figures from an observation battalion's unit journal show that a survey check of 443 locations
indicated an average deviation from the reported coordinates of each location of only 84 meters. Past experience also
indicates that on the average a sound location is likely to be more accurate than the degree of accuracy assigned to the
location when it is reported. These and other combat reports underline the importance of sound ranging as a productive
and accurate method of observation.
Sound ranging as explained here is accomplished by the sound-ranging platoon of each observation battery. The technique
and equipment used is designed for counterbattery operations and should not be confused with infantry sound ranging. The
infantry sound set is designed to locate mortars and small arms at ranges under about 3500 yards. The field artillery sound
set normally provides artillery locations at ranges from about 3500 yards to 20,000 yards. The maximum range is limited
only by the intensity of the sound.
FLASH RANGING
Flash ranging may be defined as the technique used to locate points in the target area by visual means from two or more
observation posts.
The primary mission of the flash platoon is to locate targets. In addition to this important task, it also collects combat
information, conducts registrations and adjustments, and provides the means for comparative calibration of friendly
artillery. There are two types of installations which may be used, the "deliberate" or long base and the "hasty" or short
base.
The "deliberate" base is the most common type used. It consists of four or more observation posts, each accurately located
and connected by separate field telephone lines to a special flash switchboard at the flash central. The observation posts
are placed on prominent terrain features best suited to permit observation deep into hostile areas. Each observation post is
manned continually by two men to provide surveillance twenty-four hours a day; sufficient personnel to provide necessary
reliefs remain in a concealed position near each observation post. The flash-spotting instrument used at each observation
post is a binocular 7½-power observing instrument. Horizontal and vertical angles may be measured to two-tenths of a mil.
When in use these instruments are oriented on grid north so that horizontal angles read to targets are azimuths.
The special flash switchboard is so designed that observers signal the switchboard operator by pressing a small outpost
switch which causes a light to glow on the panel of the switchboard. If all lights glow simultaneously it indicates that all
observers saw the same flash of a hostile gun or a friendly shell burst. This assists the switchboard operator in directing the
attention of all observers to the same target.
Each observer reports the azimuth, accuracy of reading, angle of site, and information regarding the target. As the switchboard operator
receives and repeats each azimuth, it is set off on the flash plotting board to the nearest one-half mil and a ray is drawn from the plotted
position of each observation post (Fig. 2). The surface of the plotting board is gridded so that coordinates of the point of intersection of the
rays may be read. Computers, using the measured range from the observation post to the target and the angle of site, determine the altitude o
the target. Computations are made using two observation posts to verify accuracy. The coordinates, with estimated accuracy, altitude, and al
information available about the target, are phoned to the battery headquarters; this information is then sent to battalion headquarters and to
the corps artillery fire-direction center. Surprise fire may then be placed Figure 2.—Surface of flash spotting board.
 sound
plotting board M-1
 SR
CENTRAL(CP)
GR-8 Sound Recording Set at the left, plotting and correction equipment in the center, M-1 Plotting Board at the right.