US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Carson, CO)

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xx!! Ala-jor Captain ROGER M. BERCAW MURRAY S. PINCKNEY S-l S'2 Major Major KLEMENS M. NELSON WILLIAM J. NOLAN S-3 S-4 Major Captain lst Lieutenant EUDIE E. GROSE RICHARD L. KIRK LOUIS GETTY Commo. Asst. S-2 Asst. S-l

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aww Aw!! Colonel VERNON G. GILBERT Commanding Officer The activation of the 9th Div. in World War II brought a new kind of army into being. The most important change was the reorganization of Divarty, with four field artillery battalions and Headquarters and Headquarters Battery becoming an integral part of the Division. After months of training, the Division received its first test in Africa. Despite resistance from French forces, an excellent toehold was gained. Safi, however, posed a prob- lem for the artillerymen. Demonstrating energy that char- acterized its every future action, Qth Divarty laid seige to the city. Soon, the Vichy forces asked for terms. In Southern Tunisia, Rommel's main objective was Tebessa, but to reach it he had to go through the Kasserine Pass. Two Panzer divisions went into the area as far as Thala. Only massed artillery or tank superiority could halt the enemy-but neither was in sight. Nearly 800 miles away 9th Divarty was ordered to dis- patch all available artillery to Thala. IVith Brig Gen S. LeRoy Irwin, Divarty Commander, leading the way, stopping only for food, fuel and occasion- ally 40 winks, the column rushed 777 miles over mountain curves. In less than 100 hours 2170 men and officers, plus their vehicles and guns, had made the journey. Not only had 9th Divarty completed one of the greatest artillery marches in history, it was also about to stop Rommel. - i raw fiww lt ' X tt. ,si ' 'W-mmnisaa...s.wf , Lieutenant Colonel GEORGE E. BENNETT Executive Ollicer The Germans could not advance against the rapidly firing artillerymen who sought out tanks with l05 and 155 shells, sometimes firing at point blank range. The drive at Kasserine Pass had been stopped by the force that couldn't get there in time-but did! Sicily was next and proved to be a serious handicap to the advancing Allied forces. At Monte Camolato enemy artillery was in deep ravines. WVith the aid of aerial observers, 9th Division cannoneers went into action. On August 20, l943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that Sicily was free of the enemy and the fight there was officially over. In Germany one of the most formidable enemy strong- holds was the Sehzvammenauel Dam. The 9th Divarty was given. the tasks of firing 30 battalions of artillery. The clam was subjected to sueh a bombardment that the 9tl1 Division was able to take the area with only scattered resistance. At Remagen and Ludendorff Bridge Divarty played a vital role, controlling the combined fires of the entire bridgehead support from its fire direction center. From Kasserine Pass to the Harz Mountains, the Slth Divarty answered every call without question-had been tested time after time and never been found wanting and unquestionably proved its right to be a charter meniber of the Old Reliable-the 0th Infantry Division.

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3-Wfa fzfzlllefzy Balfafian just two years after their redesignation and activation in 1940 the 34th Field Artillery Battalion was rolling across Tunisia in pursuit of the German Army, Their destination was Kasserine Pass, where they were to engage in one of the greatest artillery battles in history. The 9th Divarty was preparing to hold desert maneuvers nearly 800 miles away from the main objective in Romme1's rush across Africa-Tebessa, It seemed impossible for the artillery to reach it in time to stop the Nazi war machine, But the column started rolling with the 34th FA leading the way, Through snow, rain, and over treacherous mountain roads the column made its way, sleeping only occasionally and eating on the run, The Nazis struck with everything they had-tanks, infantry, airplanesg but nothing could silence the guns of the 34th, Losses were tremendous, but Marshal Rommel was stopped, It marked the first time in the history of modern warfare that artillery had stopped combined assault of tanks, motorized infantry, dive-bomb- ers-and also dueled with enemy artillery, At Trapini, Sicily, the veteran 155m cannoneers of the 34th teamed with the 82d Airborne Division, and helped win the island. Up through France and Belgium the 34th continued poking holes in the German defenses, Over the Rhine and into the bread- basket of Germany the 34th FA kept up its devastating onslaught,