Chemical Battalions

Ipat ev and Fokin, op. cit. note 13, 47. For information on the chemical battalions, see N. N. Ushakova, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Shilov (Moscow Nauka, 1966), 33 7. Shilov, a professor at Moscow Higher Technical School, became the commander of one of the three main chemical battalions. Ibid., 48. 

Chemical mortar battalion was the designation prescribed by the last of several wartime tables of organization. Earlier names included separate chemical battalions, chemical battalions (separate), and chemical battalions (motorized). For the sake of simplicity, the designation chemical mortar battalion will be used throughout the text. 

CWS ofiScers in North Africa exerted every effort to acquaint infantry commanders with the chemical mission, including the 4.2-inch mortar and its proper employment. Even before the arrival of the chemical battalions they conducted demonstrations with 4.2-inch mortar WP shells, colored grenades, and flame throwers. With the arrival of the first three battalions CWS officers were able to hold mortar demonstrations for the chief of staff of Seventh Army and other high ranking officers. ... 

Unless otherwise noted, the 2d Chemical Battalion —3 Journal serves as the basis for the account of that unit s operations in Italy. 

Virtually every available American element was thrown into the line on 14 September when the enemy renewed his heavy infantry and tank attack. One of the companies of the 2d Chemical Battalion fired r,rj2 rounds during the day. Over joo of these were white phosphorus used to set fire to the dry brush, making those areas untenable to the enemy. Early that afternoon the company helped repulse an enemy tank attack in an action which saw the mortar forward observer direct artillery fire as well as that of his own weapons. The stalwart defense on 14 September blunted the German counterattack and secured the beachhead. 

Mount Pantano was the scene of the heaviest action in the sector of the other VI Corps division, the 34th. Fighting seesawed among the four knobs of the mountaintop for days, supported on the American side by the effective fire of a company and a half of the 3d Chemical Battalion. During a 2-day period at the end of November the mortar crews used so much ammunition, over 1,300 rounds, that fire was temporarily suspended. This was one of the few cases of such curtailment in the Italian campaign. ... 

Unfortunately, the smoke screen mission fired for the men stranded on the far bank of the Rapido seriously interfered with the observation of the corps artillery. With communications out and with infantry positions unknown, effective artillery support was impossible. There were also misunderstandings regarding the use of smoke. In a 23 January conference between the 36th Division chemical officer and Capt. James O. Quimby, Jr., commanding Company A, 2d Chemical Battalion, the former commented on the density of enemy smoke at the site of the bridgehead. Quimby had to explain that this was his smoke, not German, a fact unknown to division as well as corps. ... 

Although it landed on D-day, the 84th Chemical Battalion did not undertake its first missions until three days later, 25 January, when Company A, with its mortars emplaced on an abandoned railway bed, fired 100 rounds against houses, haystacks, roads, and ditches, all places that were suspected of concealing Germans. Two days later the same unit expended 7J0 rounds of ammunition, hindered all the while by excessive mortar breakage. ... 

Meanwhile, the 84th Chemical Battalion on 23 May expended 3,081 rounds in support of 3d Division. After the initial breakthrough the 84th Battalion, as had the 83 d, found it impossible to keep up with the infantry. The battalion commander blamed this on the large and im-wieldly 2 -ton trucks and the scarcity of jeeps and trailers. Communications also broke down during the swift movement, for there was no time to lay wire and the SCR—284 proved unreliable. But... 

The 87th Chemical Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. James H. Batte, was attached to VII Corps in the D-day assault of Utah Beach. Three of the firing companies supported the three battalions of the... 

Most of those concerned, CWS and otherwise, favored the close infantry support method. This fact was confirmed in a CWS theater of operations letter which stated that although applicable artillery techniques and practices should be used, the normal role of the chemical battalion "should be considered as part of the Infantry team. . . furnishing close support with a heavy and powerful mortar. ... 

In support of the entire Metz operation the 8ist Chemical Battalion fired j 1,118 rounds of ammunition. During part of the time a shortage of artillery shell enhanced the role of the 4.2-inch mortar. ... 

Farther to the north the 86th Chemical Battalion supported V Corps in the First Army sector. There it was touch and go. The enemy had broken through a neighboring unit and had then cut into the V Corps sector. German paratroopers landed in the corps rear area intent on the disruption of communications and the seizure of installations. 86th Battalion headquarters organized eight patrols to comb the area for these enemy troops. The patrols found no paratroopers, but they did come across a house with a cache of enemy equipment and weapons. 

All of the chemical mortar battalions (they previously had been designated "chemical battalions, motorized ) did not convert to the new organization immediately but did so throughout the winter of 1944-45 and the following spring, as they enjoyed an infrequent relief from front-line activity. The 2d and 92d, for example, converted in December, the 91st in January, and the 87th in May. 

Infantry and chemical battalion commanders on Bougainville indicated that they were unfamiliar with each other s organization, tactics, and procedures and recognized the need for joint unit training. This reciprocal unfamiliarity continued to be a problem whenever a mortar unit was committed for its first engagement or a division had a chemical mortar unit attached to it for the first time. ... 

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