Artillery of the 16th Infantry Division
Artillery of the 16th Infantry Division
France 1940
Upon mobilization, in September of 1939, 16th Infantry Division of the French Army received the standard allocation two field artillery regiments.
The 37th Field Artillery Regiment, classified as the “light” regiment of the division, consisted of three identical battalions, each with three batteries of four 75mm light field guns (Model 1897) apiece. In addition to this, the light regiment possessed an independent battery, which bore the number “10” and was armed with eight 47mm anti-tank guns.
The 237th Field Artillery Regiment, the “heavy” regiment of the division, was a two-battalion outfit. Each of those battalions consisted of three four-piece batteries, each of which was armed with 155mm howitzers (Model 1917.)
The attachments present on 5 June 1940, when the 16th Infantry Division occupied the Plâteau de Dury south of Amiens, more than doubled the amount of artillery available to that formation. These consisted of three additional battalion of 75mm field guns, two battalions of 155mm guns (Grande Puissance Filloux), one battalion of 105mm guns (Model 1913), and a battery of 47mm anti-tank guns.
Sources: The author consulted various documents of the 16th Infantry Division on file at the Archives de Guerre at the Château de Vincennes. These documents can be found in cartons 34N672, 34N568, 34N660 (for artillery) and 34N79 (for infantry.) The author also consulted the authoritative work on the fight for the Plâteau de Dury, Pierre Vasselle, La Bataille au Sud d’Amiens, 20 Mai-8 Juin, 1940 (Abbeville: F. Paillart, 1947.)
Damn
That was one hell of an artillery park.
According to Dr Niehorster's website, the 3 units it faced at Amiens, 7. 8. and 10. Panzer, had a total of
50x 75mm Infantry Guns
72x 105mm Howitzers
4x 105mm Guns
8x 155mm Howitzers
at the start of the war
and another battalion (likely 105mm Howitzers) was added to 7. Panzer in June 5th
While this put the Germans in an advantageous position with light artillery, their heavy artillery is dwarfed by the French.
This however does not take into account losses, replacements, and attachments from above.
The Germans also had an advantage in 81mm mortars (24 per French Div vs a total of 70 for the Germans)
Interesting tidbit, since it showed up here:
During Fall Gelb, while a bunch of independent artillery battalions had 2 btys of 155mm Hows and 1 bty of 105mm Guns (like what was proposed all the way back in WWI), the only divisions that had such battalions were 1. Gebirgs, 2. Pz and 8. Pz.
Small nitpick: shouldn't the title be Artillery of the 16th Infantry Division? Or was that in reference to the fact that the division had more battalions of artillery than of infantry (11 vs 9)?