Cannon Platoons
Of the Provisional Infantry Regiment of 1930
In 1930, the US Army Infantry School began to experiment with a new type of unit, a ‘provisional infantry regiment’ that, while equipped with the same sort of ordnance as its existing counterpart, received far more in the way of heavy weapons.
The doubling of the number of automatic rifles did little to change the size of rifle companies. Indeed, this reform required nothing more than the issue of a second weapon of that sort to each rifle squad. The increase in the number of machine guns, however, required the creation of six new platoons.
The growth in the number of infantry guns and mortars involved both the creation of a new platoon and the doubling of such weapons within existing platoons. Thus, the three howitzer platoons, each of which was armed with one 37mm infantry gun and one 75mm mortar, gave way to the four cannon platoons, each of which rated two infantry guns and two mortars.
Sources
‘The Provisional Infantry Reorganization’ Infantry School Mailing List (Fort Benning: US Army Infantry School, 1931) Volume 1 (1930-1931) pages 13-16 (Internet Archive)
‘Reorganization of Divisional Infantry’ The Infantry Journal (July 1930) pages 87-89 (Internet Archive)
John Sayen Battalion: An Organizational Study of United States Infantry (Unpublished Study) Appendices 3.10 through 3.14 (Military Learning Library)
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