In the spring of 1944, the 397th Antiaircraft Weapons Battalion (Semimobile) re-configured itself in three different units - one to protect the Mulberry port, another to man the guns of the ships of the Gooseberry Anchorage, and one to protect the ‘assault troops landing on Omaha Beach against low-flying and strafing enemy planes.’
Known as the Provisional Machine Gun Battalion, the third of these units ‘was organized into three batteries, with a battalion commander, executive officer, supply officer, master sergeant, supply sergeant, S-1 and S-3 clerk as the headquarters staff. Each battery was composed of three platoons, a battery commander, first sergeant, supply sergeant, battery clerk, and three communications men. Each platoon was headed by an officer and the platoon sergeant and consisted of four machine gun sections, each of six men (three machine gunners and three ammunition detail men.) A medical detachment consisting of one officer and nine first-aid men, one per platoon, were attached to the battalion.’
Selection and Training
‘The personnel for this mission were selected from the trained machine gunners of the lettered and headquarters batteries’ of the 397th Antiaircraft Weapons Battalion, ‘later supplemented by a few chosen commissioned and non-commissioned officers of other antiaircraft artillery units. Training of the group as a unit began on 10 May 1944 at Weston-Super-Mare, England, where they remained until the 2nd of June. During this period, stress was placed on the air cooled machine gun, tracer control of fire, aircraft recognition (heavily stressed), and amphibious operations.’
The Provisional Machine Gun Battalion ‘fired during this period approximately one-half a million rounds of ammunition …’
Equipment
36 elevating cradles, M-1
36 machine guns, .50 caliber, M-2
36 tripods, M-3
432 ammunition boxes
13 ‘walkie-talkie’ radios (SCR 536)
The Assault
‘The Provisional Machine Gun Battalion composed on of the initial assault groups on the Omaha beach. It is estimated that the units began landing on the Beach at 0635, 6 June 1944. Of the thirty-six machine guns in the unit, approximately eight were successfully landed and employed.’
Because of the absence of enemy aircraft and ‘the presence of heavy enemy beach strongpoints’, the Provisional Machine Gun Battalion began to move inland in order to support the infantry and Ranger units on the beach.
The Losses
‘By D-Day plus 2, the battalion suffered a hundred and twenty casualties: fifteen enlisted men and two officers killed, thirty-two enlisted men missing in action; sixty-five enlisted men and six officers wounded in action.’
Conclusions
The SCR-536 ‘walkie-talkie’ radio sets ‘proved very successful’.
Hand grenades ‘proved very valuable weapons in the assault’.
‘Not a single round was fired at enemy planes during the course of the operation. All fire was directed at enemy strongpoints in support of advancing infantry and Rangers.’
‘Accurate fire of German 88mm guns and 80mm mortars was mainly responsible for the high percentage of casualties in the Provisional Machine Gun Battalions.’
Source
Headquarters Antiaircraft Command Antiaircraft Information Bulletin (3 November 1944) (Combined Arms Research Library)
Quotation marks indicate direct quotations from this source. (In many cases, I have expanded acronyms.)
For Further Reading
