The American One-Pounder (1918-1923)

The 37mm Gun (M1916) in US Service

An American-made 37mm infantry gun (M1916), with flash hider and limber Baltimore Maryland (December 1918) (US National Archives)

In the summer of 1918, the 37mm infantry gun found an organizational perch within the American Expeditionary Forces that resembled that of its French counterpart. Just as the canon de 37 could be found in the three-gun peleton de canons de 37 of the compagnie hors-rang of a French infantry regiment, the ‘one-pounder gun’ served in a three-piece ‘one-pounder gun platoon’ of the headquarters company of an American infantry regiment.¹

In both cases, moreover, the platoon armed with 37mm guns kept company with an organization equipped with six Stokes mortars of the lighter kind.² Known in French as the peleton de sappeurs et bombardiers and in English as the ‘sappers and bombers platoon’, the latter unit also provided an organizational home for a squad of engineers.³

The location of the 37mm guns and three-inch Stokes mortars of French (left) and American (right) infantry regiments in the summer of 1918

During the great Allied offensives of the last season of 1918, some regimental commanders, whether French or American, formed the heavy weapons under their direct control into three mixed platoons, each of which consisted of one one-pounder gun and two three-inch mortars.⁴ These hybrid units allowed the colonel to provide each of his three battalions with the means to deal with isolated German machine guns that had managed to survive the ferocious bombardments that invariably preceded the French and American infantry attacks of those days.

Mixed platoons of French (top) and American (bottom) infantry regiments

Soon after the end of the war, the French Army reverted to the practice of organizing Stokes mortars and 37mm guns into single-weapon platoons. Both the US Army and Marine Corps, however, retained mixed platoons on the pattern of those of the last few months of 1918. However, rather than referring to these units as ‘mixed platoons’ or ‘accompanying weapons platoons’, the Americans began to call them ‘howitzer platoons’.

At first, postwar establishments provided each howitzer platoon with three one-pounder guns and six three-inch mortars. However, while all of the former received full crews, half of the latter were set aside to form a reserve of matériel. Thereafter, under normal circumstances, each howitzer platoon would operate one 37mm gun and one Stokes mortar.

Before long, American authors of establishments eliminated the spare three-inch mortars. Thus, for most of the interwar period, howitzer platoons consisted of a small headquarters (with six, seven, or eight men), a one-pounder squad (of ten or eleven men), and a mortar squad (also of ten or eleven men.)⁵

Elements of a US Army howitzer platoon, as described in Minor Tactics (1920)

Personnel of US Army howitzer platoon, as described in Minor Tactics (1920)

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The 'Infantry Artillery' Family of 1923

The French 37mm Gun (Model 1916)

Building a Big Battalion

Material and Matériel

Make the Most of The Tactical Notebook

1. In the French Army of the First World War, peleton described a unit that, while larger than a ‘platoon’ (section), put fewer men on parade than a proper company (compagnie).

2. Wilfred Stokes designed two drop-fired mortars in two sizes. The smaller of these, which Sir Wilfred called the ‘three-inch’, which would evolve into the ubiquitous 80, 81, and 82mm mortar, found a home in the French Army. The larger, with the equally approximate designation of ‘four-inch mortar’, failed to find favor in French eyes. (This may explain why the immediate descendant the larger of the Stokes gun, the US 4.2-inch mortar, managed to avoid a metric appelation for much of the twentieth century.)

3. In the official histories of French infantry regiments, the name organizational home for the 3-inch mortars takes a variety of forms. These include ‘peleton de sappeurs-bombardiers’, ‘peleton des sappeurs-bombardiers’, ‘peleton de sappeurs bombardiers’, and ‘peleton des sappeurs bombardiers’. (I mention these nuances for the sake of readers who might want to do key-word searches on the phrase.)

4. The author of an overview of the evolution of French infantry weapons during the war explains that the provision of a mixed ‘platoons of accompanying weapons’ (section d’engins d’accompagnement) to each battalion had become the standard practice by the end of the war. ‘L’evolution de l’armament de l’infanterie pendant la guerre’ Revue d’Infanterie (Septembre 1920) page 572

5. The howitzer platoon depicted in the last two illustrations of this article comes from a map problem found in Minor Tactics from the Infantry Journal (Washington, DC: The US Infantry Association, 1920) page 91 Other descriptions of howitzer platoons from the years before 1923 come from the diagrams appended to John Sayen Battalion: An Organizational Study of United States Infantry (unpublished manuscript.)