Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/322

 300

example, the airborne division would not need as many infantry or tank battalions as other units, towed artillery could be substituted for self-propelled, the 8-inch howitzer battery could be eliminated, and a lighter rocket could be used in place of the Honest John.

After the approval of ROAD, the Continental Army Command quickly applied the concept to the airborne division. Its airborne study called for a division base similar to ROAD units. For the artillery, the 318-mm. Little John rocket replaced the larger Honest John, and two batteries of Little Johns along with a battery of 155-mm. howitzers formed a composite artillery battalion. They recommended deleting the bridge company from the ROAD engineer battalion and reducing the airborne division's reconnaissance squadron by one ground troop. The light tank battalion was to be equipped with new M551 Sheridans, armored reconnaissance airborne assault vehicles, but, pending their availability, the unit would employ 106-mm. recoilless rifles mounted on 1/4-ton trucks.

In September 1961 the Army Staff approved the concept in principle with minor modifications. The new 90-mm. self-propelled antitank guns (M56 SPATs) would replace the recoilless rifles, and the number of vehicles was cut throughout the division. When the tables (Chart 37) were published, the airborne division also lacked the composite artillery battalion because the 155-mm. howitzer was not air-transportable. Instead, the Little John rockets were organized into a two-battery battalion.

The doctrine of flexible response required combined arms units smaller than divisions, and the Continental Army Command responded by developing an air