Page:John Banks Wilson - Maneuver and Firepower (1998).djvu/359

 FLEXIBLE RESPONSE In the armored and mechanized infantry divisions designed to fight in Europe, aviation battalions were eliminated after a study on the use of aircraft rationalized that heavy divisions did not need extensive air lines of communications. Fifty-seven helicopters remained in each division, spread throughout the reconnaissance squadron, maintenance battalion, division artillery, and division and brigade headquarters companies. The operation of the divisional airfield passed to a new transportation detachment attached to the supply and transport battalion. Although not stated, the forty aircraft removed from each armored and mechanized infantry division were needed in Vietnam.

Notwithstanding personnel and equipment problems in Europe, divisions still had to be prepared to counter Soviet mechanized forces, primarily through increased firepower. In the 3d, 8th, and 24th Infantry Divisions an armor battalion replaced a mechanized infantry battalion in 1966, (Armor battalions required fewer people than mechanized infantry battalions but had more firepower.) The change gave the divisions a maneuver mix of four armor and six mechanized infantry battalions, In those battalions, as well as in the reconnaissance squadron and the artillery battalions, an air defense section that used the new shoulder-fired, low-altitude, Redeye guided missile was introduced. In the artillery of both the armored and mechanized infantry divisions, self-propelled 155-mm. howitzers replaced 105-mm, pieces because the larger howitzers could fire both conventional and nuclear warheads and had a longer range. The capability of firing nuclear rounds from conventional artillery tubes also eliminated the need for the jeep-mounted Davy Crocketts.

Although the military and political leadership still perceived a Soviet threat in Western Europe, the first reduction in the number of Army divisions stationed in Europe since the beginning of NATO took place during the Vietnam conflict. The desire of the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States to realign their balance of payments precipitated the reduction. By mutual agreement one division (less one brigade) and some smaller units in Germany were to return to the United States but were to remain under the operational control of the commander in Europe and return periodically to Germany for training exercises. The divisional brigade that remained in Germany was to be replaced by one from the United States during each training exercise. The staff named the plan "Return of Forces to Germany." During the first half of 1968 the 24th Infantry Division, without its 3d Brigade, moved to Fort Riley.

The following December the Department of Defense announced that the first exercise would take place in early 1969 but, to prevent personnel turbulence, no rotation of brigades would occur. Since the Warsaw Pact countries had invaded Czechoslovakia the previous August, the timing of the exercise, between 5 January and 23 March 1969, demonstrated to NATO that the United States would honor its commitments.

Special mission brigades throughout the world also contributed to the forces in Vietnam. In late 1965 an infantry battalion of the 197th Infantry Brigade,