UNITED STATES ARMY

16th ANTIAIRCRAFT ARTILLERY GROUP FLAGS & GUIDONS 1944 Regulations

Mobile antiaircraft artillery battalions were truck or tractor towed. Those armed with automatic weapons (AW) had four batteries, each with four firing sections, each section with one 40mm AA gun and one trailer-mounted quadruple caliber .50 AA machine gun, both towed by 2.5-ton trucks. Those armed with the 90mm AA gun also had four batteries with four firing sections, each section with one gun plus four single caliber .50 machine guns on AA mounts. The 90mm guns were towed by 4.5 ton tractors. For both battalion types, service elements (supply, transport, etc.) were incorporated in the headquarters battery. The 90mm gun battalion also had a fire control section equipped with gun-laying radar. Self-propelled antiaircraft artillery battalions were armed with 37mm guns and caliber .50 machine guns. The weapons were mounted on armored halftracks in two configurations: either one 37mm plus twin caliber .50 MGs, or quadruple caliber .50 MGs. Each of the battalion's four firing batteries had eight of each type. Two of the 16th AA Artillery Group's battalions are of particular interest. The 397th AA Artillery Battalion, a semi-mobile automatic weapons unit, was specially organized for the D-Day landings with a headquarters detachment and two firing batteries, each with four trailer-mounted quadruple caliber .50 AA MGs. The battalion's mission was to provide low-level air defense for the beachheads but on D-Day it also engaged ground targets in support of the infantry. Later the balance of the battalion landed and it reverted to its standard organization. The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion (Very Low Altitude or VLA) was the only black US Army unit to land in Normandy on D-Day itself. The battalion's mission was to launch and maintain barrage balloons to deter low-level air attack. The battalion served in Normandy until October 1944 when it was withdrawn and returned to the US to train for the projected invasion of Japan. One battery of the 413th AAA and one battery of the 320th AAA were detached to the 18th AAA Group.

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