SHORT HISTORY OF THE

275TH ARMORED FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION

[Note: Hyperlinks have been added for more details about places, units and events mentioned]

The 275th Field Artillery Battalion was constituted by the War Department on 22 February, 1943 and activated at Camp Phillips, Kansas, 15 April, 1943, with a cadre of 88 enlisted men who had served in the Panama Canal Zone. At the beginning of May the men who were to comprise the 275th began arriving at Camp Phillips. Most of these men were recruits from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The 275th took its basic and unit training at Camp Phillips and stayed there until 4 December, 1943.

The battalion moved by motor convoy to Camp Funston, Kansas, which was adjacent to Fort Riley, for two weeks of firing tests. From Camp Funston the battalion moved by troop train to the Tennessee Maneuver Area and arrived at Gallatin, Tennessee on 22 December 1943. The outfit remained on maneuvers for 6 weeks during some of the worst weather in the history of all Tennessee winters. The last two weeks were spent in very pleasant weather outside of McMinnville, Tennessee.

We moved by motor convoy to Camp Campbell, Kentucky on 1 February, 1944. Here we were reorganized and redesignated the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, stayed and trained until 22 June, 1944, departed from Camp Campbell by troop train and on the night of 24 June 1944, arrived at the staging area at Camp Shanks, N.Y. We stayed at Camp Shanks until 30 June, 1944, boarded a ferry, sailed down the Hudson River and in the afternoon of the same day boarded the British Troop Transport HMS Scythia, a 24,000 ton vessel with peace time capacity of 400 passengers, carrying approximately 6,000 troops and equipment. At 3:00 AM on 2 July, 1944, the Scythia sailed from New York Harbor for England.

On 15 July, 1944, we docked in Liverpool, England. The following day the battalion arrived by contingents at Llanmartin, South Wales. Here we stayed until 1 September, 1944. The personnel frequently visited the nearby town of Newport. On September 1st we departed by motor convoy for embarkation to France in the south of England, sailed 3 US Navy LST's from Portland, England on 5 September, 1944, and we landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, France in the early morning of 6 September, 1944, exactly 3 months after D Day. The 275th moved inland to St. Germaine, then Les Pieux and then Coetquidan. We stayed for approximately 6 weeks at these locations in reserve awaiting the call to the front. During this time we furnished one supply train to the troops fighting in Northern France. This train remained away from the battalion for about three weeks. On 17 October we started on a long motor trip through France and Belgium into the line.

Our guns went into position in the afternoon of 23 October at Medendorf in German speaking Belgium and fired the first shots into the Siegfried Fortifications the same day. We stayed here in a relatively quiet sector firing only routine harassing missions at the enemy until December 16th when Von Runstedt began his winter counter offensive. On the night of the same day after having suffered heavy casualties the battalion was forced to withdraw. The 275th made a gallant stand against the surging and overwhelming force of German Legions and without the help of any other artillery unit held St. Vith and its vital road net for 72 hours longer than desired by higher headquarters. The battalion saw one of its most important engagements at Hinderhausen, Belgium on 21 December, 1944, when we suffered 4 men and one officer killed in action and suffered many more casualties in wounded and missing. Despite continuous bad weather which prevented our Observation Planes and Air Corps from rendering support our Howitzers continued to account for a heavy toll of enemy dead and equipment.

We continued to execute a delaying action until 5 January, 1945, when the intention of the enemy became known and the American lines solidified. The weather cleared and thousands of American Bombers devastated the enemy supply and communication lines.

The American Army began the offensive which was to carry us across the Roer River, the Rhine River, and to victory and home. The 275th crossed the Rhine at 0647, 25 March, 1945. We remained in the line until April 22nd except for an occasional respite for maintenance and reorganization. On 22 April we became occupation troops and settled down in the zone south of the Harz Mountains.

June 13th was our departure day from the occupation zone and our convoy moved toward LeHarve through Cologne and Cambria.

We arrived at Camp Lucky Strike, St. Valery, France, 15 June, 1945 and left 23 June, 1945 at 0930 to board the Santa Maria at LeHarve.

We sailed 24 June, 1945, arrived in Boston 3 July, 1945 and were convoyed to Camp Miles Standish the same day. We regrouped at Camp Bowie, Texas 10 August, 1945.

The battalion was formally inactivated 8 September, 1945, after two years, four months, and 23 days of active existence.

HIGHER HEADQUARTERS TO WHICH ATTACHED

Map showing 275th AFA Bn's position 16 Dec 44

DeLoyd Cooper is the Historian for the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion Association.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2006 DeLoyd Cooper. All rights reserved.                                  dcooper1924@comcast.net
Revised: October 8, 2006