206th - Appendix

COAST ARTILLERY REGIMENTS

At the beginning of World War II, most Coast Artillery Regiments were antiaircraft units. They existed in two types, mobile and semi-mobile. This mobility status was a rather fluid designation, although each type had a separate Table of Organization (T/O). The 206th was of the semi-mobile type under T/O 4-111. Its war strength was fixed at 2,155. The regiment contained a regimental headquarters and headquarters battery, armed with four antiaircraft artillery guns. At war strength, the regiment would contain three battalions, each with a battalion headquarters, headquarters battery and ammunition train. Each battalion would be composed of four batteries. The 206th did not have a 3rd Battalion until 18 August 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor. During World War II, the Army discarded the regimental system for artillery units. By war's end, only one Coast Artillery Regiment remained, the 253rd (155-mm. gun).⁽⁵⁵¹⁾

The 206th began its federal service with two battalions of four batteries each. According to the T/O, the 1st Battalion comprised Batteries A through D; Battery A was equipped with fifteen searchlights while Batteries B, C and D were each armed with four 3-inch antiaircraft guns. The 2nd Battalion contained Batteries E through H; Batteries E, F and G were each armed with four 37-mm. automatic antiaircraft guns. Battery H was equipped with twelve .50-caliber antiaircraft machine guns. In addition, the 206th had a regimental band and a regimental medical detachment.⁽⁵⁵²⁾

551. Stanton, 33-38.

552. "Original Organizational Home Towns, 1941," [photocopy of a one-page undated typewritten list on plain paper], West Memphis National Guard Archives; "Roster of Officers by Organization, Arkansas National Guard, As of January 1, 1940," [photocopy of eight-page typewritten document on plain paper], West Memphis National Guard Archives.