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Further Reading

4th Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division,
Division Artillery (DIVARTY), 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
"Iron Gunner"

In 2007, the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Fires Brigade was inactivated and reflagged as the 41st Fires Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas. Its three subordinate battalions were transferred to the control of the new unit.

Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Fires Brigade, "Iron Gunner," was first constituted on 19 November 1917 in the Regular Army as Headquarters Battery, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. The unit was organized for combat operations at Camp Greene, North Carolina between 15 December 1917 to 10 January 1918. Headquarters, 4th Field Artillery Brigade departed for World War I in Europe in the winter of 1918. Campaign participation included actions at Aisnr-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Champagne 1918, and Lorraine 1918. Upon returning stateside, the 4th Field Artillery Brigade was stationed at Camp Lewis, Washington where it was inactivated on 21 September 1921 following the Armistice that ended World War I.

Headquarters, 4th Field Artillery Brigade was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on 1 January 1935. The unit was disbanded again on 14 November 1939 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Field Artillery was reconstituted on 10 September 1940 in the Regular Army as Headquarters Battery, 4th Division Artillery (DIVARTY). Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Division Artillery was activated on 1 October 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Following reactivation, the unit deployed to Europe for combat operations against the Axis. Campaign participation included action at Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central-Europe. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Division Artillery was inactivated on 5 March 1946 at Camp Butler, North Carolina.

On 6 July 1948, at Fort Ord California, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Division Artillery was again activated. On 1 April 1957, at Fort Lewis, Washington, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Division Artillery was reorganized and redesigned as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery.

With the escalation of the Vietnam conflict, the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery again followed the Ivy Division into battle. On 21 July 1966, from Fort Lewis, Washington, the 4th Infantry Division began deploying to South Vietnam. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery would spend the next 4 years in South Vietnam providing fire support for the Division during intense close combat operations. Campaign participation in Vietnam included action during Counteroffensive, Winter-Spring Counteroffensive, Tet 69/Counteroffensive, Summer-Fall Counteroffensive, Winter-Fall Counteroffensive 1970, and Sanctuary Counteroffensive.

By December 1970, the Ivy Division, along with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery, returned from South Vietnam to Fort Carson, Colorado. Also durign 1970, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th infantry Division Artillery (Mechanized). This last redesignation coined the Division Artillery as the "Iron Gunners," which complemented the "Iron Horse" Division.

With the realignment and downsizing of the Army force, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Infantry Division Artillery (Mechanized), was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas on 15 December 1995, where it replaced the inactivating 2nd Armored Division Artillery.

The transformation and restructuring of the 4th Infantry Division Artillery, which was effective 16 December 2004, marked the Army's first modular fires brigade and greatly enhanced the 4th Infantry Division's war-fighting capabilities. Of the artillery battalions formally comprising the 4th Infantry Division DIVARTY, only the 2-20th Field Artillery remained. The 4th Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division provided the flexibility for the other battalions to become fire support elements for the 4 brigade combat teams within the 4th Infantry Division. Under the 4th Infantry Division's new modular design, the Brigade was independently deployable and capable of absorbing temporary units into its permanent structure and to collaborate with joint armed forces fires support in accordance with the needs of the mission.

The purpose of the 4th Fires Brigade was to combine corps artillery and division artillery into a modular brigade that could bring to a future fight a composition of field artillery elements to support the required mission. The new mission of DIVARTY was to plan, coordinate, and execute lethal and non-lethal fire support of the designated division or joint armed forces command. Non-lethal attacks used electronic warfare, psychological operations, offensive information operations and munitions such as illumination, smoke and riot-control agents.

The biggest change in the role of commander of DIVARTY involved less planning and execution of close fire support and more planning and execution for joint fire support operations. The fires brigade was less involved with providing close fire support, such as cannon. It focused more on precision-strikes, counterstrikes, and shaping, which utilized lethal and non-lethal means to influence the enemy and make it easier for the supported forces to accomplish the mission at hand.

Under the new modular design, the role of close fire support would fall to the artillery units assigned to the maneuver brigade combat teams. The functions of what had previously been 3 separate organizations became resident inside the 4th Fires Brigade. It eliminated one echelon of the chain of command. The Brigade allowed the 4th Infantry Division to assume some of the duties that III Corps performed. The Brigade and the 4th Infantry Division were therefore more efficient and self-reliant, which fell within the Army's modularity plan.

Another major improvement under the new design was the 4th Fires Brigade would house its own support and maintenance units. Instead of requiring additional resources from outside the brigade, it would be more self-reliant. The Brigade could also work with units from other armed forces to support joint operations. The Brigade could utilize the firepower other services had to offer with greater efficiency. Some of these assets would help support the commander with capabilities that they had not had before.

Under the modularity design, the fires brigade would consist of a brigade headquarters, a target acquisition battery, and a Multiple Launch Rocket System battalion as its permanent elements. Depending on the mission, the brigade would receive other units as needed to execute its mission. The Army was finalizing the manpower and equipment requirements of the fires brigades. In addition, personnel assets included a Marine officer, Air Force personnel, and sections for Space Command, information operations, psychological operations, civil affairs, and a fires and effects cell. These sections would be permanently housed within the fires brigade headquarters.

In 2007, the 4th Fires Brigade was inactivated and its Headquarters and Headquarters Battery reflagged as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 41st Fires Brigade. Its subordinate battalions, the 1-21st Field Artillery, 2-20th Field Artillery, and 589th Brigade Support Battalion, were transferred to the control of the new unit. This inactivation was part of a realignment of US Army units that saw the 4th Infantry Division consolidated at Fort Carson Colorado and the 1st Cavalry Division consolidated at Fort Hood, Texas.