4th Infantry Division (Mech) Fires Brigade / Iron Gunner
Division Artillery (DIVARTY)
Fires Brigade
The transformation and restructuring of the 4th Infantry Division Artillery, which was effective 16 December 2004, marked the Army's first fires brigade and greatly enhanced the division's war-fighting capabilities. Of the artillery battalions formally comprising DIVARTY, only the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery, remained. The unit provided the flexibility for the other battalions to become fire support elements for the four brigade combat teams within the division.
Under the division's new modular design, the fires 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 fires brigade was to combine core 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 use 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, said Batschelet.
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 were traditionally three separate organizations became resident inside the fires brigade. It eliminated one echelon of the chain of command.
The fires brigade allowed the division to assume some of the duties that III Corps performed. The fires brigade and the 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 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. DIVARTY 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.
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, said Knowles. These sections would be permanently housed within the fires brigade headquarters.
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 DIVARTY would receive other units as needed to execute its mission. The Army was finalizing the manpower and equipment requirements of the fires brigades.
The creation of the fires brigade supported the Army-wide plan of modularity. The Army was adapting its structure to modularity because the threat within war has changed. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, the Army focused on having to fight large campaigns. Since then, the Army has switched from large campaigns to smaller operations, like those experienced in Haiti, Kosovo and Somalia.
Modularity provided brigade combat teams, such as the fires brigade, to deploy independently of the division. Another major benefit was that Soldiers within this self-supported unit would train together and fight together, establishing greater unit cohesion. As the first Army fires brigade, it would lead the way for the 10 additional fires brigades slated to be developed throughout the Army.
DIVARTY History
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Infantry Division Artillery was 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 organized for combat operations at Camp Greene, North Carolina from 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 includes 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 deactivated on 21 September 1921, following the Armistice that ended WW I.
Headquarters, 4TH Field Artillery Brigade was redesigned Headquarters, Headquarters Battery, 4TH Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on 1 January 1935. The unit inactivated again on 14 November 1939 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Field Artillery was reconstituted 10 September 1940 in the Regular Army as Headquarters Battery, 4TH Division Artillery. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Division Artillery was activated on 1 October1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Following reactivation, the unit deployed to Europe for combat operations against Axis Forces. Campaign participation included action at Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central-Europe. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Division Artillery 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 again activated. On 1 April 1957, at Fort Lewis, Washington, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Division Artillery 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 four 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, moved from South Vietnam to Fort Carson, Colorado. During this same year, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH Infantry Division Artillery re-designed as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4TH infantry Division Artillery (Mechanized). This last re-designation 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 deactivating 2D Armored Division Artillery.
