The 118th Field Artillery Regiment: A Brief History

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Ga. Army National Guard

 

Soldiers of the 118th Field Artillery Regiment in 1919 and 2023. 2023 photo by Capt. Amanda Russell.

The earliest elements of the 118th Field Artillery were organized April 18, 1751, in Savannah, Ga.[1] The regiment fought during the American Revolution during the Siege of Savannah, during the War of 1812 and began its Civil War service at Fort Pulaski in 1861.

 

Pvt. John Hancock, 1st Ga. Vol. Inf. 1898.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

Elements of the 118th served in multiple units during the Civil War including the 1st Georgia Volunteer Regiment, Wheaton’s Battery, the 13th and 18th Battalion Georgia Infantry. The venerable Chatham Artillery detached from the regiment in September 1861 and served as an independent battery, ultimately surrendering in North Carolina in April 1865.

 

In 1872, the 118th Field Artillery was reorganized as the 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment. Elements of this unit entered federal service in May 1898 during the Spanish American War.

 

In July 1916, the 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment was dispatched to Camp Cotton in El Paso Texas following border tensions with Mexico. Over the next eight months, the Soldiers patrolled the southwest border providing border security in Texas in support of The U.S. Army’s punitive expedition commanded by Brig. Gen. John Pershing who would command the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.

 

Battery A, of the Georgia National Guard's 1st Battalion Field Artillery Regiment on parade at El Paso, Texas in 1916.  Georgia National Guard archives.

Returning in March 1917, the unit began training for overseas service at Camp Wheeler, Ga. in Macon. on September 23, 1917, while stationed at Camp Wheeler, the unit received its present designation as the 118th Field Artillery Regiment.

 

The 118th mobilized to France with the 31st Infantry Division in October 1918 and arrived in the harbor of Brest, where the 31^st Division received orders to break up the division and send its Soldiers forward to augment existing units. While the process of skeletonizing the division was under way, the war ended with Soldiers of the 118^th in Brest and Le Mans. The 118^th returned home in 1919 and was inactivated at Camp Gordon in 1919.[2]

 

Officers of the 1st Field Artillery in Savannah Ga. in 1921. Georgia National Guard Archives.

In 1921, the 118th Field Artillery Regiment was reorganized as part of the post-World War I reorganization of the Georgia National Guard. Headquartered in Savannah, the 118^th was comprised of two battalions with batteries numbered A-F.[3] From 1921 to 1942, the 118th fielded the 75 mm artillery piece which was, until 1934, horse-drawn artillery.

 

In 1941, the 118th Field Artillery was ordered into federal service as part of the 30th Infantry Division. The 118th FAR participated in the Tennessee Maneuvers in from June to August 1941 and the Carolina Maneuvers, which took place in October and November 1941.[4]

 

Coat of Arms of the 230th FA BN.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

On February 16, 1942, the 118th Field Artillery Regiment was reorganized as the 118th
Field Artillery Battalion and 230th Field Artillery Battalion. The 230th was comprised of The Chatham Artillery, who formed Batteries A and C; the Irish Jasper Greens which comprised Battery B, and the German Volunteers, who formed the Service Battery. The reorganization was initiated after the 30th Division was reorganized and redesignated as the 30th Infantry Division. Another result of this reorganization was the reassignment of the 121st Infantry Regiment to the 8th Infantry Division.[5]

 

The 118th and 230^th FA Battalions mobilized to England and arrived in Liverpool February 22, 1944. Traveling by rail, the 118th arrived at Bucks Green and Five Oaks where the men were lodged in Nissen huts – British versions of the venerable Quonset hut. Over the next few months, the 118^th and 230^th  would train for the coming invasion of Europe.

 

On June 8, two days after the D-Day landings, the 230^th was ordered to France to replace a field artillery battalion of the 29th Infantry Division which had lost its field howitzers during the assault on Omaha Beach. These former Georgia Guardsmen turned 30th Infantry Division artilleryman were temporarily assigned to the 29th Division, and within hours, the 230th would become the first Georgia Guard unit to enter combat in France.[6]

 

Soldiers and vehicles of the Georgia National Guard's 230th Field Artillery Battalion move ashore on Omaha Beach. Georgia National Guard Archives.

On June 13, 1944, the first elements of the 118th Field Artillery Battalion went ashore on Omaha Beach. The battalion assembled its vehicles and howitzers in the fading daylight and were guided from the beach under blackout conditions. Like the 230th before them, the men of the 118th FA had been trained to expect every inch of terrain to be mined or guarded by German Soldiers. Thus, as the column of vehicles slowly moved its way to the high ground overlooking the beach the tension was palpable.

 

Reaching a position near Neuilly, France, the Soldiers of the 118th established their first firing positions in an orchard outside of town. Three days later, an observation post overlooking the Vire Et Taute Canal called in a fire mission which was routed to one of the howitzers of Battery C. Thus, on the afternoon of June 16, 1944, with the pull of lanyard cord, the 118th sent its first combat round down range.

 

The next day the battalion displaced to Lison where they were joined by Batteries A and B. Over the coming weeks, the 118th supported the 30th ID’s drive to the Vire River. On June 22, having crossed the Vire and secured the Mont-Martin en Grainges, the 30th ID was ordered to hold a defensive line along the Vire while the 2nd and 29th Infantry Divisions pressed the attack towards St. Lo.[7]

 

Chateau de Cavigny - The 118th FA had its command post in the basement of the chateau. Batteries were stationed on the grounds, July 12-19, 1944.
Photo by Maj. William Carraway.

Subsequent to the landing of the 118^th, the 230^th FA rejoined the 30th ID. In the campaigns in France and Germany, the units earned four Meritorious Unit Commendations and fought with distinction at Saint Lo, Malmedy and Mortain. During the Mortain engagement, the 118^th and 230^th FA howitzers crushed a German attack thanks to the intrepid work of forward observers positioned on high ground overlooking the German advance. In 2020, units of the 30^th ID were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for Mortain.

 

View from a 230th FA forward observer’s position on Hill 314 near Mortain, France. The 118th and 230th FA firing positions were located on the high
ground at center. Photo by Maj. William Carraway.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the 1-118th FA has mobilized for overseas contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and is currently mobilized in support of operations in the Central Command area of responsibility. In addition to its long history of overseas service, the 118^th has supported response operations at home ranging from hurricanes to Georgia’s coordinated response to the COVID -19 outbreak.

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[1] U.S. Army Center of Military History. Lineage and Honors of the 118th Field Artillery. Department of the Army

[2] Carraway, William “Nescit Cedere: The 118th FA in Normandy,” Georgia National Guard History Blog, July 18, 2019, http://www.georgiaguardhistory.com/2019/07/nescit-cedere-118th-fa-in-normandy.html.

[3] U.S. Army Center of Military History. “National Guard World War I Unit Designations by State” (Unpublished manuscript, n.d., typescript).

[4] Carraway, William “First to Fire: The Georgia National Guard’s 230th Field Artillery in Normandy,” Georgia National Guard History Blog, June 27, 2019, http://www.georgiaguardhistory.com/2019/06/first-to-fire-georgia-national-guards.html

[5] Carraway, William “First to Fire: The Georgia National Guard’s 230th Field Artillery in Normandy,” Georgia National Guard History Blog, June 27, 2019, http://www.georgiaguardhistory.com/2019/06/first-to-fire-georgia-national-guards.html

[6] Carraway, William “First to Fire: The Georgia National Guard’s 230th Field Artillery in Normandy,” Georgia National Guard History Blog, June 27, 2019, http://www.georgiaguardhistory.com/2019/06/first-to-fire-georgia-national-guards.html

[7] Harrison, Gordon A. Cross-Channel Attack,Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army, 1951, 377-379.