Knot Will Hold

This is the story of the 320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion(GAFBN). It is also the story of virtue of the 105 mm howitzer. The320th Battalion was one of several battalions in the Eighty-SecondAirborne Division. There was the 319th, 320th, 325th battalions aswell as the kitchen and headquarters battalions. Also, included in theEighty-Second Airborne Division were several paratrooper battalionsnumbered in the five hundreds. The 320th was composed of six gun crews to man the 105 mmhowitzers. Each crew consisted of a gun crew chief as well as five or sixcrew members. The 320th gun crew chiefs were Sergeant Tuzzie, the firstgun crew, Sergeant Sackett, Sergeant Swain, Sergeant Sword, SergeantParker, and Sergeant Rehenquist. In each crew, there were two breechmen and a soldier in charge of the lanyard. There were several sizes of howitzers. There was the 75 mm pack mulehowitzer, the 105 mm howitzer, the 155 mm howitzer, and the 220 mmlong-barrel howitzer. The 105 mm howitzer was the only one adapted tofit a glider to make it airborne. It was shortened to fit into the glider. Itwas at the infamous Mt. Casino in Italy, which had a sharp cliff with adrop of about nine hundred to a thousand feet, which the snub-nosed105 mm howitzers were dug in, with their barrels pointing almoststraight up. This cliff gave the enemy a complete view and control overthe valley below. Their positions along the top made it almost impossibleto shoot or hit either the men or emplacements. The small arms fires orshells would go over the ridge and land beyond their positions. From thisangle at the base of the cliff, the artillery shells of the 105 mm snub-nosedhowitzers could be landed along the ridge which made the Krauts, as theywere called, scramble to get away from the devastating fire so accuratelyhitting their positions. It was learned later that the Germans had no ideawhere the shelling came from or why it was so accurate.