US Army Signals Battalion Equipment

Discussion in 'US Units' started by Osborne2, Feb 8, 2019.

  1. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    I cannot find any Tables of Organisation and Equipment (TO&E) for these units, despite looking fairly hard. Does anyone have a link to these or could describe the numbers of men and the kind of vehicles and major items of equipment issued? I am especially trying to find out about the 59th Signal Battalion, part of VIII Corps. Thank you.(I have also posted on the US sister forum)
     
  2. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Signals units are not terribly well served in online resources. I don't think there are any 'free to air' full T/O&Es for US Signal Corps units that are a click away. The Corps Sigs were found under a variety of T/Os, and the ones particular to your query may be under;

    Sig Bn - ref 11-15, 10 Dec 1943 (the unit summary)
    HQ & HQ Co - ref 11-16, 10 Dec 1943
    Field Operations Co - ref 11-18, 10 Dec 1943

    Sig Light Construction Bn - ref 11-25, 25 Feb 1944 (summary)
    HQ & HQ Det (light or heavy) Constr Bn - ref 11-26, 25 Feb 1944
    Light Constr Co - ref 11-27, 10 Dec 1943

    Sig Heavy Construction Bn - ref 11-65, 25 Apr 1944 (summary)
    Heavy Constr Co - ref 11-67, 13 Jan 1944

    Full copies of these should be available from the US archives;

    Ask Us a Question - USAHEC Ask Us a Question

    Note that they do charge, and it can be pretty hefty, as the full documents can run to several dozen pages. If you ask for the Section I (Organization) details only you don't get the info on line and radio equipment. Also have a search for "MRS main photocopy index" for a good commercial provider, though it can be difficult to get them over to the UK.

    Oddly enough these were on my wish list a couple of years ago, but it's taken me so long to get the Inf and Armd Div T/Os I was after from the US Army Heritage Center foundation I've pretty much given up on anything else.

    Gary
     
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  3. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Thank you Gary for taking time for so full a reply. I am researching several US units all at the same location and some off the wall ones have published TO&E's, like Quartermaster Car Companies and Light Pontoon Companies. I am just surprised the signals units have missed out by now in this internet age. I do not need in depth detail of a full TO&E, I wanted a flavour of the main items to illustrate a section of a chapter in a book. That unit may just not have the TO&E mentions that I have given the the off the wall companies. I am already heavily in to payment for research and this may be a bridge to far this time. I am however very grateful to you Gary.
     
  4. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    If you're content with a general picture a browse through FM11-22 might help;

    https://archive.org/details/Fm11-22

    No T/O data is given in the US Field Manuals, they just tell the reader which ones to refer to. It should give you an idea of the difference between Corps and Army Sigs units and how they fitted into things.

    In very general terms US Sigs units tended to be divided into Operations and Construction. Construction was responsible for assembling the infrastructure for line equipment, ie putting up telegraph poles so that exchanges could be established. Operations was generally divided into three parts, being Radio, Telephone & Telegraph and Message Center and Messenger. Unit HQs generally had some elements such as Repair and Supply included.

    I noticed the reply you had over on ww2f of 'CARL'. That was a somewhat oblique reference to the Combined Arms Research Library;

    Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) Digital Library

    Pop a search term in and it will pull up shed loads of suggestions for free to air documents in their collection. I did have a quick look through the field manual section but couldn't see a match re your subject. Also over there are the immediate post-war 'General Boards' which do include a few on Signals. You may get an error warning as their address certificates have expired, I can't say I've had any AV warnings triggered by them though;

    https://usacac.army.mil/organizations/cace/carl/eto

    I tend to find US archives most helpful to speculative emails, so long as you can give them a clear idea of what you're after.

    Gary
     
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  5. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Really helpful, from all the replies on both Forums I will for this topic, I am sure, be able to research and construct a sufficiently descriptive paragraph to illustrate the points I have evidence for. Your time and effort are appreciated. Thank you.
     

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