The Founder, Clarence J. Smith

I concluded the last post by noting that a regiment of Coast Artillery was formed from a group of World War I veterans with experience as engineers, machine gunners and ammunition transporters.  It took energy and commitment to bond these men together, begin the process of training them in a new and technically demanding military art and recruit additional young men into the unit.  Many men lent their energy and personal commitment to building the 213th Coast Artillery; but none put more of themselves into the Regiment than its Commander, Clarence J. Smith.

Smith was born in 1874, the son of John J. and Sue Smith of Easton, PA.  The elder Smith was editor of the Easton Daily Express and a member of both the local National Guard company and the city’s Fire Department.  Clarence completed public school in Easton and became a reporter for his father’s newspaper – by then the Easton Argus – at age 19. 

He joined the National Guard during the upwelling of patriotic spirit attending the Spanish-American War in 1898, and remained a guardsman for forty years.  He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in 1901 and rose to the rank of Captain and Regimental Quartermaster of the 4th Regiment by 1913.

In 1904, Smith became the Editor or the Easton Argus, and in 1910 moved to Allentown to become the City Editor of that city’s larger Morning Call.

When the Pennsylvania National Guard was federalized in 1916 for service on the Mexican Border, Smith served with distinction as the 4th Regiment’s Quartermaster, ensuring proper provisioning of materials and supplies for the unit.  It was in Camp Stewart, outside El Paso, Texas, that Smith first encountered Charles C. Curtis, then a recently enlisted private.  Smith saw potential in the young Guardsman and quickly saw to it that he was promoted to Regimental Supply Sergeant.  The two formed a friendship that would significantly impact both their lives and that of the 213th Coast Artillery.

Upon return from the border in January 1917, Smith resumed his position as City Editor of the Morning Call.  As a newspaperman, was well positioned to watch the war clouds grow ever darker.  When War was declared in April, he knew that he would soon find himself back in uniform.

The Pennsylvania National Guard was called up for World War I service in July, 1917.  The Division was concentrated at Camp Hancock, near Augusta, Georgia, in late August.  There the Pennsylvanians were reorganized to become the 28th Division. 

Even before departure for Camp Hancock, the dismantling of Smith’s regiment had begun.  On August 14th, companies I, K, L and M were transferred to the newly formed 42nd (Rainbow) Division where they would become the 149th Machinegun Battalion.  At Camp Hancock, the disassembly was completed, with the remaining companies of the 4th Regiment allocated to the 103rd Engineers, 107th, 108th and 109th Machinegun battalions. 

Major Clarence Smith  - ca. 1918

Smith rapidly found himself a supply officer without a regiment to supply.  With his logistical expertise and contacts within the Guard, he soon found himself a position as a Major in the 103rd Ammunition Train, responsible for the motorized movement of munitions from rear area dumps to the using units.  After the war ended, his journalistic experience earned him a position with the Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces conducting battlefield tours and lectures.  He returned to the US for demobilization in September 1919.

When the Pennsylvania Guard reorganized after its return to the Commonwealth in early 1919, there was a “hole” in the military fabric of the state.  No 28th Division units were assigned to the armories in the seven communities that had been the principal homes of the old 4th Regiment.  Smith, and other military and civic leaders in the area, began to work with the office of the Adjutant General and the Militia Bureau in Washington to develop a plan to ensure a citizen-soldier presence in the area.  The solution to the problem was to organize a completely new unit – new to both the Regular Army and the National Guard.

More on Clarence Smith and the new regiment next time.

History

At the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln requested the immediate mobilization of 75,000 soldiers for the defense of Washington, D.C.  Within 48 hours of the President's call, five units from Pennsylvania, composed of 530 men, arrived in Washington. Four of these units – the Allen Rifles, the National Light Infantry, the Washington Artillerists of Pottsville, and the Ringgold Light Artillery of Reading – were met by President Lincoln and proclaimed to be, "The First Defenders."

In the 1870s, independent local militia units were consolidated into the newly organized Pennsylvania National Guard.  The Guard grouped the militia companies permanently into regiments and brigades and established a formal chain of command.  The units that had made up the “First Defenders” became the 4th Regiment of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, one of fifteen fielded by the Commonwealth in the early 1890s.

Upon the declaration of war with Spain in 1898, units of the 4th Regiment were mustered into federal service and involved in the capture of Puerto Rico.

In 1916, the regiment was again activated and sent to the Mexican border, serving under Brigadier General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing.

When Pennsylvania’s National Guard was called upon for service in World War I, it underwent a gut-wrenching reorganization.  Mobilized with three infantry brigades containing a total of nine regiments, the 28th Division had to be reorganized into the new model with two infantry brigades, each of two very large regiments.  This reorganization was accomplished by consolidating eight of the existing regiments into four new regiments.  The ninth existing regiment, the 4th, was broken up, its colors returned to Harrisburg, and its men used to fill the ranks of the Division’s Engineer Regiment, Ammunition Train and the machine gun battalions formed to support both the 28th and 42nd Divisions.

This is not the place to discuss the deeds of the “Iron Division” and the men of the old 4th Regiment in the “Great War”.  Suffice it to say that the record established is most creditable and that many Keystone Guardsmen remain beneath the soil of France.

When November 11th of 1918 had come and gone and the victory parades had ended, the pre-war leaders of the Guard – ably assisted by the young leaders who had emerged from the crucible of combat – began to think about reestablishing the institution of the National Guard in Pennsylvania.  It was decided that the organizational structure used during the war would be adopted for the post-war Guard.  The units comprising the four infantry, three artillery and one engineer regiments were allocated peacetime stations based, as much as possible, upon the locations from which those units had come before the 1917 reorganization.  This approach worked reasonably well, except in those towns and cities where the old 4th Regiment had been based, as the new structure did not contain a unit that fit the seven communities that made up the First Defenders.

The war just ended had seen the rise in importance of aircraft, and the need for a means by which enemy aircraft might be countered.  The Army had assigned responsibility for anti aircraft action to the Coast Artillery Corps, whose primary mission of coast defense involved highly technical fire direction for the big guns protecting the nation’s harbors.  There was a need for anti aircraft units both in the Regular Army and the National Guard.

Thus, a collection of former engineers, machine gunners, and ammunition supply men, located miles from the nearest coastline, became a regiment of Coast Artillery.

The 213th

The 213th was a Coast Artillery Anti-Aircraft regiment, one of fourteen such units in the National Guard in 1940.  By the official Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E), the regiment had eight “line” and three headquarters batteries.  Its home armories were spread over a wide arc across east-central Pennsylvania.

Battery A, based in Reading, was the regiment’s searchlight battery.  Batteries B, C, and D – in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton respectively – were the regiment’s heavy hitters, each battery had four 3 inch anti-aircraft guns along with height finders and directors needed to coordinate their fire.  Together these first four batteries, plus a Headquarters Battery, in Lebanon, made up the First Battalion.

Battery E, in Lancaster, was a heavy machine gun battery with water-cooled .50 caliber guns.  Batteries F, G, and H – in Pottsville, Reading and Lebanon respectively – were supposed to have the 37 mm automatic gun, under development for over a decade and only now entering production.  Instead of the 37s, these three batteries were equipped with far less capable .30 caliber water-cooled medium machine guns on anti-aircraft mounts.  These batteries, along with a Headquarters Battery from Lancaster made up the Second Battalion of the Regiment.

The Regimental Headquarters Battery, the Regiment’s Medical Detachment and the Band, all based in Allentown, completed the Regiment.

The 213th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti Aircraft)

1938 - 1944

The 213th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti Aircraft) was a unit of the Pennsylvania National Guard, headquartered in Allentown, PA.  The Regiment was inducted into Federal service on 15 September, 1940. After training and operational deployments in the United States, the Regiment deployed to North Africa as a part of Operation TORCH in 1942.  The Regiment fought in the North African Campaign, and subsequently was involved in the invasion of the Italian mainland.  In April, 1944, as a part of a general reorganization of anti aircraft artillery, the Regiment was disbanded and its component elements redesignated.

With the kind assistance of a number of members of the 213th and its successor organizations, I've been studying the 213th as it prepared for mobilization, underwent training and wartime deployments.  This blog will serve as an intermediate stop for my findings enroute to an ultimate history of the 213th and the men who led it.

As a retired Regular Army officer, I never cease to be amazed at the dedication and resourcefulness of the men who led the 213th - and other National Guard units around the United States.  Allowed little training time and even fewer resources, these men persevered in maintaining their units as a force in being, capable of being mobilized in the country's hour of need.

Obviously, the blog as currently constituted is - at best - a placeholder.  Please stay tuned as I learn enough "bloggery" to put my notes into readable form.