387th AAA Batalion Page

The 387th AAA pages describe the makeup and employment of another invaluable but underappreciated component of WWII Armored Divisions. These pages are dedicated to the memory of my friend Duke Campbell who fought across Europe on Track 221 and without whose help and inspiration, these pages would not be possible. I miss him immensely.

The 387th was equipped with M-15 and M-16 halftracks. The M-15 was armed with a 37 mm gun and 2 50 cal. machine guns on a coaxial mounted manual operated bucket(turret), while the M-16 was armed with a quad-50 cal. mount on an electric turret. Both had a 7 man crew consisting of a gunner,2 ammo handlers, a driver and the Squadleader. There were two tracks to a section, one M-15 & one M-16. They proved as able to rip up enemy strongpoints on the ground as they did at knocking strafing planes out of the sky.

The 387th was assigned to the 5th Armored on July 31st in Normandy and were an integral part of the division through the closing days of the war in Europe. Battery A was paired with the 47th AFA, Battery B the 71st AFA, Battery C the 95th AFA, while Battery D split between the 22nd Engineers and the 993rd Bridge Company.

See the following pages for 387th pictures provided by Duke Campbell