56th Artillery Command

56th Artillery Command
Active
  • 56th Coast Artillery Brigade (1942–1943)
  • 56th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade (1943–1945) (1951–1958)
  • 56th Artillery Brigade (1958–1964) (1970–1972)
  • 56th Field Artillery Brigade (1972–1986)
  • 56th Field Artillery Command (1986–1991)
  • 56th Artillery Command (2021-present)
Country United States
Branch Army
RoleHeadquarters
Part of
Motto(s)"Quick, Reliable, Accurate"
Engagements
Decorations
Websitehttps://www.europeafrica.army.mil/56thAC/

The 56th Artillery Command is a two-star command of the United States Army that serves as the Force Field Artillery Headquarters for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, with a mission to synchronize, integrate, and control fires and effects in support of the theater land component. The unit was originally formed on September 14, 1942, as the 56th Coast Artillery Brigade and has been reorganized and redesignated several times until its inactivation on June 30, 1991, following the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War.

United States Army Europe and Africa conducted the reactivation ceremony for the 56th Artillery Command on November 8, 2021, at Lucius D. Clay Kaserne, Wiesbaden, Germany.[3][4][5] The 56th Artillery Command's headquarters in located in Mainz-Kastel and is commanded by Major General John L. Rafferty Jr.

  1. ^ History Card 1991, General Orders 24. Department of the Army. 10 December 1947.
  2. ^ History Card 1991, General Orders 43. Department of the Army. 19 December 1950.
  3. ^ "Blast from the past: Cold War artillery command in Germany resurrected and restructured". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  4. ^ Eversden, Andrew (4 November 2021). "Army reactivates theater artillery command amid Russian build-up near Ukraine". Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. ^ John Gordon IV, John Matsumura, RAND corporation (2021) Army Theater Fires Command: Integration and Control of Very Long-Range Army Fires RR-A809-1