Little Known Facts: US Army Artillery Systems
May 6, 2024 20:22:08 #
During WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars, the US Army employed a systematic use of artillery that no other army could match. There was a simple little secret or two that allowed massed fires when an attack was rolling towards our lines that devastated the attack formations of the enemy.
The same happened when we were advancing, our artillery provided accurate massed fires ahead of the advance to soften up enemy positions. This capability really confounded the German forces, as one field officer remarked: “We took the few barrages from front-line batteries fairly well, but more and more tubes opened up on us before the first barrage was finished, all hitting us in an area of about 100 meters wide by 70 meters deep, It was disastrous. We guessed over 50 155 mm howitzers were firing accurately into that area. We couldn't match it!” That was a startling admission!
So, what was the system that hurtled tens of shells into small designated areas so effectively?
1. Both airborne and ground forward observers reporting fire missions to their Batteries.
2. A very accurate survey of the entire battlefield terrain, and locating each element: Observers, Battery Guns, Battalion Guns, Division Guns, and Corps Guns on the same map grid to an accuracy of several feet.
3. Setting up a battlefield communications network that allowed all elements to receive fire missions, which permitted the commanders to order as much as the entire Corps of artillery to fire the same mission.
Today, with GPS and other instrumentation, this system is vastly improved over prior results, including seeker warheads in shells to find specific targets to blow up. They are reaching the ideal of one round, one target deleted, one round, multiple mines laid in a small area, and one round many bomblets to k**l troops.
Terrifying! War is hell!
The same happened when we were advancing, our artillery provided accurate massed fires ahead of the advance to soften up enemy positions. This capability really confounded the German forces, as one field officer remarked: “We took the few barrages from front-line batteries fairly well, but more and more tubes opened up on us before the first barrage was finished, all hitting us in an area of about 100 meters wide by 70 meters deep, It was disastrous. We guessed over 50 155 mm howitzers were firing accurately into that area. We couldn't match it!” That was a startling admission!
So, what was the system that hurtled tens of shells into small designated areas so effectively?
1. Both airborne and ground forward observers reporting fire missions to their Batteries.
2. A very accurate survey of the entire battlefield terrain, and locating each element: Observers, Battery Guns, Battalion Guns, Division Guns, and Corps Guns on the same map grid to an accuracy of several feet.
3. Setting up a battlefield communications network that allowed all elements to receive fire missions, which permitted the commanders to order as much as the entire Corps of artillery to fire the same mission.
Today, with GPS and other instrumentation, this system is vastly improved over prior results, including seeker warheads in shells to find specific targets to blow up. They are reaching the ideal of one round, one target deleted, one round, multiple mines laid in a small area, and one round many bomblets to k**l troops.
Terrifying! War is hell!
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