Posted on 10/19/2014 4:56:29 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Most American WW2 artillery technique was worked out at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The most important decisions were that all Amercan pieces were to be provided with motorized transport and all batteries tied together with an elaborate communications net. The theory that came out, which often happened, was that any FO could immediately call down fire from every tube within range. This is how American artillery was so lethal in breaking up German attacks.
The other technique they worked out was the “Time On Target” fire mission. All tubes were calculated for distance and trajectory for each type of piece fired, and coordinated in such a way that all tubes fired at a different time, so that all shells would arrive on the target simultaneously. The effect was devastating, and is probably what that POW was describing.
155 is only 100 lbs. The 240 mm is 350.
I could teach a class on how Artillery is massed.....actually, I have. Communications is only 1 aspect.
One of the things that came from WWII that made Artillery so deadly was Variable Timed Fuze, or VT. The projectile explodes 50 metes above ground which obliterates troops in the open, or troops in uncovered trenches.
You are correct; I had the wrong piece in mind.
I’m trying to imagine how one gun (the “155”?) could with one shot clear out a whole building or block.
When a solid shot is fired point blank lengthwise down a block, the shot will penetrate each wall of each building from one street to the next. Walls between addresses are typically masonry. Think of the spalling that occurs inside each room as the projectile blows through the wall.
For rooms having masonry walls perpendicular to the path of the projectile, the defenders are probably dead, or dying. For rooms whose walls are of wood, lathe and plaster, spalling is less but any furniture happening to be in the way of the projectile is turned into shrapnel and any defender in the way is turned into a pink mist. Chunks of masonry from previous walls probably also punch through plaster and lathe walls and ruin the day of anyone on the other side they happen to hit.
Meanwhile, back at the 155, assuming a second round isn't fired for good measure, soldiers are rushing up and inside the initial hole in the exterior wall. As long as they don't stand in front of windows, they are protected from fire from defenders in buildings across the street and may quickly advance from hole through hole along the length of the block before remaining block defenders have a chance to react.
Defenders of a block know that windows and doorways are their natural firing ports but an entire defensive line was just taken out by the 155. If the remaining defenders upstairs can't quickly get some panzerfausts forward to deal with the 155, they'll have to fall back. Soldiers back by the 155 will do their best to keep the panzerfausts at bay.
Colorado tanker: "Or, to paraphrase Oddball: 'a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer can give you a very nice . . . edge.' "
Oddball (Kelly's Heros)**: "A Sherman can give you a very nice... edge. "
** So, let me hereby nominate Kelly's Heroes as the most quoted movie on Homer's threads, and, dare I say it... Oddball's the most quoted lines? ;-)
Thank you, that was very informative!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aachen#Fight_for_the_city:_13.E2.80.9321_October
The 26th Infantry’s initial attack on 13 October provided important insight on the nature of the fighting; American infantry had been ambushed by German defenders using sewers and cellars, forcing the advancing American infantry to clear each opening before continuing down streets, while Sherman tanks found it impossible to maneuver to suppress enemy fire.[129] German civilians were cleared as the 26th Infantry advanced; no Germans were allowed to remain in the American’s rear.[130] Success in Aachen was measured by the number of houses captured, as the advance proved to be sluggish; in order to cope with the thick walls of the older buildings in the city, the 26th Infantry Regiment used howitzers at point blank range to destroy German fortifications.[131] The howitzer created passageways that allowed infantrymen to advance from building to building without having to enter the city’s streets, where they could be pinned down by enemy fire.[132] Sherman tanks were ambushed, as they entered intersections, by concealed German anti-tank guns.[133] Soon thereafter, American tanks and other armored vehicles would advance cautiously, often shooting buildings ahead of the accompanying infantry to clear them of possible defenders.[134] Pinned on the surface by Allied aircraft, German infantrymen would use sewers to deploy behind American formations to attack them from the rear.[135] German resistance was fierce,[136] as they launched small counterattacks and used armor to halt American movements.[137]
Basically, the infantry fought to provide firing positions for the artillery.
any FO could immediately call down fire from every tube within range. This is how American artillery was so lethal in breaking up German attacks.
I'll assume that "FO" is Forward Observer? My dad was an artillery spotter (thus an FO) for 20th Armored in '45 in southern Germany and saw combat. I wish he were still alive so I could inquire about this.
Yes, FO is forward observer.
Thanks for your very generous helpfulness to me once again--it's not the first time--not to mention your abundant very meaningful contributions to these threads. You add a rich layer of understanding to Homer's base, so that many of us are much the wiser.
So it sounds like a single missile-type bullet, like a cannonball on steroids, that blasts through two blocks of buildings in a row. So if I’m getting this right, to clear out a couple of blocks of a street, theoretically you’d need to blast one round down the row of buildings on the left side of the street and then blast another round down the row of buildings on the right side of the street.
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