Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

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186 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery during the interwar years proved basically sound and were generally followed by all Army and Marine field artillery units in Europe and the Pacific. 59 The high degree of centralized con trol reached during the war permitted maximum use of prearranged fire. Divis ion artil lery was most effective against enemy infantry in the open, and secondly in blinding enemy observation, preventing the movement of reserve troops, and assisting in counterbattery fire. Continuous fire was always possible by moving only part of the artillery, keeping the rest firing in positions until the displacing batteries were ready to resume action. The heavier corps and army artillery reinforced the divisions and provided their conventional roles of counterbattery fire, interdiction mis sions, destruction of hostile defenses, and fire on rear areas. As General Hodges later remarked, “Of the principal arms that could be brought to bear directly on the enemy, infantry, armor, and air were seriously handicapped by the weather and terrain. Through all, however—day and night, good weather and bad—the flexibil ity and power of our modern artil lery were applied unceasingly.” 60 When lack of time precluded use of prearranged fire, it was necessary to develop a rapid means of massing all available firepower. While there were several procedures, the most common was the “serenade.” Only corps, divi sion, or group artillery commanders could authorize sere nades, which were controlled entirely by radio. Commanders had to ensure that the target warranted the expendi ture of ammunition and that the map location of the target was accurate enough to achieve the desired result. Missions were fired “when ready,” or a time was designated for all battalions to fire on a target simultaneously. A better known method was “time on target” (TOT). Procedures were similar to those of the sere nade, but the missions were con trolled chiefly by telephone, and the rounds for all units were to land on the target at the same time. The TOT required frequent synchronization of time and the determina tion of flight time for all projectiles. 61 The introduction of the proximity fuze, commonly referred to as the pozit or VT (var iable time) fuze, during the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes in Decem ber 1944 greatly increased the effec tive ness of artillery fire. Unlike a time fuze, it required no setting and contained a tiny electronic device that caused the shell to explode when it came near the target. Although employed more extensively by antiaircraft artillery, it was used by field artillery to burst shells at an ideal height over enemy trenches and foxholes. Considerable concern was expressed because of the danger to air observation posts, and its use was restricted to daylight hours. 62 59 USFET Study no. 64, pp. 21–23, copy in CMH files; del Valle, “Marine Field Artillery,” pp. 722–33; “How It Actually Works Out,” Field Artillery Journal, February 1943, p. 128; H. S. Dillingham and J. O. Hoenigsberg, “Fire Direction Must Be Flexible,” ibid., July 1944, pp. 457–58. Almost all Field Artillery Journal articles written by officers between 1941 and 1945 on their war experiences praised the teachings of the Field Artillery School in fire direction techniques and commented on their value in the war effort. 60 General Courtney H. Hodges quoted in Joseph R. Reeves, “Artillery in the Ardennes,” Field Artillery Journal, March 1946, p. 138 (sidebar). 61 USFET Study no. 64, pp. 24–26, copy in CMH files. 62 Ibid., pp. 26–27, and Study no. 67, p. 7, copies in CMH files. For the development of the VT fuze, see Ralph B. Baldwin, The Deadly Fuze (San Rafael, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1980).
wOrld war ii 187 After nearly six years of warfare, the Germans surrendered in May 1945, and the War Department redirected its efforts toward winning in the Pacific. But World War II ended abruptly in August after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ushering in a new era of warfare. Field artillery had been a decisive factor in the Allied victory, prompting Third Army commander General George S. Patton, Jr., to later remark: “I do not have to tell you who won the war. You know our artillery did.” 63 63 As quoted in Dupuy and Dupuy, Military Heritage of America, p. 642.
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The Organizational History of Field
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Civil War Flag (nonregulation), wit
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-P
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FOREWORD The Organizational History
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used to defend fixed positions. Thi
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CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. THE BEGINN
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Chapter xv Page ABBREVIATIONS AND A
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Chapter xvii Page Sound-ranging equ
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Field Artillery 1775-2003
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4 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of fie
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10 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of fi
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Regimental Staff Table 3—Artiller
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Battle of Palo Alto by Klauprecht &
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Table 6—Standard Field Pieces Use
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Table 8—Artillery Organization, A
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Table 9—Artillery Organization, A
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CHAPTER 4 Diverging Missions Betwee
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diverging missiOns tactics for infa
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diverging missiOns possibili ties o
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diverging missiOns The Gatling Guns
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diverging missiOns of War William C
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diverging missiOns high-angle fire
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Table 10—Artillery Organization,
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diverging missiOns Artillery in act
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diverging missiOns Artillery in act
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diverging missiOns Although neglect
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Direct Fire Gun A Aiming Point Diag
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100 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of f
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126 THE ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY OF F
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Table 11—Field Artillery Pieces R
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Table 12—Field Artillery Transpor
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The nUclear arena 237 By the end of
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The nUclear arena 239 In the late 1
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Table 23—Field Artillery Rockets
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CHAPTER 10 The Road to Flexible Res
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse 245 a
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Table 24—Comparison of Divisional
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse 249 p
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse Chart
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse Chart
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Chart 4—Reorganization of Regimen
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse 257 d
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse HHB C
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse reorg
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse M18 f
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The rOad TO fleXiBle resPOnse UH-1D
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CHAPTER 11 Vietnam During the 1950s
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vieTnam Table 25—Field Artillery
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vieTnam CH-54 Tarhe lifting a 155-m
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vieTnam 8-inch howitzer from Batter
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vieTnam 275 At each maneuver comman
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CH-47 Chinook transporting the M102
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vieTnam 279 ployed to Vietnam in la
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vieTnam 281 arose. A field artiller
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vieTnam ments were authorized, usin
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Table 26—Field Artillery Reductio
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Appendix A—Chiefs of Field Artill
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aPPendiX Maj. Gen. John A. Dubia 15
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Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

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