Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

202 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
8-inch howitzer in action
a tremendous rise above what was considered normal rates of fire, which was, in
turn, caused by the shortage of artil lery pieces. Initially, the ammunition expenditure
rate was based on experiences during World War II, but the reduced number
of field artillery battalions per mile of front meant that each gun had to shoot more
rounds than the expenditure tables allowed for achieving the required effectiveness.
Soon after the war began, the Far East Command was allowed a temporary three- to
sixfold increase in the so-called day of supply (average number of rounds a gun was
expected to fire in one day). Because the day of supply determined the num ber of
shells held in reserve in the Far East Command, the larger allot ment decreased the
reserves in terms of the number of days it would last. 28
During operations in the spring of 1951, artillery ammunition expenditures
skyrocketed, especially between 16 and 21 May, when the X Corps fought a defensive
battle at and below the Soy ang River in eastern Korea. At the beginning of the
counteroffen sive the enemy, thrown back in disorder, fled. The X Corps brought
artillery to bear on all types of targets unmercifully, as the rapid and unexpected
advance of the corps drove the enemy forces into the open and forced them back
across the river. During this phase, task forces, often built around regimental com-
28 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Hearings on Ammunition Supplies in the
Far East, 83d Cong., 1st sess., 1953, p. 18; Mark S. Watson, “Ammunition Expenditures in Korea,”
Ordnance, September-October 1952, pp. 251–52; Hermes, Truce Tent, pp. 225–30.