Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

CHAPTER 10
The Road to Flexible Response
Toward the end of the Korean War the global nuclear environment became more
threatening to the United States, no longer the only nation with atomic weapons.
While developing missiles as an efficient means of delivering nuclear warheads,
thus extending the range of conventional artillery, Army leaders faced the fact that
the Army itself needed to be reorganized to survive on the nuclear battlefield. Given
the growing vulnerability of massed conventional forces to nuclear attack, they
felt future ground forces should be smaller, highly mobile, semi-independent, and
self-contained. Because the effectiveness of the artil lery traditionally and primarily
rested on its ability to mass fires, numerous problems arose in implement ing the
new organizational strategy. As had been the case after World War I, the desire
for a leaner force structure and rapid mobility—survival—took priority over the
desire for massed fire power during reorganization planning. Effective use of nuclear
weapons was to compensate for the decrease in density of conventional firepower
brought about by the reduction in conven tional weapons and wide dispersal of units
not centrally con trolled. However, as the usefulness of massive retalia tion receded,
the strategy of flexible respon se influenced the Army to reorganize its forces along
more conven tional lines while retaining its nuclear capabilities.
The 280-mm. Gun
Endeavors to develop atomic warheads for tube artillery pieces led to the production
of the first atomic cannon, a powerful 280-mm. gun nicknamed Atomic
Annie. The bulk and weight of the atomic bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
made their use in standard artillery pieces at the time impossible, but the United
States Atomic Energy Commission and Army ordnance experts collaborated in
the 1950s to compress nuclear components and firing devices into ever smaller
packages. The heavy gun had its origin as a concept for replacing heavy artillery
weapons used during World War II. Based on the 240-mm. howitzer, it employed
a German double recoil con cept, in which the upper carriage recoiled with the
tube while the lower car riage recoiled horizontally on the base section. After the
war the design was radically altered to provide a weapon for a nuclear projectile,
despite a decrease in range. Suspen ded between two supporters (special tractors
with hydrau lic jacks), the gun had a cruising speed of 25 miles (40.2 kilometers)
per hour. Hydraulic rammers loaded conven tional or atomic shells, which could
be fired up to 18 miles (29 kilometers) with great accuracy. A nine-man crew of