Direction for firing in fortress-siege
artillery
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Firing practice (практическа
стрелба). The artillery firing
practice starts around the middle of August and ends at the beginning of
September. Its aim is : 1)
for battalion
and company commanders to develop the technique of directing fire by some
batteries operating together even in the most difficult situations (the
choice of the target, the character of the adjustment, the rate of fire, the
switch of the fire from one target to another, etc.); 2)
for junior
officers to develop the technique of making adjustment in all cases of
fortress shooting (the understanding, the drafting and the execution of the
firing plans, the rational understanding of the simplest cases of it and of
all the preparatory works for the achievement of this end); 3)
for the lower
ranks to learn how operate under wartime conditions, getting used to the
shots, the smoke, the recoil and so on, understanding what influence a
correct service can have before and during the fighting and paying great
attention to the maintenance of the different materials (tube, breech-block, ammunition,
sighting and loading devices, platforms
). Preliminary training. The
preliminary firing instruction
(предварително
обучение) consists in : 1)
firmly assimilating the structure and the use of the
firing tables, as well as the firing rules; 2)
knowing how to read maps and plans and to measure
distances and angles using the gun itself, or with simple operations of
practical geometry; 3)
applying the angles measured or obtained from the
firing plane to the platform or the gun; 4)
knowing how to observe the fall of the shots; 5)
knowing how to quickly prepare and understand the
sheets of the production and observation of the fire. Firing practice. The firing
practice includes five different types of exercise : A)
Application of the lesson learned:
about the auxiliary actions, the preparation for travel, the arrangement and
the armament of the batteries, etc., and the improvement of what has been
learned in these branches to the extent that the nature of the proving ground
allows it. B)
Preparatory fire (подготвителна
стрелба) for each fortress battalions : 1)
An exercise to show visually the dependence of shell
falls on changes in elevation and direction under normal and adverse
conditions. This firing is directed by the company commanders in the presence
of all company officers and men. It is carried out at a distance of about 400
m from a 12cm gun or another small calibre gun, with the quadrant pointed 4 m
to the side. To this exercitation, every fortress battalion receives 7 blank
shells without fuze, 2 charged with fuze, 2 shrapnel with the time fuze and 1
case shot. 2)
An exercise with a 4pdr or 9pdr gun or a 8cm or 9cm
short range gun, to show NCOs the rules for adjusting and firing at an
uncovered target at medium ranges with 16 shells with bursting charge. 3)
An exercise with a 4pdr or 9pdr gun or a 8cm or 9cm
short range gun, to show NCOs the rules for adjusting with shell and
switching to shrapnel against a chain of shooters at medium ranges, with 8
shells and 12 shrapnel. C)
Training fire (учебна
стрелба) for each fortress battalions : 1)
Horizontal fire by senior NCOs with 4-6 4pdr or
9pdr guns or 8cm or 9cm short range guns, against an uncovered battery at
2000-2500 m with 12 shells and 16 shrapnel. 2)
Horizontal fire by senior NCOs with 4-6 4pdr or
9pdr guns or 8cm or 9cm short range guns, against an infantry column at
2000-2500 m with 12 shells and 16 shrapnel. 3)
Horizontal fire by junior NCOs with 4-6 4pdr or
9pdr guns or 8cm or 9cm short range guns, against an infantry chain at
2000-3000 m with 12 shells and 16 shrapnel. 4)
Horizontal fire by junior NCOs with 4-6 4pdr or
9pdr guns or 8cm or 9cm short range guns, against an uncovered field battery
at 2000-3000 m with 20 shrapnel. 5)
Destruction fire by junior NCOs with 2-4 12cm
guns, against artillery behind a parapet visible from the battery at
2000-3000 m with 24 shells. 6)
Jumping fire by junior NCOs with 2-4 24pdr guns,
against a vertical target in a ditch at 1000-1500 m with 24 shells. 7)
Plunging fire by junior NCOs with 2-4 6inch
mortars, against a ammunition store at 1000-1800 m with 24 shells or, if the
battery commander prefers it, with 12cm L/12 howitzers, against troops behind
a shelter with 16 shrapnel. D)
Fighting fire (бойна
стрелба) for each fortress battalions (the veteran officers fires) : 1)
Destruction fire with 4 24pdr guns, against a
siege battery at 2000-3000 m with 24 shells. 2)
Destruction fire with 4 24pdr guns, against on the
mask of the siege battery with the switch of fire at 2000-3000 m with 24
shells. 3)
Destruction fire with 4 15cm L/30 guns or 12cm
(L25, L/28, L/30) guns, against a siege battery at 2000-3000 m with 24
shells. 4)
Shrapnel fire with 4 24pdr guns, against troops behind
a parapet at 2000-3000 m with 12 shells and 16 shrapnel. 5)
Shrapnel fire with 4 24pdr guns, against a lunette
or a redoubt at 2000-3000 m with 12 shells and 16 shrapnel. 6)
Shrapnel fire with 4 15 L/30 guns or 12cm (L/25,
L/28, L/30) guns, against uncovered troops at 2000-5000 m with 8 shells and
16 shrapnel. 7)
Plunging fire with 4 6inch mortars or 15cm L/12
howitzers, at will of the battery commander under angles less than or greater
than 43°, at 1500-2500 m with 24 shells. 8)
Jumping fire 4 12cm L/12 or 15cm L/12 howitzers or
24pdr guns, against a vertical target in a shelter at 2000-3000 m with 28
shells. 9)
Horizontal fire with 4-6 9pdr guns or 9cm short-range
guns, against a kite balloon or a searchlight at 2000-3000 m with 36 shrapnel. 10) Horizontal
fire with 2-4 57mm guns, against troops advancing from 1500 m up with 8
shells and 24 shrapnel. 11) Horizontal
fire with 2-4 57mm guns, against troops attacking from 1500 m down with 6
shells and 36 shrapnel. 12) Horizontal
fire with 2-4 24pdr guns or 12cm (L/25, L/28, L/30), against hidden troops
at 2000-3000 m with 12 shells and 24 shrapnel. E)
Fire by groups of batteries (групова
стрелба) for each fortress battalions
: 1)
Concentrated horizontal fire with 4 24pdr guns
with 16 shells, 4 12cm (L/25, L/28, L/30) with 20 shells and 4 12cm L/12
or 15cm L/12 howitzers with 8 shells and 16 shrapnel, against a fort or a
redoubt at 2000-3000 m under the direction of the battalion commander or of
the deputy commander. 2)
Horizontal fire with 4 24pdr guns with 24 shells
against a siege battery, 4 12cm (L/25, L/28, L/30) with 24 shells against
another siege battery and 4 12cm L/12 or 15cm L/12 howitzers with 12 shells
and 16 shrapnel, against by troops behind a parapet visible from the battery,
all at 2000-3000 m under the direction of the company commander. 3)
Tablet fire with 4 12cm (L/25, L/28, L/30) with 12
shells and 4 15cm L/30 guns against a camp at 3500-4500 m under the
direction of the company commander. Firing plans. According
to the directive, after the reconnaissance of the target, the battery
commander must draw up a firing plan, where he records all the necessary
data, taken from the firing tables or added by himself by means of various
calculations. In this way, he can easily and quickly direct the adjustment
and the fire for effect. Even if in the field artillery, such plans are not
drawn up in advance, in fortress artillery, they are made also for the 4pdr
and 9pdr field guns assigned to the battalions. The directive lists eight
different examples of firing plans adaptable to different types of guns and
to the most varied circumstances. Later,
the integration of the firing tables with columns for the dispersion of the
different charges of the 15cm howitzers, the publication of tables for the
guns in pounds and the gradual integration of the tables published for the
all the calibres and models, made the plans superfluous. However, the
officers who served in the fortress artillery continued to compile them
anyway for a long time only by tradition. |