The employment of quick-firing field
artillery in combat
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Action of the artillery during the different stages
of the battle Offensive combat. The combat is conduct only by infantry, the
duty of the other branches of the army, the artillery included, is to support
and assist the action of the infantry, removing the obstacles that hinders
its advance or to hinder a rapid advance of the enemy. When the advance
guard begins the combat, the artillery must be deployed, occupying
positions as covered as possible; however it must be avoided to engage
immediately all the batteries from the beginning. First, the
batteries of the advance guard
must support the advance of
the infantry and co-operate in the conquest of the points, which may be important
for the following development of the battle, and especially a good position,
that preserves complete freedom of manoeuvre to the commander, allowing him
to accept or refuse the combat. Their action must be brief, strong,
enterprising and agile. During
the preparation of the attack, artillery observes the enemy
artillery, moves to the battle position (3- During
the artillery combat the artillery must
: 1) prevail
over the enemy artillery as quickly as possible using only the strictly
necessary means; 2) select
the moment when the enemy artillery was shelling at other targets, in order
to reduce the number of its units; 3) consider
the enemy batteries out of action only when they cease fire, never
interrupting the observation; 4) take
advantage when the enemy was forced to cease it fire, in order to operate
without suffering losses; 5) begin
or resume the combat, even with equal force, if infantry needs support; 6) not
interrupt the combat before having received an order. The
decisive attack must be prepared
with a converging, incessant and powerful fire of all the artillery and
infantry units, that are able to shell the point chosen for the attack During
the preparation of the decisive
attack the rules are : 1) all
the batteries chosen to
concentrate their fire at the point of attack must be under a single command; 2) the
fire must be in connection with the field heavy artillery; 3) in
order to operate quickly and powerfully at first it is unnecessary to occupy
covered position; 4) the
fire must be mainly directed against the enemy infantry; 5) enemy
batteries, that appear later in the fighting front must be overwhelmed with a
sudden, powerful fire. During
the execution of the decisive
attack, some batteries must accompany the attack of the infantry, while the
greatest part of the batteries must support infantry with its fire, moving its position up to The
accompanying batteries (придружаващи
батареи) must : 1) follow
the infantry, advancing by echelon
and occupying successive positions, if possible near the enemy; 2) not
take care of the enemy artillery that must be beat by the support batteries; 3) destroy
as quickly as possible everything hinders the advance of the infantry; 4) occupy
mainly flank positions; 5) occupy
immediately the positions seized to the enemy in order to totally disrupt
him, repelling all his attempt to reoccupy them. The
support batteries (опорни батареи) must : 1) prolong
its fire against the enemy positions as long as there is no risk for its own
troops, and then direct its fire at the enemy reserves; 2) crush
vigorously the whole enemy artillery; 3) observe
the approaches to the positions of the attacking troops, in order to
immediately repel every enemy counterattack. If the attack succeeds, the batteries set for the pursuit must
accompany the troops by echelon and try to prevent the retreat of the enemy
with their fire, crushing the batteries that are attempting to leave the
battlefield, without forgetting the infantry. In order to pursuit a repelled
enemy, artillery must take advantage of its mobility and of the power of its
fire at great ranges. If the attack fails, all batteries must fire at the enemy infantry;
only those, which are not able to perform
this task, can direct its fire against the enemy
artillery. The duty of the artillery is to hold its position as long as
possible, even at the cost of losing its materiel. Artillery must retreat by
echelon: the retreat of last echelon is covered by
the fire of some infantry units, which in turn retreat, screened by the
ground and by the fire coming from some supporting points. In case of a
strong enemy attack, the batteries following immediately the front infantry
units must unlimber where they are to deploy in fighting position. Fire at different targets.
The Instructions lists the
different targets that may meet with on the battlefield, explaining how to
attack them : – Field fortifications. The most effective
fire is enfilade. Earthworks cannot be demolished by
field artillery, therefore the fire directs against them is intended only for
the defenders who are sheltered by them, using sweeping fire to cut down the
crest of the parapet. The fire must be directed not
only on the fortification itself, but also on the ground behind and on its
flank, to hit the support troops. Troops behind a parapet can be easily
reached by the splinters of H.E. shells. If they are
protected by armoured shelters, the shelters must be
shelled by the torpedo shells of the field howitzers and, as soon as
they are destroyed, the garrison must be attacked with time shrapnel. – Gorges. Against open gorges,
artillery must be deployed on the two sides of the
battlefield, to support the troops with a powerful fire from the beginning to
the end of the attack. If the gorges are under cover, artillery must be able
to fire lengthwise to destroy the enemy placed in front of the entrance, and
some batteries may follow the attacking troops to open a rapid fire on the
enemy as soon as they had traversed the gorge. – Woods. The edges and the areas near
the roads crossing the wood must be attacked with
time-fire to the way to the attacking infantry. The interior of the wood must be shelled in deep with percussion fire to disperse
and possibly drive out the troops hidden there. – Houses, farms and villages.
At first artillery must set them on fire, and then direct the fire at their
outer edges to dislodge the troops assembled therein. To seize them, the
whole surface must be shelled, destroying also their
walls, if necessary. Defensive combat. In
defence, the best position must be assigned to the
artillery. The greatest care must be used in covering and masking its position
and in preparing the firing data before the beginning of the combat. The main
task of the artillery is the destruction of the enemy artillery, if possible
already during its deployment. During the enemy attack, artillery must concentrate its fire against
the most important sectors of the front to crush the attack. As
soon as the enemy is beaten off, the defender must
immediately counter attack, since the Instructions
stresses that only an offensive action can assure a decisive victory. To not allow the enemy to halt, the artillery must shell
the enemy reserves and the units not yet disrupted, seeking to obtain his
complete defeat. |