Field service regulations for
quick-firing mountain artillery
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Firing instruction. The text
lists the different orders that the gun head gives to the artillerymen to
open fire, in accordance with what is contained in the field artillery
regulations. The main difference is that in field artillery the firer is the
aimer, while in mountain artillery he is the breech-blocker, as in French
artillery. Direct
fire from open position to an uncovered target : – with
time shell : 1) at that line of troops
(battery…), 2) time fire, 3) elevation x, 4) fuze x, corrector x; – with percussion shell : 1) at that battery (post, trench…), 2) percussion fire (with H.E. shell), 3) elevation x. Fire
from masked or covered position : – with time shell : 1) aim at that target, 2) aiming point pole (marker), 3) plate x, drum x, 4) level
x, vernier x,
5) time fire, 6) elevation x, 7) fuze x, corrector x; – with percussion shell : 1) aim
at that target, 2) aiming
point pole (marker), 3) plate x,
drum x, 4) level x, vernier x, 5)
percussion
fire (with H.E. shell), 6) elevation
x. If
the angle of sight lacks, the head orders : level null. To change the level, he orders level up (down) x. To increase the elevation of ½ mil, the correction can be made on the elevation, but only on the level, the
head orders elevation x ½, increase! As
soon as the gun is aimed according the head’s order, the aimer says ready! and
the head for the first shot! At that order, the firer draws the lanyard until the firing
pin falls, then releases the lanyard. After the shot, with the gun back in
place, the firer opens the breech-block to eject the
cartridge case. The aimer lays the gun, and a new command is
awaited for reloading, except in cases where the nature of the fire requires
immediate reloading. If the shooting data remains unchanged, the command is: same. The methods of fire are the same
as field artillery (fire by order, ordinary fire at established speed,
firestorm and progressive fire with or without sweep), except that mountain artillery does not use the fire to break up and
the progressive fire at an order. To
change the target, the head commands the new target and the new firing data.
If laying at the new target cannot be done from the
actual position of the gun, the gun head takes the trail spade out of the
ground and directs the gun on the new target. To
repel an attack at close range (less than 500 m), the head orders
: 1) at the file (cavalry…),
2) elevation 2, fuze
5 tenth (½ second), 3) rapid!
Fire stops as soon as the threat ceases. Suspending the fire, at the order free! the gunners place themselves
standing or sitting around the gun. Decommissioning takes place with the
permission of the head. To start the action again, he orders: stand! Firing with the short
carriage. Sometimes
mountain guns can only fire with the fore-carriage, but in that case, they
recoil and to act the servants must take their places outside the line of the
wheels. The firer pulls the trigger by means of the long string, and after
every shot, the gunners push the gun into position. In this case, braking
ropes are used to reduce the recoil and the same
happens when the trail spade cannot be planted in the ground or is broken. The ropes are placed wrapping their middle part around the lower end
of the traversing lever, and tying its ends to the wooden ends of the wheels
spokes. Firing and moving with reduced personnel.
When some men are missing, the aimer is replaced by the
loader, the other gunners are replaced by the gun head, until the
arrival of the reserve gunners. The missing horse drivers are replaced, on the order of the gun head, by the gunners of the
ammunition loads. The missing artillery horses are replaced, on the order of the gun head, by the ammunition horses of
the fighting unit. If the terrain allows, the gun is
unloaded, hooked and brought in towed order. When the position is
close and some horses are missing, the gun is rolled by
hands to the position, or that parts of the gun that were carried by
the missing horses are hand-carried by the gunners to the position. The gun
can continue firing even with one gunner. Packing the gun. To pack
the gun, at a signal the drivers lead
the horses as follows : the carriage horse (лафетен
кон) is placed 2 paces right and
10 paces behind the gun, then in single file, 2 paces away one from the
other, the shaft (возилен
кон), the barrel (телови кон), the cradle (спирачен
кон) and the two ammunition
horses (ракленни
коне). At the same time, at
the order prepare the gun for loading,
1)
the aimer picks out the sight and its arm and hands
them to the gun head and the firer to put them in the bags, then he gives a
horizontal position to the cradle and unlocks the left shield support and
assists the firer in removing the shield; 2)
the firer removes the front sight and takes the sight
arm from the aimer and puts them into the left bag for the aiming tools, then
unlocks the lock on the right shield support, and, after taking out the
shield with the aimer, he takes it 10 paces in front of the gun (to the right
of the carriage horse); 3)
the loader stands against the trail and helps the fuze-setter to remove the spade, then unlocks the
carriage’s connecting lock, and raises the carriage to the height of the belt
to remove the trail; 4)
the fuze-setter unlocks the spade lock, pulls out
the traversing lever and secures it on the trail, then raises the carriage
and removes the trail; 5)
the
shell-handlers go to the gun at double pace. At
the order Load!, the shield, the
fore-carriage and a bag with the accessories were loaded on the first horse;
the trail, the wheels and the shaft on the second; the barrel and the bag
with sighting apparatus on the third; the cradle, the sledge and the recoil
gears on the fourth; the ammunition boxes on their relative horses. The
gun head loads the shield with the help of the first horse driver. The aimer
and the firer hang up the sighting apparatus, then together with the head
load the barrel. The 1st shell-handler load the sledge with the help of the
head. The loader, the fuze-setter and the 1st
shell-handler load the trail and the shaft with the help of the 2nd
shell-handler. The fuze-setter and the loader load
the recoil gear, then load the fore-carriage with
the help of the head. The firer and the aimer load the cradle. The two
shell-handlers load the wheels. The head loads the stem on the left side of
the carriage horse and finally he inspects all the loads. At
the order Unload!, the horses were unpacked in the
reverse order of packing, the same gunners handling the different parts of
the gun. Loading
and unloading in a position under the enemy’s eyes and fire should be avoided. Hooking the gun. To hook
the gun, at the order Hook!, the
gunners, each acting on the left side, and the loader passing on the right
side in front of the aimer, turn the carriage half a circle towards the
firer’s side, and to do this, they take the spade trail. Then the aimer and
firer put away the sighting instruments, and the gun head puts them in the
bags, after which they take off the shield. The loader and the fuze-setter lower the trail spade, tighten it and place
the traversing lever in its socket. At a given signal, the horse drivers lead
their horses the loader and the fuze-setter attach
the gun drawbar to the shaft horse, which is in turn
attached to the carriage horse. The other gunners load the bags, the
ammunition boxes, and the auxiliary tree. After the gun is hooked, the
attendants take their places around it in towing formation. The
gun can also be hooked on the fore-carriage. The loader and the fuze-setter separate the trail that is loaded on the
cradle horse by the shell-handlers, and harness the gun with the help of the
aimer and the firer. The
gun is always loaded or hooked forward, if it is to be
placed in retreating or flanking order, the appropriate commands are
given afterwards. The
text lists the procedures and different orders that the gun head gives to
unhook the gun, to switch from a formation to another, to move and to enter
and leave the park. |