You use a mix of VT fuzing and some impact fuzing against human wave attacks. VT provides airbursts for killing and wounding large numbers at once. But the impact rounds are mixed in for the morale effect. In Korea we found that the biggest impact to morale was for a Chicom to see his buddy torn to pieces a few meters from him. Airbursts tend to wound and kill relatively ‘neatly’. Impact fuzing causes a lot more shock.
Correct. And forget about cluster munitions. They’re inefficient for anything but un-armed vehicles and supplies in the open. They’re also not as accurate as HE. HE gets the job done at a fraction of the cost of cluster munitions.
A guy can be on the periphery of a cluster strike and have no effect. Not so with a 155 rnd. Besides shrapnel, the concussive blast will damage internal organs incapacitating or killing the combatant.
Our guys used Flechettes in 105 howitzers in VN, esp. on the hills defending Khe Sanh.
There was one NVA attack, possibly by a company sized unit, that took some 105 flechette shells head-on.
The AAR in a book on this battle said that there was nothing left of the NVA company. They had been shredded into raw meat.
This was a level-aimed barrage at a charging mass (which became a dead mess).
I agree that a mix of VT and impact fuzed shells is a morale destroyer, but when the enemy is closing in fast, you can blow them away with flechettes (which we no longer have in our inventory - Another DOD/Army planning fiasco).