An interesting blurb on German soldiers of both fronts comparing American and Soviet artillery. This statement is not an anomaly or propaganda. The German soldiers who faced both almost universally shared this opinion. They respected the Soviet artillery for it’s massed pre-planned barrages, but once Zhukhov fired off all his ammunition in preparation of an offensive, that was pretty much it.
But while the Germans respected the Soviet artillery, they FEARED the American. There were several reasons for this. First, American artillery and ammunition was well-built. The pieces were rugged, easy to manufacture and simple to maintain. For example, an American piece might have 15 moving parts while it’s German counterpart would have three times that amount. American ammunition was also high quality and reliable. And if the Germans already don’t like it, just wait till they meet the POZIT fuse in late 1944.
The second aspect of American artillery was it’s mobility. In the 1920s, as the United States Army worked on it’s artillery doctrine, it quickly settled on truck transport. Every piece had a truck to tow it, and also at least one truck for crew and ammunition supply. No other army had this degree of built-in mobility when the war began. So as an American division advanced, it’s artillery went with it. There was never a time when an American unit “outran” it’s artillery cover, as happened with the Germans during blitzkreig, and is happening now with the Soviet summer offensive.
Finally, and most effectively was American fire control. American artillery fire control doctrine was highly developed, based on a communications net with redundant features. Many times during the course of battle, the command and control communications net would break down, but the artillery net was still functioning. There was also a flexibility and informality in the net such that in theory, and often in practice, a forward observer could call down the fire of every artillery tube in range of the target regardless of what unit the tube was attached to. Other fire control innovations included TOT or “Time on Target” fires where each battery called upon to fire at a specific target would fire at a different time, with the time of fire calculated in such a way that all of the shells would arrive on the target simultaneously for an incredible concentration of power. The Germans hated it.
So, as one German put it, American artillery was “Everywhere, all the time, and in unbelievable quantity.”
The familiarization training I got with the artillery was impressive. Usually in 1-3 rounds they were right on target and then, whoa, came fire for effect. We were trained to preplan artillery and mortar fires on high speed avenues of approach to the extent we could. I liked having those guys with us. They can’t decide air supremacy takes precedence over my fire mission.