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Posted on 09/06/2004 11:23:18 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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 The modern artillery piece is an incredibly lethal and (in the public eye) totally unappreciated piece of machinery. It lacks the popularity and accessibility of the personal firearm or the glamour of the main battle tank, but artillery is an absolutely crucial component of combined-arms tactics in ground warfare. Sci-fi fan discussions of ground warfare often assume that artillery is unnecessary in the presence of air support, but this is a totally unrealistic approach. While artillery doesn't produce pretty pictures of smart bombs hitting buildings for CNN, it does produce results, particularly against targets which are not easily seen from the air. Unlike aircraft, artillery is unaffected by cloud cover or similar visibility conditions; as long as the spotter can relay the target location, the act of aiming is performed through mathematical computation rather than visual target acquisition. Furthermore, artillery isn't as easily fooled by cardboard decoys or other guerilla tricks, since its targeting is based on forward observers rather than detection from a distance. An artillery piece is also much less expensive than an aircraft, and a high explosive shell is much less expensive than a multi-million dollar guided missile. Artillery has an effective 100% duty cycle in the local combat area, unlike aircraft which cover large areas and must periodically return to base for refueling, maintenance, etc. Artillery is also much harder to detect than aircraft. Even a stealth aircraft is neither invisible or silent, while a camouflaged artillery piece can avoid detection until it opens fire, even in daytime.  Artillery pieces can range from small 52mm mortars to massive 8-inch self-propelled howitzers such as the M110A1, and they serve two purposes: close-range infantry support and long-range destruction of enemy units. Since artillery fires projectiles in an arcing trajectory, it has the absolutely priceless ability to hit targets without a line of sight. The importance of this capability simply cannot be overstated. An enemy tank column can be attacked by field artillery from behind geographical obstructions, and even if the attacking artillery is within range, the tanks still wouldn't be able to shoot back. In mountainous terrain, this capability is absolutely crucial; an army without artillery is a dead army. Of course, this leads to the obvious question of how artillery is aimed, and that job falls to fire control and the forward observer. Forward observers operate independently, and their job is to locate the target. They can be anything from specially equipped vehicles to men on foot, and they are typically equipped with laser rangefinders and accurate positioning systems such as GPS systems, so that they can relay very accurate targeting data back to fire control. Fire control then performs mathematical computations to determine the ideal firing angle and charge in order to hit the target, factoring in such variables as wind, humidity, temperature, etc. Modern systems even have multiple simultaneous strike capability, which is accomplished by firing three times in rapid succession: once at very high elevation, once at medium elevation, and once at low elevation. All three shots are timed so that they hit the target at the same time, from three different angles. Against a hardened target, this can effectively triple the power of the weapon. Against soft targets like infantry, the approach is somewhat different; a single proximity-fused projectile is set to explode in the air above the target and shower it with shrapnel. Either way, whether the target is a bunker, a column of armoured vehicles, or a group of infantry, if the artillery can find it, the artillery can destroy it.  Unfortunately, the greatest advantage of the artillery piece is also its greatest weakness: the parabolic trajectory of its projectile. While it allows the artillery piece to hit its target at great distances without a line of sight, it also allows a well-equipped enemy to swiftly locate the artillery piece, simply by tracking the arc of its projectile and mathematically computing its source. Specialized systems have been designed for just this purpose: for example, the EMI Cymbeline radar system is a specialized mortar-locating radar system, and the US Army's Firefinder system can locate both mortars and field artillery pieces. This means that field artillery is as much of a target as a threat, and the best efforts at concealment are basically for naught when the gun is ordered to open fire. However, the enemy must be well equipped in order to exploit this weakness, thus further underscoring the necessity of artillery: an enemy without effective artillery of his own would be helpless to exploit this weakness, so you would be able to attack him with impunity. Another point of vulnerability is the forward observer, since your artillery cannot target the enemy if your forward observers have been killed or captured. A possible alternative to the forward observer is the small aerial RPV (remote piloted vehicle), which is already in use for naval gunnery. However, the RPV is an expensive device, and forward observers are expected to be available on the battlefield by the time artillery is deployed.  Mobile warfare is hampered by immobile artillery support, so a full-scale conventional warfare scenario requires self-propelled artillery pieces. The doctrine of self-propelled gun deployment calls for large numbers of independent units to situate themselves around the countryside and move with the infantry and armour units. When a target is identified by the spotters, all of these artillery pieces will simultaneously open fire and shower it with shells, before pulling up stakes and changing positions in order to avoid the inevitable enemy artillery counter-attack (the slang term is "shoot and scoot". In this way, mobile artillery units achieve the dangerous combination of mobility, dispersion, and firepower concentration.
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I'm not even sure about the Walker Bulldog. I know they used American halftracks as German ones. (But then just about every movie does).
You could be right about the Priest, I remember seeing the big German cross on the pulpit, can't remember if it was in Rat Patrol though.
"The artillery pieces that had heralded our approach appeared in a deep valley to our right behind grey puffs of smoke as they belched their big noise into the spaces beyond."
"[T]hings… were becoming more and more routine. But always there was the deep, fearful dread of the enemy mortar shell that dropped unheralded from the sky, of the artillery round that screeched a fiendish warning as it approached--and the deep dread too of the darkness that would come tonight just as it had come last night and just as it would come the next night and the next. And any night the darkness might release a horde of fanatical German soldiers eager to kill and drive us from our holes and pillboxes, or perhaps a flame-throwing half track spouting its flaming oily death into the deepest recesses of the pillboxes."
"The Nebelwerfer barrage against the road junction was over, and I heard the other companies moving down the highway. Enemy artillery shells whistled so close overhead that the tall fir trees swayed gently from the breeze. We ducked involuntarily, but the big shells were intended for targets well to our rear. An answering barrage from the 99th Division artillery whistled over us, headed in the opposite direction. There seemed always to be a curtain of heavy shells racing above us."
"A round of 88mm fire snapped the top from a fir tree above our heads and fragments sprayed in all directions. There could be no doubt now. The Tigers had arrived."
"An 88mm shell whirred low over our heads and exploded with a crumping noise in the field behind us. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to another day in the Fatherland."
"The civilians in Wonetitz wanted us to withdraw from the town and fire again. They had begged the soldiers not to fight, but the Burgermeister had insisted that they must, and now every house in town had been hit with artillery fire, except ironically, the Burgermeister's.
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