The importance of heavy artillery increased to the degree that field fortifications were driven deeper into the ground vertically and structured with greater complexity horizontally. As a result, siege warfare became the norm. In 1914, mobile warfare largely came to a standstill within several weeks and transformed into trench warfare. Their range of fire, however, remained inferior to that of guns of the same calibre. The latter were thus able to shoot over high cover or hit targets behind them, since the shells descended at a steep angle at the end of their flight paths. Cannons fired with flat trajectories howitzers and mortars, by contrast, had curved lines of fire. This encompassed special guns with calibers of over thirty centimeters that were utilized for fighting against modern armoured turret fortifications.Īlong with caliber and distance, the trajectory of a round was an important criterion for judging the capabilities of guns. Heavy artillery also included heavy mortar fire. In 1914, Germany had an obvious lead in this type of artillery. In Germany, this led to the buildup of “heavy artillery in the field army” with the newly manufactured large caliber guns that were still sufficiently maneuverable for mobile warfare. The Russo-Turkish War (1877/1878) had demonstrated that light field guns were not able to destroy improvised field fortifications. Of greater importance were the distance and impact of the individual shells. Its proper domain was siege warfare in attack and defense. The rate of fire increased exponentially, as a consequence, but so did the required supply of ammunition.įoot artillery, referred to as Fußartillerie in Germany, was considerably more complex and covered a variety of different weapons. The weapon itself remained steady and it was no longer necessary to reset the weapon after each shot. A brake mechanism elastically absorbed the barrel and returned it to its initial position. The new type of gun featured a barrel in a cradle which could be slid backwards in the cradle. They consequently jerked backwards when fired, and had to be both reloaded afterwards, and returned to their initial position and reset. With conventional guns, the barrel was firmly connected to the mount. The field artillery from 1914, which consisted mainly of cannons with flat trajectories, had calibers of between 7.5 and 8.4 cm.įrance devised a groundbreaking innovation in 1897, when it introduced a field gun with long barrel recoil. This restricted both the caliber and the range, for large distances required powerful charges and hence heavy gun barrels and mounts. As result, there were natural weight limits for artillery materiel, which was pulled by horses. This required that it be able to bear up under long marches and cope with difficult terrain. The artillery’s weaponry needed to be transportable. Light artillery was generally referred to as "field artillery" and intended for mobile warfare, which was the norm until 1914. Artillery is divided, technologically and tactically, into light and heavy artillery.
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