Guest JonS Posted November 25, 1999 Share Posted November 25, 1999 In the Sth Pacific we do things a bit differently too - similarly to BHs' and Tommis statements, the number of rounds is an explicit, and mandatory, part of the call for fire from the FO. Now, I know this is modern day stuff, but I have reason to believe that it is the way it is because of procedures developed by the British during WWII, and subsequently spread through the Commonwealth - well, at least Aust and NZ anyway. In general the way we handle arty is very different from the US Army. There is a book by a US FO attached to an NZ battery in Vietnam, which highlights the differences between doctrines. For example, in the US the most junior officers in the battery were (are?) assigned to be FOs, whilst here only senior and experienced officers become FOs. Because of their seniority and experience they can TELL the supported arms commander what will happen in the way of fire support. Side note: interestingly, if the inf CO gets tagged by the bad guys, the Arty FO attached (at Bn or Coy level) takes over command of the Inf, NOT the Inf 2iC. This is usually because the FO is better informed about what is going on in the battle, whilst the 2iC is dealing with admin stuff. Off the top of my head I can't recall the name of the book or the author, but I'll dig it out and post it later. Jon ------------------ Quo Fas et Vino du Femme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JonS Posted November 25, 1999 Share Posted November 25, 1999 Found it: "Allies & Mates" by Gordon L Steinbrook Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted November 25, 1999 Share Posted November 25, 1999 Sorry for not responding earlier, Fionn, must have missed your post. The 105mm and the 155mm have VT fuzes, but only from Oct. 44 on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JonS Posted November 25, 1999 Share Posted November 25, 1999 Does this mean that these FOs ONLY have VT fuses, or that they have them available and can choose whether to use VT or PD (Point detonating)? Thanks Jon ------------------ Quo Fas et Vino du Femme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted November 26, 1999 Share Posted November 26, 1999 Is anybody going to answer Tankersley's question or do we have some determined ignoring going on here?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted November 26, 1999 Share Posted November 26, 1999 OK Regarding Tankersley's question, The answer is...(tada!)...I don't know for sure. (I am a beta tester), BUT in my rather extensive experience (Not that I've delibverately tested this exact eventuality) with the program so far, if a mission is in progress when the FO is killed, you will still have some rounds fall, though it will soon be cancelled. If the FO is killed between the time he calls for fire and the rounds drop then the mission is cancelled right then and you won't get any rounds dropping. Until Steve, or Charlie canc onfirm teh coding, that has been my (admittedly, imperfect) experience with the subject. Apologies to Tankersley on keeping missing his Q, though his thread has very much sparked some valuable and hopefuly useful discussion on artillery in CM which will hopefully find its way to the designers's eyes. Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted November 30, 1999 Share Posted November 30, 1999 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Except that in real life the FO more often than not does not ask for a specific number of rounds. He asks for a fire mission in fact he may just call for things like "immediate suppression" etc.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, that depends on the type of fire misson. In most cases, the FO does indeed call for a number of rounds, either as like "10 rounds" or as say "battery 2" (meaning 2 rounds per gun in the battery). Immediate Suppression is a special case--hit this spot, hit it NOW. But while the FO won't specify the number of rounds, the arty will have an SOP for such missions specifying how many rounds to shoot. Real FOs will know how many this is but grunt officers maybe won't. But either way, once those are shot, the FO can ask for a repeat if he wants more. But this might be more true for real arty. Maybe 81-120mm mortars would keep shooting until told to stop in immediate suppression missions. I don't know about that--that's grunt business . <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>"Us Jarheads do things a bit different..." AHh and therein lies the rub ... don't confuse Marine procedures as being synonomous with army porcedures or even those of other countries (Or modern proc. being the same as WW2) though PACWAR CM is hopefully coming soon!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> These days Marine cannoncockers, FOs, CBR sparkies, and FDC wienies all go to the Army's arty schools at Ft. Sill (and some Jarheads are instructors there). It was that way even at the height of Reagan's spending, too, so it could well have been that way in WW2. But anyway, Army and Marine arty types all get the same training these days so their procedures ain't THAT different (although Jarheads do it better, of course ). As to how this differs from US WW2, I don't think it does very much. Standard cannonballs still fly the same way and still have the same fire control requirements. Also, the organization of a division's arty regiment today is exactly the same as it was in WW2, with a DS battalion for each grunt regiment and some GS battalions extra. So it seems to me the US WW2 arty did the same types of missions our arty does now--it's just that lately we've added some new missions based on new types of ammo (laying mines, etc). Therefore, I'd expect US WW2 arty used pretty much the same procedures as we use today for the classic types of fire missions. As to other countries in WW2, I have no clue. But like I said way up the thread somewhere, all arty operates under the same set of rules so everybody has to use it in pretty much the same way. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>P.s. I was joking about the dead arty thing.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist . -Bullethead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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