Soviet/Russian assessment of effectiveness of DF vs IF

[John Kettler]

Discussed by me in several threads over the years on the Forums, and first seen by me in David Isbys Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, I've repeatedly read the Soviets/Russians considered, gun for gun, shot for shot, Direct Fire to be 10 x more effective than what they called "fire from covered positions" and us Indirect Fire. Had the devil of a time doing it, but I finally tracked down the origin of the practice. That was Military Adviser to the Spanish Republican Army, Nikolay Nikolaevich Voronov, then a kombrig or brigadier general. Voronov brought back important lessons from that war, one of which, especially with primitive equipment, poorly trained forces and poor comms, was the extremely high effectiveness of DF vs. IF. Per Walter Dunn in his important work Hitler's Nemesis, page 164.

"The great advantages of direct fire were that it was easier to teach the troops, required less fire control equipment and used less ammunition (one or two rounds of direct fire did the work of twenty rounds of indirect fire)." 

The relevant footnote for the quote is Number 5 for Chapter 11, and it lists no fewer than three sources: Chris Bellamy's Red God of War, p. 48, Louis Ely's, The Red Army Today, pp. 64-66, Harold J. Gordon's "Artilley" in Liddell Hart's, The Soviet Army, p. 357. I don't presently own any of those books named, so someone else will have to run down each citation and see what was said in it. Would expect that the man who rose to Marshal of the Soviet Union, retiring as Chief of Artillery, said something on the subject  of the effectiveness of DF vs IF in his writings, but for that I defer to our Russian and Ukrainian colleagues for help.

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited January 16, 2022 by John Kettler

[Bulletpoint]

So you need 2 direct fire 75mm to clear a house, or 10 indirect fire 75mm. In combat mission, it seems more like you need a 100 indirect.

[Lethaface]

what is 'a house'? 

The big advantage of direct fire is that you can aim the thing at where enemy fire is coming from. Indirect 75mm rounds exploding on top of a house with a sturdy roof and some concrete rebar floors underneath wont do much to people on groundfloor. But if a shell goes of right next to someone inside a house. Well that's not good for that person I think.