How long would it take to setup a TRP?

[Guest Pillar]

In real life, what is involved with and how long does it take to set up a Target Reference Point?

I'm asking so that I can integrate that with my RPG.

[Guest Michael emrys]

I'm not an artillery pro and will yield to their greater experience should any care to comment, with the caveat that things have changed quite a bit in their department since the WW II days.

I'd hazard this guess as an answer to your question: It depends.

Okay, a little more depth than that. It depends on what else the artillery battery has to do that day, i.e. how much free time and spare ammo can they devote to establishing TRPs. If they have lots of both, one could probably be set up in 5 minutes or less if the FO is already in position with his comm channels established and the guys back at the battery aren't out to lunch or in the latrine, etc. Otherwise, it's the usual Army routine of sitting around smoking, shooting the breeze, cleaning your weapon, breaking out a C-ration, catching some zees and generally goofing off until somebody else gets their act together.

Without that, the war would probably have ended a year earlier.

Michael

[Pham911]

Do they really use ammo to set up reference points?

I'd figure that if I was walking along the nice, clear dirt road and spotted a few shell holes zeroing in on the middle the path, I'd think two or three times before walking anywhere but backwards.

[Guest Pillar]

Yeah, I'm interested in knowing the process as well as the actual time involved.

What exactly do they do?

[pzvg]

In combat they sometimes do use fire and adjust as it is the fast and dirty way, however if you don't or can't do that, registering the guns on a ref point takes anywhere from an hour to 3 or more, (lotta map time, sun sights and number crunching)

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Pzvg

"Murphy's law of combat #10, never forget your weapon is made by the lowest bidder

[Guest Michael emrys]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pham911:

Do they really use ammo to set up reference points?

I'd figure that if I was walking along the nice, clear dirt road and spotted a few shell holes zeroing in on the middle the path, I'd think two or three times before walking anywhere but backwards.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Then you'd spend a lot of time walking backwards. This is a war and for all you know this ground may have already been fought over before, or they could be stray rounds from a fight a little ways over. A lot of peculiar things happen during a war. Planes jettisoned bombs in the middle of nowhere if they couldn't reach their targets, or have suffered damage, or are being chased by something they'd rather see less of, etc., etc., etc.

Michael

[Pacestick]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pillar:

Yeah, I'm interested in knowing the process as well as the actual time involved.

What exactly do they do?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

very simple process. The CO and the FO/MFC decide on the target and or targets(two types, defensive fires and final protective fires). The FO/MFC radios the grid reference of the target, the direction to the target and its elevation to the firng unit.

The firing unit cp then converts that info into deflection and elevation angles for the gun sights and looks up firing tables to get the correct charge bag configuration for the round first adjusting round and then the fall of shot is adjusted so that the beaten zone is over the DF and then the info recorded so that it can be duplicated without the need to adjust and a target number asigned to that DF

DFs and FPFs are always registered noisilly unless there is a very good reason not to eg compromise of an ambush site by live registration,gun ammo in short supply etc.

If registered noisilly , it takes no more than

20 minutes unless the target is danger close(600m from memory for 105mm) in which case it can take a little longer, each round fired must be from the same lot, all charge bags must be checked etc

If registered silently , it obviously takes less time, the process is the same less the adjustment, the penalty is that the first round fired is aimed to land 1000m from friendly troops and then adjusted back when the DF is fired meaning the fire for effect for silently registered DFs takes longer to hit the target.

The difference between a DF and a FPF is that the guns of a direct support unit are always laid on a FPF unless firing or laid on elswhere. The guns are laid on a DF as and when required. To illistrate, you are advancing towards a line of high features which the FO has registered DFs on, the guns would be laid on the closest DF until the FO declares it unsafe because you have troops within the minimum safety distance and then gets the guns to lay on the next DF and so on.

In a theatre of operations there is usually a schedule of harrasing fire missions fired usual at night to disrupt likey choke points/enemy routes etc

If deception of registration of a DF is required it can be done as part of the harrasing program

All this is from an arty user and not someone from the corp of arty, someone who has been an arty cp number could enlighten us on the method of calculating sight adjustments etc. Obviously done now days with a fire control computer but in my day worked out with a grided overlay , a map and a book of firing tables