Urban Shocker Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 I am working on a campaign but cannot find arty ranges for the various german and american calibers listed. I'm not talking about spotters but how far in kilometers or miles these gods of war can fire on their targets. Thanks inadvance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted November 27, 2001 Share Posted November 27, 2001 About 10 km for the US and German 105s, 150s, and 155s - standard howitzer range for the era. About 1 km longer for the larger pieces, actually (150-155). The 81mm mortars only go out 2-2.5 km. Rockets and the heavier mortars are also relatively short-ranged weapons, under 4 km. (The U.S. 4.2 inch mortar, which was unusual for a mortar in being rifled, had somewhat longer range). In practice, the guns would be anywhere from 1/3 to 3/4 of their maximum range behind the front line (attacking and deep defense, respectively). So the "reach" into the enemy "backfield" is shorter than the maximum range. So e.g. an attacking formation might have its howitzers within 3-4 km of the front line (at the start of an operation), able to reach 6-7 km beyond it. Defending guns might be 5-7 km back, meant to hit the front line area only. Some types had significantly longer ranges, and were commonly used for counter-battery work, or harassment and interdiction fires deep into the enemy rear areas. The 4.5" gun, the German 170mm, and 8 inch guns (not howitzers) are examples. Obviously the larger naval guns also had quite long range. A fine question, and I hope this helps. Incidentally, if you haven't heard of the CMx10 system for campaigns (using the map editor as a "virtual sand table"), mail me about it. It is a great aide to campaign refs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Shocker Posted November 27, 2001 Author Share Posted November 27, 2001 Thanks, Jason. I'll use the following ranges: 150's - 11 km 105's - 10 km less than 100 - 4 km Do you know the range of the 75 mm? I am working to make this an individual campaign. I am trying to design it so it an be played solo. Ideally, though, another person could direct the movement of the opposing forces and place them on the pe-made maps but all battles would be fought against the AI. Since I like bigger battles it is going to pit the Panzer Lehr Division versus a U.S. Infantry Division with attached elements (like tanks, TD's, AA, Arty and so on). By the way, it was actually inspired by the CMx10 thread. I created the largest map I could in the editor with each of the large squares representing 2 km on a side. Since it is a 22 x 22 large square map this makes it 44 km x 44 km or about 2,000 sq. km. which should be plenty for a division to occupy. Each turn will be 30 minutes and battles will be ongoing...meaning units will stay locked in battle until one withdraws. This also will provide the opportunity for reinforcement of an ongoing. At this point, I'm still working out the other details. Some of these include the use of engineers in building minefields and fortifications, weather effects on strategic movement, and the effects of losing supply or being cut-off. I should thank ScoutPL and the CMMC crew since I've found their writings very helpful and will probably co-opt some of their ideas for this campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted November 28, 2001 Share Posted November 28, 2001 the CMMC artillery rules have a table of ranges at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted November 28, 2001 Share Posted November 28, 2001 I'll second my co-author JonS and also plug the CMMC arty rules One thing for campaign guys to keep in mind about arty ranges. If you've got a book of gun stats that list maximum ranges, knock at least 1000m off that. The resulting number is the "planning range", which is what is useable on the battlefield. The 1000m between there and the absolute max is a cushion to allow the fire to be adjusted further out. The planning ranges listed below are just handy round numbers. Feel free to use your own along these lines. As for specifics of common German guns (from Ian Hogg, German Artillery of World War Two: 7.5cm l FK 18 max range: 9425m planning range: 8400m 10.5cm le FH 18 (no muzzle brake) max range: 10675m planning range: 9500m 10.5cm le FH 18M and 18/40 (with muzzle brake) max range: 12325m planning range: 11000m s 10cm K 18 max range: 19075m planning range: 18000m 15cm s FH 18 max range: 13250m planning range: 12000m HOWEVER: this could only be achieved with full-power charges, which caused excessive wear. As a result, without written request and authorization in advance, these charges couldn't be used. And even with such permission, only 10 rounds per gun per day could be fired with full charges. Thus, for most of the time, this weapon was limited to: max range: 9725m planning range: 8500m 15cm K 18 max range: 24500m planning range: 23500m 17cm K 18 in Mrs Laf max range: 29600m planning range: 28500m 21cm Mrs 18 max range: 16725m planning range: 15500m 24cm K 3 max range: 37500m planning range: 36500m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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