Artillery - something to contemplate

[dieseltaylor]

from

http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2Arti/c15-2.html

"From the many reports it soon became clear what route the enemy proposed to take, and all three New Zealand field regiments, the artillery of 7 Armoured Division, 5 AGRA, and the heavy ack-ack guns on the airfield were all warned and given a centre point and bearing for a stonk about 3000 yards from Point 270. Captain Hanna of the 4th Field was watching closely from that feature and at the critical moment called for the fire. It was ordered by Artillery Headquarters at 5.45 p.m. and began to land two minutes later: five rounds gun fire from the three New Zealand field regiments, the 58th Field, RA, and the 7th Medium. Then, with suitable corrections, all these guns and the 146th Field as well fired

another five rounds gun fire. The total number of rounds was 1240 and the effect was devastating.

There was rarely more than six yards between shell holes, as the CRA discovered when he inspected the ground later. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funnily enough my exclamation marks. I always thought that the Allies best arm was the artillery firepower : )

[Dandelion]

Originally posted by dieseltaylor:

"Captain Hanna of the 4th Field was watching closely

...But that was nothing compared to the huge binoculars brought along by Major Sarah.

Ok sorry, I'm tired. I do agree with you in your analysis tho.

Cheers

Dandelion

[dieseltaylor]

and even better p451

"The Development of the Stonk

The stay in Nofilia is chiefly memorable, however, for an important development in field artillery tactics, foreshadowed by methods used in the Middle East School of Artillery, in training in Syria, and in action in the Alamein line. The first mention of this in the war diaries is by the 6th Field on 4 January, which states that that regiment practised ‘the “STONK” procedure’ and ‘also Quick Barrages’. Mobile warfare in the desert clearly called for methods quicker and more flexible than those formerly employed by the Royal Artillery. The field gunners wanted to cut fire orders to the barest minimum so as to permit effective fire against fleeting opportunity targets and to guard against sudden attacks, perhaps from unexpected quarters.

The essence of the stonk was that, at the divisional level, a target 1200 yards long and 300 yards deep could be engaged at extremely short notice. The regiments and batteries knew

exactly what was expected of them so long as they were given the centre of the stonk area and the bearing of the long side. The elaborate reformulation of orders at each link as they descended along the chain of command, which was the orthodox method, became unnecessary. Once the method became widely understood many refinements were added to save even more time. Bombardier Gallagher16 of 29 Battery of the 6th Field, for example, an M.Sc. with honours in mathematics, designed a special template or protractor for use on the artillery board. It contained a hole which fitted over the stonk centre point and from it the area on which the battery had to fire could at once be marked on the sheet of talc which covered the map. In a matter of seconds, given the point and bearing, the line and range of individual guns could be called out. To facilitate coverage of the target area the 25-pounder troops got into the habit of occupying gun lines so laid out—where the ground permitted—that the first and fourth guns were 150 yards apart and the two-troop batteries covered the 300 yards normally allotted to them in the stonk area. Similarly a standard barrage of 10 lifts which could be brought down quickly was worked out and practised and for this, too, Gallagher designed an ingenious protractor.17 Both methods became widely used, not only by the New Zealand gunners, but by the gunners of Eighth Army and, in the end, of much of the British Army.

[sand digger]

'Standard concentration' = 'stonk'

The continuing dominance of Axis AT guns over 8th Army's tanks, it continued at El Alamein 2, has been said to have resulted from a failure to specifically use concentrated artilley fire against them as the situation required it. I'm guessing to some degree but that appears to be part of the failure of British armour to cooperate with the other arms.

[dieseltaylor]

I am reading more of the NZ history and certainly they improved markedly as they went towards Tunis.

With hindsight benefit I feel I would have been a wunderkid : )...... but its interesting to read the doctrinal struggles, something like the big wing, that went on regarding artillery deployment.

[JonS]

'tis a good read isn't it?

The passage about the sojourn in Syria (Jan - Jun 42)is interesting from a doctrinal development point of view, especially the later bits regarding the bde exercises in the Syrian desert (Apr-Jun 42). The NZ Div was lucky to have always had CRAs who believed in the use of massed fire. The Div was also lucky to have had the independance of being not-British, and thus Freyburg could tell the various 8th Army commanders to jam it on some issues (notably on the employment of Arty). Diplomatically of course.

Minqar Qaim (July 42) is another interesting artillery battle. And Tebaga Gap (March 43) is a splendid case study of combined arms and blitzkreig.

The various campaign OHs (Relief of Tobruk, Battle for Egypt, Alam Halfa and Alamein, Bardia to Enfidaville) are good companions to the unit-specific books.

You might also enjoy a couple of the articles here, though they are a bit lightweight compared to the OHs.

Regards

JonS

[sand digger]

The ANZAC's were at the forefront of innovation and development, no doubt about it. Perhaps because they were not so bound by tradition, were more result oriented and information and experience flowed both up and down freely.

You won't find any acknowledgment of this by any of the other Allies though. For example, there is an excellent recent British book, Alamein, Stephen Bungay, Aurum, London, 2002, which goes into the Dominion contribution in NA more than most. But no mention of the Kiwi artillery or any other specific matter, just general approval stuff.

And the Yanks, well the Germans were the font of all military knowledge and that was it.