Can SP artillery guns have spotters? + tactics

[Spuda]

Originally posted by Bismarck:

I'm a fairly new CMBO player so this is probably a basic question. Whenever I get SP artillery they seem to die rather quickly. I realize the sp guns are not meant to go against other armoured veichles. But if they can only shoot at targets in their direct line of sight then I'm forced to place them in the front lines. Are they able to shoot indirectly the same way mortars can if they have a HQ unit spotting for them? And does any have any good tactics for using SP guns as either the Axis or Allies?

Thanks

[Spuda]

Originally posted by Spuda:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Bismarck:

I'm a fairly new CMBO player so this is probably a basic question. Whenever I get SP artillery they seem to die rather quickly. I realize the sp guns are not meant to go against other armoured veichles. But if they can only shoot at targets in their direct line of sight then I'm forced to place them in the front lines. Are they able to shoot indirectly the same way mortars can if they have a HQ unit spotting for them? And does any have any good

tactics for using SP guns as either the Axis or Allies?

Thanks

</font>

[Thermopylae]

Interesting...I hadn't realized priests were all that common in the front lines. I remember that one was used in Remagen (I think) and the germans considered it a monstrosity. Seeing as how this had born special note from capyured german officers, I'd always thought they weren't too common on the front lines. Guess I was wrong.

[JasonC]

Some sample engagements of U.S. Priests, just in the early part of the Bulge fighting (these are quotes from the US staff history) -

Two attempts by the (German) Reconnaissance Battalion to feel out Task Force Rose were beaten back with the help of a battery from the 73d Armored Field Artillery Battalion whose howitzers were close enough to give direct fire at both American roadblocks...

German troops had infiltrated and cut off the fire direction center of the 73d Field Artillery Battalion. The firing batteries nevertheless continued to shell the road east of Longvilly, tying in with the 58th Field Artillery Battalion. Both battalions were firing with shorter and shorter fuzes; by 2315 the gunners were aiming at enemy infantry and vehicles only two hundred yards to the front...

The 58th Field Artillery Battalion and its scratch covering force were hit early in the morning by a mortar barrage, and very shortly two German halftracks appeared through the half-light. These were blasted with shellfire but enemy infantry had wormed close in, under cover of the morning fog, and drove back the thin American line in front of the batteries. About 0800 the fog swirled away, disclosing a pair of enemy tanks almost on the howitzers. In a sudden exchange of fire the tanks were destroyed...

The 58th Field Artillery Battalion, with cannoneers and drivers the only rifle protection, joined the move, Battery B forming a rear guard and firing point-blank at pursuing German armor...

The 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion had lost eight of its howitzers; the 73d Armored Field Artillery Battalion had lost four. That these battalions were self-propelled accounts for the fact that so many pieces, closely engaged as the batteries had been, were saved to fire another day...

German (infantry, infiltrating through woods) had journeyed on to the southwest. Near Hinderhausen they attempted to surprise the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, an outfit that had been exposed to close-quarter fighting before. With the help of two tanks and an antiaircraft artillery half-track mounting the dreaded .50-caliber quad, the artillerymen beat off the attack...

(After pausing in a retreat to shoot supporting fire missions), when the 440th Armored Field Artillery commenced its withdrawal word came in that the Germans had blocked the designated crossing site at Salmchateau. Thereupon the 440th formed in column, cut loose with every available machine gun, knifed through the startled enemy, and roared over the bridge at Vielsalm...