Barber Poles

[Gen. J-sun]

I was emplacing some infantry guns on the gun shield or on the trails are red and white barber poles. I imagine they aren't for signalling the enemy so what purpose do they serve.

[Hetzer21]

Ranging the guns probably.

[MikeyD]

Think of them like surveyors equipment. The only way to precisely lay indirect-fire is for gun to first be precisely located on the map. Pre-GPS that was quite a complicated affair.

Granted, in real life stowed poles might have just been part of gun cleaning equipment too. We're sort'a at the mercy of the available reference material to tell us which was which.

[Michael Emrys]

Ranging the guns probably.

Close. They are aiming stakes, used not for range but azimuth.

Michael

[Gen. J-sun]

I see, well how would they work? To my ignorant eye they're just sticks.

[Michael Emrys]

I see, well how would they work. To my ignorant eye they're just sticks.

The resident arty experts can give you a better run down than I can, but briefly: When a battery or battalion of artillery that is to be used for indirect fire arrives at the site where it is to be emplaced, some means of aiming it reliably must be established. The battery must be precisely located on the map and then each gun oriented correctly. This is where the aiming stakes come in. Each one represents a compass bearing for the gun it serves. When a fire order comes in, the fire controller does the math and gives the guns a precise off-set from its aiming stake. This is dialed in on the sight of the gun and the gun is rotated until the aiming stake is centered in the sight. In a similar fashion, elevation and charge are figured by the FDC and given to the gun captain as well. When all this has been done, the weapons are ready to fire in a reasonably accurate fashion (most of the time) and additional corrections can be called in by the observing officer who has the target in view. In this way, corrections are made until the shells are falling on the target.

Michael