Sabot6 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I did a quick search of the forum and didn't find anything on what most folks find to be a safe distance when calling in an artillery strike (particularly U.S. 105MM howitzers), so I thought I'd ask here. I know it likely will vary depending on the competency and quality of the FO/HQ calling in the fire mission, but in general does anyone have a rule of thumb about how many meters away to keep your troops from the targeted impact area (I guess I'm asking for the "danger close" range...?)? Thanks in advance for any and all responses! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Canadian Cat Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 <snip>in general does anyone have a rule of thumb about how many meters away to keep your troops from the targeted impact area (I guess I'm asking for the "danger close" range...?)?<snip> Good question - I try to keep them as far away as possible like 200m or more:) I have never tried to figure out how close I can get. I do have a game where a sniper team ended up being about 20m away from the edge of a target zone (they were unable to move away from the preplanned bombardment). They were all right - no rounds came close to their near edge though so they were probably about 50m away from the closest shell. Still I would be worried about that 50m I would not bet my life on 50m being safe:). The sniper team is now safely away - 100m but with higher ground between them and the bombardment. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaBellum Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I usually use ~40m as minimum distance for anything up to 81mm and 75-100m for 105 and 120mm. Anything larger I'd keep my forces as far away as possible. This with veteran FOs and LOS to target or TRPs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 I usually use ~40m as minimum distance for anything up to 81mm and 75-100m for 105 and 120mm. Anything larger I'd keep my forces as far away as possible. This with veteran FOs and LOS to target or TRPs. Yeah, this sounds about right to me too. Keep in mind though that good luck can save you and bad luck can spoil your whole day. Mostly better to err on the side of discretion unless you have some compelling tactical reason to get in close. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Joch Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 The numbers Parabellum gave are pretty much the bare minimum I use also. Normally, I will use double those numbers, even sometimes pull back the most forward units a few minutes before. Spotting rounds hitting your troops are a real danger if you are too close. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Canadian Cat Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Yeah, this sounds about right to me too. Keep in mind though that good luck can save you and bad luck can spoil your whole day. Mostly better to err on the side of discretion unless you have some compelling tactical reason to get in close. Ain't that the truth. In one game I am playing my friend said - man your artillery is killing me. To which I responded "what artillery? I don't have any fire missions on the go right now." The next day he said that it turned out that his spotting rounds landed right in the middle of one of his platoons advancing in the open. Now that the real rounds are falling I was surprised to hear that those spotting rounds were so far off. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 It depends how much risk you're prepared to accept, and how valuable/critical the target is. I lost an entire section to errant friendly fire from a single 155mm trying to KO a StuG the other day. Sucks, but the risk was worth it. I've also called a 105mm linear on the row of houses across the street to break up an attack. I suffered some casualties, but the German's were stopped cold. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarquelne Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Because it's an in-progress PBEM I need to censor this post some, but: *** ***** ***** *** 155mm ***** **** Stugs **** **** ** JonS ** ** bitch! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpabrams Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 During one of my current PBEM games I lost resting troops in the open to enemy 81mm mortar fire, from 77 meters away! KIA. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 During one of my current PBEM games I lost resting troops in the open to enemy 81mm mortar fire, from 77 meters away! KIA. ISTR a test being reported where a casualty was inflicted 300m away from a 'medium' (can't recall whether it was 81mm or 105mm) shell impact. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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