Quote:
Originally Posted by runequester
Alright excellent. That gives some guidelines to go by.
I need to practice artillery tactics better as well. I have a bad habit of trying to scatter things too much, to have rounds coming in everywhere, rather than concentrating on hammering one or two targets thoroughly.
edit: A battery would be 2 individual off-map units correct in SP ? Since they tend to have 3 tubes each.
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Look at your individual army.
Some armies have 4 tube batteries (in the game, usually one off-map element). Some have 6 (usually 2x3), others 8 (chiefly the UK and Commonwealth - 2x4 gun troops). The UK had a
12 gun battery organisation briefly in 1940 - but dropped it as too cumbersome.
Heavier arty can come in smaller batteries than field arty.
The UK 2 lumps of 4 is sometimes complained about when a number of
batteries is agreed in PBEM, by the foreign opposition whose batteries are mere 4 gun elements
!
The minimum unit of fire is usually the battery - both platoons will be fired together at the same area, give or take 100 yds or so. But in reality, the battalion is the usual 'stonk', all in less than 500m separation.
Single platoon fire on widely separated targets is harassing fire, or perhaps useful for taking out individual mortar teams.
However if a target is worth firing on then it is best to drop the entire artillery on it
as a hammer blow, since the effect of arty is non-linear. Consider the following:
In the arty chapter of Isby, he states that the Soviets consider that the following have the equivalent effect on infantry in the open:
One three-battalion volley (54 shells)
Ten one-batallion volleys (180 shells, about 3 minutes at 3 RPM)
43 one-battery volleys (258 shells, about 15 minutes at 3 RPM )
(Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, P173)
Thus - it can be seen that the number of simultaneous shells arriving
greatly multiplies the destructive effect. A 6 gun battery has to work the same area for 15 minutes to achieve the same target effect as a single brigade volley, expending 4.7 times the amount of shells.
As for the basic number of shells required Projectile Expenditure Rate (PER)
For 122mm arty the PER norms
per hectare are as follows:
Troops in cover and weapons in prepared strong-points:
47 rounds predicted or 35 if fire is adjusted
(presumably here they mean overhead cover, as VT ammo will not be used here)
Troops under cover and APC in a hasty strong-point:
35 rounds predicted map fire or 26 if adjusted.
(This probably means open topped trenches)
Openly deployed troops or ATGM:
33 rounds map fire or 25 rounds adjusted
(This presumably means prone in hasty defences)
That gives the basic PER for the hectare (10,000 sq m) for a battalion (18 tubes) fire unit (presumed by me - not clear in the text).
Then a multiplier is applied for the Level Of Destruction (LOD) required:
10% - 1.0 (ie the figures above are
just for a 10% LOD)
25% - 3.28
50% - 9.48
70% - 21.1
90% - 53.57
The Soviets considered 20-30% LOD to be adequate for suppression/neutralisation fires, and 70% as the
minimum adequate for a "destruction shoot".
A battalion would thus need to fire 992 shells for a 70% destruction LOD over a hectare on troops dug into strong-points with overhead cover.(47 * 21.1). 55 volleys, or about 20 minutes continuous fire at a sustained 3 RPM (
if the 'gun bunnies' could heave 122MM for that rate for that length of time -
2RPM might be more long term practical - say a ~30 minute bombardment). For a 25% neutralisation level, 47 * 3.28 = 155 shells. 9 volleys, about 3 minutes fire @ 3RPM.
(Isby pp169-170, figures are for the 122mm D-30 howitzer firing HE)
Andy
How much arty ?
Linear Mode
