Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer)

The Colonel · 07-15-2014, 10:19 AM

If it helps, the old British 2" mortar was pretty much aimed by dead reckoning - you lined it up at the target, judged the distance and set the angle of the barrel by a combination of judgement and guesswork. You then fired a bomb and adjusted for fall of shot - but then you only had a range of about 500 yards and weren't likely to be using much in the way of forward observation.

Added historical trivia:
First account of observed indirect fire that I can find occurs during the defence of Hougoumont in the Battle of Waterloo where a battery of the Royal Horse Artillery fired an indirect Shrapnel barrage against advancing French troops using corrections given by the commander of an adjacent battery with a direct line of sight.

Also, IIRC, Naval gunnery observation was quite a big deal in WW2 (as per occurences upthread) - the USN and RN were pioneers in developing fire control shore parties and thus accquired capabilites above and beyond those of other nations.

07-15-2014, 10:19 AM	#30
The Colonel Join Date: Jul 2006	Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Artillery (and Forward Observer) If it helps, the old British 2" mortar was pretty much aimed by dead reckoning - you lined it up at the target, judged the distance and set the angle of the barrel by a combination of judgement and guesswork. You then fired a bomb and adjusted for fall of shot - but then you only had a range of about 500 yards and weren't likely to be using much in the way of forward observation. Added historical trivia: First account of observed indirect fire that I can find occurs during the defence of Hougoumont in the Battle of Waterloo where a battery of the Royal Horse Artillery fired an indirect Shrapnel barrage against advancing French troops using corrections given by the commander of an adjacent battery with a direct line of sight. Also, IIRC, Naval gunnery observation was quite a big deal in WW2 (as per occurences upthread) - the USN and RN were pioneers in developing fire control shore parties and thus accquired capabilites above and beyond those of other nations.