John7199 Loc: Eastern Mass.

I did not serve so I am asking for my own info.
In movies and TV when shooting artillery it seem that they fire on the same place over and over, they don't seem to move the gun. Do the shells hit different targets? Is this what's meant by Field of fire?
Thanks
John

Najataagihe

Oh, my.

Once you place a gun or mortar, it stays there, until you have to relocate.


There is an elevation mechanism to move the barrel up and down and a traversing mechanism to move it side to side.

This allows you to hit anything in a circle the radius of which is the maximum range of that weapon.


Field of fire is the area you want to hit within the capabilities of the weapon.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

No, they don't move the gun placement once it is set up, but they do make vertical and horizontal adjustments to increase the radius of fire.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

What he said...!

nealbralley Loc: Kansas

You "lay" an "indirect" firing gun, howitzer, or mortar on a specific direction from which you may deviate to the left or right. Modern indirect fire systems can traverse 6,400 mils (360 degrees). You can elevate or depress the cannon tube which can assist in the range you can achieve, but to achieve range, you also select propellant charges (powder) based on the range you wish to achieve; as you increase the propellant charges, you increase the range that you can achieve. Tanks have high velocity "guns," and they are primarily "direct fire" weapons which means the crew can see the target. With indirect fire weapons, the crew generally cannot see their target. Indirect fire weapons can fire over buildings, hills, and other intervening objects between the weapon and the target. Guns have the highest muzzle velocities followed by howitzers, and then mortars have the slowest muzzle velocity. Mortars fire the steepest trajectories, and they generally achieve the shortest ranges.

When you emplace an indirect fire weapon you don't move it while it is shooting other than for the cannon tube's elevation and direction. When you are done firing from a particular position, you can pick things up and move to the next position.

I'll keep it simple and leave it at this.

Najataagihe

Precisely why I answered as I did.

The last thing we want is a universally-accessible primer on the specifics of indirect fire control.

nealbralley Loc: Kansas

Once a redleg, always a redleg!

Najataagihe

Not I!

John7199 Loc: Eastern Mass.

Thank for that information. It is very helpful for the novice.
John

PS
Redleg????

Najataagihe

Nickname for an artilleryman.

The noblest soldier, of course, is the “groundpounder” - the Infantryman.





(Barrage to follow…)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Back in the days of the colorful uniforms and today's dress uniforms they had different colors for accents and stripes for each type of soldier.
The three most common are blue for infantry, yellow for cavalry, and red for artillery.
Since the largest and most prominent accent was a wide stripe down the outside trouser seam Artillerymen often got called Red Legs and Cavalrymen Yellow Legs. In the case of the infantry during the Civil War, they had dark blue jackets and shirts and sky blue pants if militia or volunteer units and all dark blue if Regulars. The militia often reported with wildly different color uniforms when their units were called to service and if their home state didn't send replacements when uniforms wore out they were issued the standard Army uniforms for the volunteers, dark blue over the light blue. A few types of troops wore colors other than blue, like sharpshooter units who wore the traditional Rifleman's Green of the British tradition.
Dress uniforms usually had a lot of color accents including the hats with plumes or pom poms and hatbands and the lapels, cuffs, etc. on the jacket.

Wes Loc: Dallas

artillery. There is a reward observer who indicted where the projectile is landing. The artillery "brackets" the target and the observe indicates the results. Field of fire is the clear range a machine gun can cover.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

To all who are or were in the military, I thank you for your service.
When Hurricane Sandy hit NY, I was working at Bellevue Hospital. The five branches of the Armed Forces came in to help evacuate patients. Even though the uniforms were different in color and style, they all performed seamlessly. I spent time being bunked up with the Coasties. There is a code of conduct that is followed and enforced.

Schoee Loc: Europe

If you are against a modern enemy then you don't stay in the same place long once you have fired your required rounds as they will have radar that will work out where you are from seeing your projectiles in the air. They will then fire artillery at your position. This is called counter battery fire (a battery being a word for a small artillery unit). This is why more and more artillery is on wheels or tracks so you can shoot and scoot.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

That's interesting and it shows how things have changed since I was in the army. I was on a 105mm howitzer battalion (Korean war vintage equipment). The tow arms of the howitzer ended in spades that had to be buried in the ground in order to absorb the recoil and keep the gun in the same spot. It often took a lot of work to dig the two holes for them and I can't image the gun crew would have been very happy to go through all that work to fire one round.