Artillery bombardment

“ It is the Pioneers who pave the way, doing what previous artillery bombardment may have failed to do in cutting wire entanglements, etc.; theirs is the necessary preliminary work, in which, much of the time, they are open targets for the enemy fire.
And then come the engineers, bridging streams, cutting and blasting away earthen and concrete obstructions, filling in shell holes, levelling roads—making ready for the great attack in which every branch of the service on land will participate; infantry, cavalry, light artillery, tanks, trucks, ambulances, field hospitals, everything. ”

“ The furious bombardment had lasted more than an hour when the excellent Chief of Artillery of the Army of the Potomac, General Hunt, passed along the line the order to “cease firing”; not all the batteries to become silent at once, but one after another. The intention, and the actual effect, was, not only to prevent the further useless expenditure of ammunition, but principally to make the enemy believe that our artillery was in great part seriously crippled and would no longer be able to offer effective resistance to a vigorous attack. ”

“ According to photographs of selected areas, which show a few bits of wire sticking out of a choppy sea of fresh earth, every square yard of which has been lashed by shell-fire, it would seem that artillery was accustomed to do as thorough mowing as a reaper in a field of grain. Even with treble our volume of artillery fire, taking treble the length of time of our bombardment, and with every shell perfectly accurate on its target, we could hardly have accomplished any such blessed result. ”

“ The preliminary bombardment commenced, and continued throughout five days, but, in order to deceive the enemy as to our weight of artillery, not more than fifty per cent. of the guns in the line were allowed to take part at one time. A row of O.P.’s had been constructed on Hill 65, which overlooked the valley and town of Messines. A fine sight was witnessed as that stronghold was gradually reduced to a mere shell by our heavies, which effected extraordinarily good work in smashing the elaborate structures of the enemy’s defence. ”

“ First Artillery Position.—Every siege begins with a bombardment, which is designed, as previously stated, to drive in the outlying posts of the defence, to silence, so far as possible, the artillery annoy and wear out the garrisons of the works to be attacked, to interrupt the communications between them, break up bomb and splinter proofs, destroy magazines and depots, and, if the enceinte can be reached by the artillery, to bring a fire upon the population which will lead to or hasten the surrender of the place. ”

“ Field guns and heavy artillery concentrated their fire on this section of the German trenches, and there was such a rain of shell and shrapnel on the defenders that they were unable to make an effective defense against the French infantry attack which followed.
The French, with great dash, carried part of the German positions; but this success dampened the vigor of their artillery bombardment, which could not be continued without endangering their own men. The big German guns opened a heavy fire on the rearward communications of the French, preventing the bringing up of reënforcements. ”

“ At 4.30 on the morning of the 19th September, there suddenly opened an intensive bombardment of the enemy's coastal positions, carried out by all the artillery, trench-mortars and machine-guns that could be concentrated in this small sector, the navy also co-operating. After ten minutes' bombardment, the infantry moved forward and assaulted the enemy's front line positions, which were carried with but little opposition. Thereafter the barrage lifted and crept, being supplemented in places by smoke barrages dropped from aeroplanes. ”

“ Thus the left wing was forced to mark time while the troops on the right made a series of attacks in order to straighten out the line, otherwise the army to the north would have found itself enclosed in a nasty salient. The artillery, over the whole battle front, also encountered great difficulty in advancing the guns, the ground was so ploughed up by the effects of the long preliminary bombardment. Even the horse gunners, who were detailed to move up in immediate support of the infantry, were unable to proceed further than a few hundred yards on the other side of the canal. ”

“ The work of the preliminary bombardment threw a great strain upon the personnel of the artillery, though such rest as possible was given by carefully organized reliefs. The infantry was greatly impressed with the results it could witness. In particular the liaison between infantry and heavy gunners, hardly thought of before this action, was of the closest, the artillery officers bringing battalion commanders aeroplane photographs to show the results of the bombardment on their front. ”

“ The tops of ladders or trench grids should be shown over the parapets. The artillery immediately after 1-0 p.m. will open bombardment on enemy front and support trenches, especially on those trenches which can be taken in enfilade.
Any other device which can lead the enemy in front line to expect an assault at 1-0 p.m. should also be employed and Machine guns will fire during the artillery bombardment.”
On several occasions smoke barrages were put up by the Battalion. ”

“ A warm job! At last it was finished, and we sank down into the bottom of the sap to rest. The time for the artillery bombardment had been fixed to begin at about 6 a.m., if I remember rightly, so we got a little rest between finishing our work and the attack itself. ”

“ Then the preliminary bombardment becomes of a much more extensive character; the defender's batteries are tackled by the overpowering fire of guns they are unable to locate and answer; the secondary dug-outs and strong places are plastered down, a barrage fire shuts off support from the doomed trenches, the men in these trenches are held down by a concentrated artillery fire and the attack goes up at last to hunt them out of the dug-outs and collect the survivors. ”

“ About 2 p.m. on the night of the 5th-6th February the British and French artillery turned their heavy howitzers on the "railway triangle," and began a fierce bombardment. The boom of the guns and the roar of the exploding shells were clearly heard twenty miles away, and to those near at hand the noise was terrific. One lyddite shell blew a house bodily into the air; while others, exploding amongst the brick stacks, wrought awful havoc amongst the enemy. At 2.15 a.m. an attack was launched at a strong position held by the Germans amidst stacks of bricks. ”

“ But this was not to be a one-sided artillery engagement, and the Germans soon had their artillery in action. They trained it on their enemies' trenches, believing from the size of the bombardment that an assault was soon to be made and that the trenches would be filled with troops. Their surmise was correct, but the Allies had suspected their opponents would reason thus, so the French and British infantry were in covered positions. Of course the Germans did not know how well their opponents were protected, so they sent thousands of shells against the allied positions. ”

“ While the British infantry had been entrenching, the artillery, with an equal energy, had hauled their guns up the steep roads, and in many cases up still steeper hillsides, and by the morning of September 15—another disagreeable surprise for the enemy—nearly 500 field pieces bristled from positions of vantage along the front. The reply to the German bombardment was a bombardment of the hostile trenches. The latter were crowded with men. If the German shells did a lot of injury to the landscape, the British shrapnel inflicted far heavier injury on the enemy's force. ”

“ In the British service a bombardier is a non-commissioned grade in the artillery below that of corporal.
Bombardment. Is an attack upon a fortress or fortified town by means of shells, red-hot shot, carcasses, rockets, etc., to burn and destroy the buildings, and kill the inhabitants, and by this means compel its surrender. A bombardment requires little engineering skill; whereas a regular siege requires the aid of engineers to direct the attack against fortifications, guns, and soldiery, leaving the inhabitants and buildings untouched. ”

“ The British plan of attack embraced a heavy bombardment to demoralize their enemy and prevent reenforcement. This was to be followed by an infantry attack. It was expected that the Germans would be surprised to such an extent it would be impossible for them to make much resistance. Units of the First Army were to make the main attack, supported by the Second Army. The support included a division of cavalry. Among the large force of heavy artillery for the opening bombardment were a number of French guns manned by French artillerymen. ”

“ The term bombardment is also frequently applied to a cannonade opened upon a place to silence its artillery prior to an assault or during a siege.
A bombardment promises success when the place is 9 small and not well provided with bomb-proofs, when the garrison is weak or of bad morale, when the inhabitants are numerous and not in sympathy with the garrison, or when the commandant is weak. A well-built and well-equipped modern fort can hardly be reduced by bombardment with any reasonable expenditure of time and ammunition ”

“ A greater mass of artillery, both guns and howitzers, was used for preparation in proportion to the front engaged than had yet been available in any previous British attack. Three weeks prior to the attack the systematic cutting of the enemy's wire was commenced, while the heavy artillery searched the enemy's back areas and communications. Night firing, wire cutting and bombardment of hostile trenches, strong points and billets continued steadily and with increasing intensity on the whole battle-front till a few days before the assault when the general bombardment was opened. ”

“ We were close to three of our own batteries, and these had to be peppered over our heads, and most of the shells being shrapnel, timed to burst in the air, we had many an explosion immediately above us. We all cowered as well as we could up against the rocks, and although shrapnel bullets and half a shell base came among us no one was hit. In spite of all this bombardment, an artillery officer told me next day that all the casualties he knows of are one man and five horses wounded. ”

“ So intense an artillery fire has not hitherto been witnessed on the Italian front; 380's, 305's, 240's, 149's, 105's rain upon the short line of Italian intrenchments.
(p. 251) "For more than three hours the bombardment continues. The Italian guns apparently refrain from answering. But every battery is in readiness, every Italian gun is trained on the spot where the enemy must pass. Every man is at his post, waiting, waiting. It is just before dawn. The air of this Alpine Valley is cold and raw. A bleak wind blows through the trees. ”

“ The bombardment began at about nine o'clock in the morning, almost immediately after the airman's visit, and I could see the heavy shells bursting in the village at the cross-roads behind us. They were throwing the big shells there to prevent reinforcements from coming up. They evidently did not know, any more than we did, that there were none to come, the artillery having been withdrawn the night before.
Some of the big shells threw the dirt as high as the highest trees. ”

“ The position was exposed to the fire of the rebel artillery and they kept up an incessant bombardment of the men at work who had holes in the banks after the manner of swallows and when things got too hot they would crawl into their individual bomb proofs. ”

“ Sometimes a favourable position may be found for the artillery upon the flank of the attack. Such positions have a double advantage. Not only do they bring enfilade or oblique fire to bear upon the enemy’s trenches, but they are able to continue the bombardment much longer than is possible when posted directly in rear of the assaulting columns. ”

“ Yet in this, as in other spheres of activity, work can never stop. Bad weather and bombardment alike inflict constant havoc; and in spite of the most ingenious precautions the enemy always succeeds eventually in spotting the emplacement of this or that battery or in marking off an area which conceals a group of batteries. A furious fire from heavy guns is then concentrated upon the point discovered, and by the time our artillery manages to [Pg 33] silence it the damage done is sometimes of such a nature that works which represent long months of labour may have to be practically reconstructed. ”

“ They must have come from the Raffecourt or from the Forges Mill, through the covered roads in the valley-like depressions in the ground. It was the first wave immediately followed by heavy columns. Our artillery fire from the edge of Corbeaux Wood isolated them.... At times a rocket appeared in the air; the call to the cannons, then the marking of the road. The regular ticktack of the machine guns and the cracking of the shells were distinctly heard even among the terrific noises of the bombardment. ”

“ That will make it impossible for gaps to be created. It will also give our gunners a chance to cover our advance continuously. You remember at Loos they lost us for hours, and dare not fire for fear of hitting us. In fact, I expect that in battle plans of the future, instead of the artillery trying to conform to the movements of the infantry, matters will be reversed. The guns, after preliminary bombardment, will create a continuous Niagara of exploding shells upon a given line, marked in everybody's map, and timed for an exact period, just beyond the objective ”