heavy artillery


Artillery and self-propelled guns of World War Two.

History, specifications and pictures of British, US, Russian, German and Italian artillery guns of WW2.

88mm Pak 43/41
The German 88 mm Flak gun as the best anti-tank gun of World War II. History, development, service, specifications, statistics
3d model of 105 mm leFH 18
German light field howitzer 105 mm leFH 18. History, development, service, specifications, statistics and pictures of the 'Leichte Feldhaubitze 18'.
V-2 before trial launch
Ballistic missile A-4, German revenge weapon V-2. History, origin, development, production and difficulties until operational debut and specifications. A-4 (V-2)
3D model of 88 mm Flak 36.
German medium anti-aircraft gun Flak 18, 36 and 37. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures, video and 3D model. 88 mm
German tank ammunition
Penetrability of tank ammunition in the Second World War (Part II): Problems of calculated values for armor-piercing shells compared to
Crusader tank with 6-pounder
Firepower of tanks in the Second World War: Historical test results compared to calculated values of the penetration power of
French field gun Canon de 75 mle 1897 (soixante-quinze). History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model. Canon de 75
3D model Wespe
German self-propelled gun SdKfz 124 leFH18 on Panzer II 'Wespe' ('Wasp'). History, development, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. Wespe
3d model of StuG III G
German assault gun StuG 40 G (SdKfz 142/1) History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. StuG 40 Ausf
Italian heavy gun Cannone da 149/35A in service from 1901 to 1943. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model.
3d model 3.7cm PAK 36
German light anti-tank gun 37-mm PAK 36. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3d model. 3.7 cm PAK 36 Type:
37mm gun M3
US 37 mm anti-tank gun of the Second World War. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D-model. 37mm gun
3d model of BM-13N Katyusha
Soviet Studebacker truck-mounted rocket-launcher BM-13N Katyusha. History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D models. Katyusha Rocket Launcher BM-13N. Type: Truck-mounted
German light anti-aircraft guns 20 mm one barrel and Flakvierling. History, development, service, specifications, statistics, pictures and 3D model. 20
V2 before launching
V-2, the German 'Retaliation Weapon 2'. Organization, deployment, launch and effect of the ballistic missile A-4 (V-2) in the years

heavy artillery
Russian heavy artillery gun.
The term ‘Field artillery‘ suggests various things to several military. Usually, it explains the artillery which is along the same lines of the infantry or armored division, serving as that division’s instant fire support, and subservient to the divisional commander. Additional artillery could be associated, for specific missions as well as to give stronger assistance, and stays beneath the superior command. ‘Field artillery’ could also be used to explain the lighter kinds of artillery that can be quickly and easily maneuvered supporting tactical missions.
In yet another situation, the expression may be used to draw a line of limiting weight or caliber.

Field artillery went through a significant alteration in the 1919-39 time period, resulting from expertise acquired in 1914-1918. Just before 1914, the judgment element in field gun pattern was the pulling energy a 6-horse team. Whenever the greatest gun on the planet was over weight for 6 horses to transport, it wouldn’t be put into practice.
This mentality started to improvement in the late 1920s, as the motorized vehicle had taken a grip on the private people, as well as the quantity of horses accessible for requisitioning to pull artillery in case of war began promptly to diminish. The military were confronted with either taking over horse-breeding as a full­-time job, or adopting mechanized traction. Some could have accepted the first choice, but thankfully practical sense won, and mechanization steadily started. It’s, nevertheless, a little-known truth that the only real fully mechanized military that joined WW2 in 1939 was the British. The French, German and Russian military nevertheless depended significantly on horse draft for their guns as well as for most of their day-to-day transport in garrisons, and the US Army was still deploying horse cavalry as late as the summer of 1940.

Self-propelled artillery had been quite definitely a creation of the kind of warfare that developed in the time of WW2: prior to 1939 self-propelled guns were rarely been known (aside from a handful of demo guns), nevertheless from 1943 it had been utilized by all the enemy armies. The unexpected rise of this fresh kind of weapon is usually credited practically totally to the effect of the battle tank on tactics, with regard to warfare not any more happened at the tempo of the walking soldier as well as the scouting horse, but at the speed of the tank. Tanks swarmed all over the place in Poland, France and finally Russia, and the best method that the supporting arms, such as the artillery, could keep up with them was to end up similarly mobile.
Most of the first self-propelled artillery vehicles were quickly conversions of present tanks to be able to install field guns, however the measure of transformation varied extensively. A few were rarely above lash-ups to fulfill a quick demand or were constructed at local stores to meet a specific challenge. Others, nevertheless, were properly developed from the beginning and may be regarded as essentially new models.

However, a couple unique styles can be discovered in the manner self-propelled artillery was utilized in battle. One school considered mobile artillery as a straightforward adjunct to established doctrines, and this school developed and employed the self-propelled vehicles to provide indirect supporting fire in the typical tactic use. The other school considered the mobile gun as a form of close-range direct-fire weapon for usage in close support of tanks, and this school was accountable for the assault gun. Nowadays both kinds of artillery are extant, but in the West the current highlight is on the indirect-fire weapon and in the East it is actually on the close-support assault gun.

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