Artillery
The American War of Independence – Artillery
Rebel Gun Crew: A well-trained crew could swiftly load, aim, and fire; these artillerymen swab their gun’s hot muzzle with a damp sponge to eliminate sparks before reloading. Displayed at Saratoga, background, an English howitzer; foreground, a 6-pounder. Note the ammunition boxes mounted on each side of the gun – these would hold enough munitions to put the gun into…
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The Final Siege: Antwerp 1914 Part II
The bombardment of the Belgian army headquarters at Mechelen had started on 18 October, as a result of which King Albert moved the headquarters to Antwerp. Once Mechelen was taken, the Germans moved their heavy guns forwards and began shelling the forts. The first German attack was directed against Sector…
Artillery: Toward a New Century
Saudi Arabia — February 1991 On 2 August 1990, the forces of Iraq invaded Kuwait. From the first days of the world’s response to the Iraq’s invasion, Army National Guard soldiers reacted, initially as volunteers, and later as members of mobilized units. During this period, the Guard went through its…
Artillery of the Boer War
Royal Field Artillery 15 pounder gun team in Home Service uniform: Battle of Modder River on 28th November 1899 in the Boer War. The 75mm Cruesot had an innovative new recoil system which tended to be problematic at times, and gunners complained that the ammunition did not always perform as…
2-cm Flak 30/38
2-cm Flak 30 By the time the new German army was ready to re-arm during the early 1930s, the German armament manufacturers had built up a considerable degree of expertise in heavy automatic weapons. This was especially true of the giant Rheinmetall-Borsig concern, and accordingly it was given a contract…
Nebelwerfer rocket launcher.
A diagram of the new Nebelwerfer 150mm ammunition These rockets were fired from a six-tube launcher mounted on a towed carriage adapted from the 3.7 cm PaK 36 carriage. This system had a maximum range of 6,900 metres (7,500 yd). I am uncertain whether these weapons were used in the…
The 5cm Granatwerfer 36
Diagram of German M19 5cm automatic mortar as sited in the Channel Islands and at points on the Atlantic Wall. From the very start of the war, the German Army placed a great deal of store in mortars of various calibres and deployed them to every theatre of war, from…