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Starmyth said:
105 mm vs 155m and 8 inch artillery. Are the extra kill ratings of the 155mm/8inch worth the tradeoff of making deep holes for enemy infantry to hide in (primarily infantry enemy combat force. no enemy armor)??
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If the enemy infantry force is dug in or in bunkers etc - definately worth it. 155mm+ will, over time kill men in trenches where the 105mm is neutralising them.
The larger calibre rounds are less affected by shell holes as cover anyway - and the shell holes will only be of use to halted infantry, so usually not such a problem in a mobile battle like a meeter.
The larger calibre arty will collapse buildings in a town or city more often, providing rubble which is one of the better defensive terrains for infantry, but then again - are more likely to affect troops using such.
The larger calibre arty blows the road net to kingdom come, drops bridges and so on. Especially when defending on a snow map against a force with primarily infantry (or if you want to slow any vehicles) - use 122mm+ to destroy the approach roads and/or wooden bridges, 8 inch or air strikes with 1000lb bombs or LGB on stone ones.
The lighter arty has its own advantages, if you are not planning on engaging MBT scale armour. It ranges over the map, where mortars may have problems in getting full coverage. It does not produce shell holes. It often has a higher rate of fire, and supression as in real life, is primarily based on "bangs per minute".
If you are planning on an attack behind a barrage, with your forces really close to this to take advantage of stunned or neutralised defenders ("Leaning into the barrage" as the Brtitish called this technique), you will be taking less friendly casualties from any "shorts" with the lighter arty, and less likely to immobilise or kill any friendly vehicles hit.
A mass of lighter arty is therfore very useful if you say have to advance in a close wooded area, but you do not want to kill the roads through the wood. Clear the road approach with lighter arty working the road line, and 250 or so metres either side (so 3 batteries or 4 working each road approach). even better - have 2 such lines of guns (or some mortars) one working 250-300 metres ahead of the other. Use a scout vehicle to enter the smoke and dust to find any supressed defenders, or a helo working along the road and below the tree line etc.
Larger arty can use carrier munuitions for DPICM - that is an effective killer of both vehicles and troops, but if advancing you really don't want to be too close to it as shorts can be killers. Rocket arty is not nice to be close to either as it wanders a bit - so if advancing use rockets or DPICM for deep fires onto the objective areas, or to prepare a key position like a village crossroads a turn or so in advance of reaching there.
So - light and heavy have advantages and disadvantages. You may find a mix (say 3 batallions of 105 brigaded with 1 batallion of 155mm) works well. You have the light arty for close support, and the mediums to bash up any areas that need that (or can sit idle, waiting to fire CB, if you have mediums with a dcecent range). In WW2 as British, I like to use 25 pounders in the main in a core with a 5.5 inch troop of experienced gunners (a 25 pounder or 4.2 inch mortar unit which was the original core support arty in battle 1 upgraded when it got to 75+ exp usually) which sits in CB mode for the early part of the battle, or used to directly CB fire onto on-map arty or mortar positions. In a US WW2 core, 155mm long toms and in German, a 170mm super-heavy, or in USSR a long range 122mm or 152mm bty does the same CB role nicely.
Cheers
Andy
Heavy Artillery
Linear Mode
