The employment of quick-firing field
artillery in combat
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Fire direction. The head of
Detachment indicated in general terms the tactics of the combat, directed the
fire and choose the targets to be shelled, according
with the directives received by the head of the artillery. He choose the
targets, controlled the fire, and gave to the battery commanders
information about the main features and the distance of the targets. He also
ordered to shift the fire at a different target. However, since the chance of
target required a new adjustment, it should be carried out
only after the fire had achieved all its purposes, unless a new important
target appeared or rose a menace for the artillery or the tactical situation
as a whole. The battery
commander could change the target only if an unexpected attack or a combat
nearby threatened his troops, if the communications with the head of the
Detachment were cut or a particular area was
assigned to his action. The head of the artillery
should control the fire, verifying whether 1) the order were understood, 2)
the way of the fire was correct, 3) the results fit the requests of the head
of the Detachment. At that purpose, he could employ, besides his orderlies,
also other officers, and send some scouts to places from which the target can be observed. The head of the artillery
division should be informed about the effect of the
fire of his batteries, sending lateral observers with the necessary
orderlies. As a rule, the fire ceased
as soon as the objective was reached, and was
resumed only if new results should be obtained. When the guns were not
firing, the servants took cover. The division artillery commander could
intervene in the adjustment only if the way of the fire was manifestly
incorrect or there were mistakes in the conduct of the adjustment. The fire
should concentrated and unexpected by the enemy. The batteries required to
destroy a specific target should be chosen
accordingly with the width of the front, in order to keep a sufficient number
of batteries to fire at the enemy batteries that might appear subsequently. Converging fire at the point
of the main attack should impede the enemy to hold the position and the
reserve to approach. At that purpose, the fire should be
directed in depth to shell all the troops deployed in the position, in
the flanks and in the rear, but avoiding to scatter the fire along the whole
frontline. In order to open fire simultaneously all the batteries chosen to
converge their fire should be put under only one
commander. The head of the artillery
division gave orders to the battery commanders, indicating their targets and
the firing data according with directions received from the head of the
artillery. The battery commander modify the firing data according with its
target and the position of its battery and switch the fire accordingly. The direction of fire should
match every kind of situations, in particular : 1)
if the enemy artillery suspend its fire, the
batteries received a wider front to shell employing slow fire, and moving
suddenly to a rapid fire only where the enemy showed some activity; 2)
if an important target should be destroy, it was
advisable to beat it with sweeping fire, without interrupting to shell the
rest of the front; 3)
if the target was small, every batteries narrowed
its fire to not disturb the fire of the remaining batteries; 4)
even
if only one or two guns were able to reach the objective, the battery unity
should never be broken and all the guns should ever remain under the command
of the battery commander: the artillery platoons could have different heads
only exceptionally and temporarily. As a rule, artillery fired above the heads of the
troops, at an height sufficient to not trouble them: when troops were closest
than 500 m, the batteries should not fire above their heads, when they were
less than 300 m from the enemy line, the batteries should fire over their
heads only to cover them or to switch the fire to the rear. Reconnaissance
of the targets. The head of
the artillery was informed about the strength and
the deployment of the enemy by an officer, designed scout of the targets (разузнавач
на цельта),
supported by 1-2 ground-scouts (разузнавачи на местностьта) and 1-2 orderlies. The duties of the scout of
the targets was : 1)
to reconnoitre the strength and the deployment of
the enemy artillery; 2)
to reconnoitre the main features of the ground of
enemy positions, the area behind and in front of them; 3)
to follow the movements of the enemy artillery
during the battle; 4)
to observe the effect of his artillery on the enemy, 5)
to
observe in general the battlefield near the position of his troops and around
the target. The
scout of the target was dispatched when the troops
entered in the sphere of influence the enemy and a combat was regarded as
probable. He moved with the vanguard of the cavalry column, and when it got
in contact with enemy artillery, he tried to recognize its strength even
during the march. Then he advanced as much as possible and occupied a good
observation post, sending quickly detailed reports to the head of the
artillery. After
the beginning of the combat, he played the role of observer of the
battlefield (наблюдател
на бойното
поле), choosing an
observatory from which he could watch both the enemy and the batteries. He
informed the head of the artillery about the effect of the fire, the changes
of the targets, the units not yet shocked, the position of the concealed
enemy batteries, the hidden approach of enemy units, and so on. Observation
of the battlefield. The heads of
every artillery unit established an observation post to be
constantly informed about the progress of the combat and the changes
of the tactical situation. The observation of the battlefield was
directed : 1)
to assure the close defence of the batteries; 2)
to facilitate the rapid support of the artillery to
the other units of the Army; 3)
to
fulfil a rapid and effective fire at every targets that appeared in a
specific area. Besides
the cover assured by the other troops, the artillery should provide for its
security with its own means, employing its scouts mainly to watch its flanks:
every flank battery, without any specific order, was responsible for the
reconnaissance of the flank. Cooperation
with the cavalry. Even if at
that time the Bulgarian Army had no horse artillery, the Instructions, following the French Règlement de manoeuvre, explained how the artillery should act during the
cavalry combat. During the reconnaissance, the
artillery was attached mainly to the cavalry advance guard, in order to open
her the way. In gorges, the artillery covered the exit and dominated the
ground at great distance. The head of the artillery division left the head of
the cavalry only when he should enter in action, after having received the
necessary orders and directives. The firing position should neither disturb
the movements of the cavalry nor be masked by the cavalry herself: if
possible it should be away from the roads. During
the combat, the primary target of the artillery was the enemy cavalry, and
only secondary the artillery. As a rule, the artillery shelled at first the
head of the columns, then the front of the mass of the cavalry to prevent her
deployment, and the enemy lines in open formation, as soon as they entered in
the firing area of the batteries. When
the melee began, the artillery shifted its fire at the rear of the enemy to
prevent the arrival of the reserves: – if
the cavalry began to retreat, the artillery employed its power to stop the
pursuit of the enemy; – if the enemy began to retreat, it
ceased its fire and advanced at full speed, to support the pursuit with its
fire. In
general, the head of the artillery should show great spirit of initiative and
independence. Changing targets or positions, he should constantly operate
without having received specific orders, according with the situation. Since
the artillery was constantly exposed to the surprise
attack of the enemy cavalry, it should never be without cover. If attacked,
the batteries continued their fire until the very last moment. The
horse artillery could play a basic role even out of the combat, since it
operated rapidly and without engaging the different enemy columns. Therefore,
it should occupy positions easy to quit in order to move
rapidly to another place, as soon as it had reached its objective. The
artillery division attached the cavalry units during the battle, remained
always with them, operating usually at the flank or in the rear of the enemy. |