Artillery is the god of war? Artillery of World War II

"Artillery is the god of war," Stalin once said, referring to one of the most important arms. With these words he tried to emphasize the great importance that this weapon had in the course of the Second World War. And this expression is true, as the merits of artillery can not be overestimated. Its power allowed the Soviet troops to ruthlessly smash enemies and bring such a welcome Great Victory.

Further in this article, the artillery of the Second World War, which was then in service with Nazi Germany and the USSR, beginning with light anti-tank guns and ending with super-heavy cannon monsters, will be considered.

Antitank guns

As the history of the Second World War showed, light guns by and large proved to be practically useless against armored vehicles. The fact is that they were usually developed in the interwar years and could withstand only the weak protection of the first armored vehicles. But before the Second World War the technology began to rapidly upgrade. The armor of tanks became much thicker, so many types of guns were hopelessly outdated.

The time of appearance of heavy equipment has far outstripped the development of a fundamentally new generation of guns. Weapons calculations that were used on the battlefields, to their surprise, noted that their accurately induced shells no longer hit the tanks. The artillery was powerless to do anything. The shells simply bounced off the bodies of the armored cars, without doing them any harm.

The range of fire in light anti-tank guns was small, so the gun calculations had to admit the enemy to too close a distance to hit him for sure. In the end, this artillery of the Second World War was pushed to the background and began to be used as fire support in the offensive of infantry.

Field artillery

The initial speed, as well as the maximum range of the field artillery shells of that time, had a great influence both on the preparation of offensive operations and on the effectiveness of defensive measures. The gunfire prevented the free movement of the enemy and could completely destroy all supply lines. In particularly important moments of battles, field artillery (photos you can see in the article) often saved their troops and helped win the victory. For example, during military operations in France in 1940, Germany used its 105-millimeter guns leFH 18. It is worth noting that the Germans quite often emerged victorious in artillery duels with enemy batteries.

The field guns, which were in the arsenal of the Red Army, were represented by a 76.2 mm cannon in 1942. She had a fairly high initial velocity of the projectile, which allowed it to be relatively easy to penetrate the protection of German armored vehicles. In addition, Soviet guns of this class had sufficient range to fire at objects with a favorable distance for them. Judge for yourself: the distance a shell could take was often over 12 km! This allowed Soviet commanders from remote defensive positions to obstruct the enemy's offensive.

An interesting fact is that the 1942 model guns for the whole time of the Second World War have produced much more than the rest of weapons of the same type. Surprisingly, some of its specimens still remain in the arsenal of the Russian army.

Mortars

Perhaps the most accessible and effective weapon of infantry support were mortars. They perfectly combined such properties as range and firepower, so their use could change the course of the entire enemy offensive.

German troops most often used the 80-millimeter Granatverfer-34. These weapons deserved gloomy fame among the Allied forces for their high speed and the utmost accuracy of the fire. In addition, the range of his shooting was 2400 m.

The Red Army used 120-millimeter M1938 for fire support of its infantry, which entered service in 1939. It was the very first mortar with the caliber that was ever produced and used in world practice. When the German troops collided with this weapon on the battlefield, they appreciated its power, after which they launched a copy into production and designated it as "Granatverfer-42". The M1932 weighed 285 kg and was the heaviest type of mortar that the infantry had to carry with them. To do this, either it was dismantled into several parts, or pulled on a special cart. The range of his shooting was 400 m less than that of the German Granadverfer-34.

Self-propelled plants

In the first weeks of the war it became clear that the infantry was in dire need of reliable fire support. The German armed forces came across a barrier in the form of well-fortified positions and a large concentration of enemy troops. Then they decided to strengthen their mobile fire support with an artillery self-propelled 105 mm Vespa installation, mounted on the tank chassis of PzKpfw II. Another similar weapon, the Hummel, was part of the motorized and tank divisions since 1942.

In the same period, the Red Army was armed with self-propelled SU-76 with a gun of 76.2 mm caliber. It was installed on the modified chassis of the light tank T-70. Initially, the SU-76 was supposed to be used as a tank destroyer, but in the course of its application it was understood that it had too little firepower for this.

In the spring of 1943, Soviet troops received a new machine - ISU-152. It was equipped with 152.4-mm howitzer and was intended for both the destruction of tanks and mobile artillery, and to support the infantry with fire. First, the gun was mounted on the tank chassis KV-1, and then on the IC. In combat, these weapons proved to be so effective that it remained in service with the Soviet Army, as well as the Warsaw Pact countries until the 1970s.

Soviet heavy artillery

This type of guns was of great importance during the conduct of hostilities throughout the Second World War. The most serious of the then available artillery, which was in service with the Red Army, was a M1931 B-4 howitzer with a caliber of 203 mm. When the Soviet troops began to hinder the rapid advance of the German invaders on their territory and the war on the Eastern Front acquired a more static character, heavy artillery was, as they say, in its place.

But the developers are always looking for the best option. Their task was to create a weapon in which such characteristics as a small mass, a good range of shooting and the heaviest shells would harmoniously merge. And such weapons were created. They became the 152-millimeter howitzer ML-20. A little later, a more modernized M1943 gun of the same caliber, but with a weighted barrel and a large muzzle brake, was introduced into the arsenal of the Soviet troops.

The defensive enterprises of the Soviet Union then produced huge batches of such howitzers that fired at the enemy with massive fire. The artillery literally devastated the German positions and thereby disrupted enemy offensive plans. An example of this is the "Hurricane" operation, which was successfully carried out in 1942. Its result was the encirclement at Stalingrad of the 6th German Army. For its implementation, more than 13,000 guns of various types were used. Unprecedented power artillery preparation preceded this offensive. It was to a large extent that it facilitated the rapid advance of Soviet tank troops and infantry.

German heavy weapons

According to the Treaty of Versailles, after the First World War, Germany was banned from having guns having a caliber of 150 mm or more. Therefore, specialists of the firm Krupp, engaged in the development of a new gun, had to create a heavy field howitzer sFH 18 with a 149.1 mm barrel consisting of a pipe, breech and casing.

At the beginning of the war, the German heavy howitzer moved with the help of horse traction. But later its modernized variant was dragged already by a semi-tracked tractor, which made it much more mobile. The German army successfully applied it on the Eastern Front. By the end of the war, sFH 18 howitzers were mounted on the tank chassis. Thus, the self-propelled artillery "Hummel" turned out.

Soviet Katyushas

Missile forces and artillery - this is one of the units of the land forces. The use of missiles during the Second World War was mainly associated with large-scale military operations on the Eastern Front. Powerful missiles covered their fire with considerable areas, thus compensating for some inaccuracy of these unguided guns. Compared with conventional shells, the cost of missiles was much less, besides they produced them very quickly. Another advantage was the relative simplicity of their operation.

During the war Soviet missile artillery used 132 mm M-13 projectiles. They were created in the 1930s and by the time fascist Germany attacked the USSR, there were very small quantities. These missiles, perhaps, are the most famous of all similar projectiles used during the Second World War. Gradually, their production was established, and by the end of 1941 M-13 was used in battles against the fascists.

I must say that the missile forces and the artillery of the Red Army plunged the Germans into a real shock, which was caused by the unprecedented power and deadly action of the new weapons. Launchers BM-13-16 were placed on trucks and had rails for 16 rounds. Later, these missile systems will be known under the name "Katyusha." Over time, they were modernized several times and were in service with the Soviet Army until the 1980s. With the advent of missile installations, the expression "Artillery is the god of war" began to be perceived as true.

German rocket launchers

A new type of weapon allowed delivering combat rupture parts for both large and small distances. Thus, short-range missiles concentrated their firepower on targets located on the front line, while long-range missiles struck at targets in the enemy's rear.

The Germans also had their own missile artillery. Vurframen-40 is a German missile system, which was located on the semi-tracked vehicle Sd.Kfz.251. The missile was aimed at the target by turning the machine itself. Sometimes these systems were put into battle as towed artillery.

Most often, the Germans used the Nebelverfer-41 jet installation, which had a honeycomb structure. It consisted of six tubular guides and was mounted on a two-wheel carriage. But during the battle this weapon was extremely dangerous not only for the enemy, but also for own calculation because of a flaring flame that escaped from the pipes.

The weight of shells with a rocket engine had a huge impact on the range of their flight. Therefore, there was a significant military advantage that the army, whose artillery could hit the targets, located far beyond the enemy line. Heavy German missiles were useful only for hanging fire, when it was necessary to destroy well-fortified objects, for example, bunkers, armored vehicles or various defensive structures.

It is worth noting that the shooting of the German artillery was much inferior in range to the rocket launcher Katyusha because of the excessive heaviness of the shells.

Superheavy guns

The artillery played an important role in the Hitler armed forces. This is all the more surprising because it was almost the most important element of a fascist military machine, and modern researchers for some reason prefer to focus their attention on studying the history of the Luftwaffe (air force).

Even at the end of the war, German engineers continued to work on a new grandiose armored car - a prototype of a huge tank, compared to which all other military equipment would seem dwarfish. Project P1500 "Monster" did not have time to implement. It is known only that the tank was supposed to weigh 1.5 tons. It was planned that he would be armed with a 80-centimeter cannon "Gustav" from Krupp. It should be noted that its developers have always thought large, artillery was not an exception. This weapon was used by the Nazi army during the siege of the city of Sevastopol. The gun made only 48 shots, after which its barrel worn out.

Railway guns K-12 were in service with the 701st artillery battery, stationed on the coast of the English Channel. According to some reports, their shells, and they weighed 107.5 kg, hit several targets in South England. These artillery monsters had their own sections of T-shaped caterpillars, necessary for installation and targeting.

Statistics

As it was mentioned earlier, the armies of the countries that participated in the military actions of 1939-1945 entered into the struggle with obsolete or partially modernized weapons. All their inefficiency was fully revealed by the Second World War. The artillery urgently needed not only an update, but also an increase in its quantity.

From 1941 to 1944, Germany produced more than 102 thousand cannons of various caliber and up to 70 thousand mortars. By the time of the attack on the USSR, the Germans already numbered about 47,000 artillery barrels, and this without taking into account assault guns. If, for example, the United States were taken, they produced about 150,000 cannons over the same period. Britain managed to produce only 70 thousand weapons of this class. But the record in this race was the Soviet Union: during the war years, more than 480 thousand guns and about 350 thousand mortars were manufactured here. Before that, the USSR already had 67,000 barrels in service. This figure is given without taking into account the 50-millimeter mortars, the artillery of the Navy and antiaircraft guns.

During the Second World War, the artillery of the belligerent countries underwent great changes. Constantly the armaments of armies received either modernized or completely new weapons. At an especially rapid pace, anti-tank and self-propelled artillery developed (photographs of that time demonstrate its power). According to estimates of experts from different countries, about half of all losses of the ground forces are due to the use of mortars during the battle.