XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

Abstract: This article examines various types of artillery (like field/anti-tank, tank, naval, and anti-aircraft artillery) used in the World War II by both sides of the conflict. Special attention is given to the assessment of the efficiency of using different types of guns during the war. The article shows the trends in the development of artillery, which were formed under the influence of the experience of the war.

Keywords: artillery, development, types of artillery, firepower, the role of artillery.

They say: «Artillery is a God of war». In World War II, there was no battle in which artillery was not used. Cannons, howitzers, mortars, automatic guns destroyed infantry, tanks, ships, aircrafts and fortifications. The artillery fought both defensively and offensively. It turned out to be a universal weapon capable of performing various tasks.

Evaluating an army’s artillery requires a good deal more than looking at the standard guns that it deploys. To be fully effective, an artillery arm must be well supplied with suitable ammunition. There must be a sufficient supply of standard guns so that the units being supported can know what fires they can expect. It must have a good means of identifying and accurately locating a target and needs well-schooled forward observers who are in close contact not only with the batteries, but with the troops they are working with. Effective artillery requires fire direction centers that can accurately place fires and rapidly shift them from one target to another. Those fire direction centers must be able to co-ordinate with other artillery units to mass fires as needed. The guns must have effective prime movers or be mounted on tracked vehicles. There must be a sufficient supply of all of the above to meet the needs of the maneuver units or other forces the batteries support. Finally, the guns must be protected from counter-battery fire or other interdiction.

Firstly, field artillery will be considered, since it was the basis of the ground forces' firepower. Field artillery is divided by its role into regimental/divisional (which moves along with infantry or tanks) and long-range (which suppresses targets behind enemy lines) [1].

Regimental/divisional guns in World War II were represented by cannons (caliber from 75 to 100 mm), howitzers (caliber from 70 to 105 mm), and mortars (caliber from 50 to 120 mm). In addition, the Red army and the Wehrmacht had unique field rocket-propelled mortars. Field guns and howitzers fired at ground targets (infantry, emplacements, unarmored vehicles), so they were mostly equipped with shrapnel and concrete-piercing shells. Mortars fired at the infantry in the trenches, as the steep trajectory allowed the mines to fly over the breastworks.

At the beginning of the war the German infantry was better equipped with light cannons than others. Each Wehrmacht infantry division had 20 light 75-mm cannons («7,5 cm leIG 18»), while each of the British and Soviet divisions had 12 cannons [2]. It allowed the Germans to create an advantage in the density of fire, often disrupting counterattacks of the enemy infantry. The German cannon weighed only 400 kg (the Soviet cannon – 780 kg), which allowed the gunners to move it easily during the battle [4]. The Wehrmacht massively used motorcycles and half-track motorcycles to tow these cannons, and it provided the highest mobility. The Red army and Emperor’s Japanese army used horses to transport light guns, so mobility was low.

The Germans were pioneers in the creation of assault cannons. The assault cannon was a field cannon removed from the wheels and mounted on the chassis of a tank. The tank's turret became stationary, and the frontal armor was reinforced. Assault cannon could drive up to the fortifications and shoot them at point blank range. The Red army received its first assault guns only in 1943. SU-122 was a 122-mm howitzer mounted immobile on the chassis of a T-34 tank [3]. In 1942, for the first time in the world, the United States created M7 (also named «Priest» in the British army) self-propelled howitzer, designed specifically for tank divisions [3]. It was a 105-mm M101 howitzer mounted on the chassis of a M3 tank. The turret had no roof, so the crew often died of bullets and shrapnel. Despite their shortcomings, these self-propelled guns reflected a tendency to increase the mobility of artillery. The mobility of the troops increased, and the guns had to follow them.

The type of weapon closest to light field guns is anti-tank artillery. The Second World War was a real test for this type of weapon, as the tanks of the warring countries were constantly improving: the armor became thicker, it was harder to break through it. It led to the fact that anti-tank guns and tank guns began to develop in the same way. If at the beginning of the war anti-tank guns (tanks guns) had a caliber of 37-40 mm (37-75 mm), then at the end of the war – 75-100 mm (75-122 mm). In the middle of the war, cumulative projectiles appeared, which significantly increased armor penetration.

Among all the anti-tank guns, two were particularly powerful: the British 77-mm anti-tank gun (QF-17) and the Soviet 100-mm field gun (BS-3). The Soviet gun was considered not only anti-tank, since it successfully fought all other types of targets. It became the basis for anti-tank self-propelled guns SU-100. SU-100 was the most powerful tank destroyer of the anti-Hitler coalition [3]. The British gun was used to reinforce the M4 Sherman tank: the new tank was designated as the Sherman VC (also named «Firefly» in British army) [3].

The most powerful tank gun of the Second World War was the 122-mm gun of the Soviet IS-2 tank [1]. It not only broke through the armor of all German tanks, but also destroyed fortifications in urban battles. For this reason, IS-2 was respected in the Red army.

Based on what has been said, it can be concluded that the development of tank and anti-tank guns obeyed the well-known principle of "shell against armor": strengthening of one leads to strengthening of the other.

Now we turn our attention to anti-aircraft artillery. The Second World War was both a period of prosperity and the time of decline of anti-aircraft artillery. Anti-aircraft guns were indispensable in the air defense of cities and for covering troops on the march. Anti-aircraft guns were divided into automatic (small caliber, low height of fire) and heavy single-shot (large caliber, high height of fire). Heavy guns were used to protect cities because they could hit bombers that flew at high altitude. Automatic guns were most often used in the military, as they coped with high-speed low-flying attack aircraft and dive bombers better. Although anti-aircraft guns were inferior in efficiency to fighters, it was impossible to abandon them, because aircraft could not be in the air constantly.

Heavy anti-aircraft guns played a major role in the air defense of Moscow and Leningrad, destroying much German aircraft [4].

However, why did the Second World War become the beginning of the end of anti-aircraft guns? The main weakness of anti-aircraft guns was the low accuracy of fire, which forced them to shoot at one aircraft from several guns. Statistically, one downed aircraft accounted for 18-21 thousand (!) anti-aircraft shells [1]. It proved to be very costly and inefficient, so anti-aircraft guns began to be withdrawn from service. However, it affected mainly heavy guns. Light automatic guns are still used today. Another thing is that during the Second World War they began to turn into self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. The situation was the same with field guns: it was necessary to increase the mobility of artillery to follow alongside tanks and motorized infantry.

In the end naval artillery will be considered. Naturally, since the ships are much larger than tanks, they carry more powerful armor. To break through such armor, you need a much larger caliber gun. If for destroyers of the Second World War the usual caliber was 100 mm, for cruisers - 152-280 mm, while for battleships - 305-460 mm. A special pride of Japan - the battleship «Yamato» - had unprecedented in the history of the fleet guns of 460 mm caliber. The range of the battleships ' guns was 35-40 km (at «Yamato» - 45 km) [5]. The shells weighed up to 3 tons, and caused huge damage to enemy ships.

Obviously, with such a range of fire, the guns could not compete with deck aircraft. The aircraft had a range of several hundred kilometers, and they also had a much higher hit accuracy. Fighting began to take place at such distances when the guns could not fire yet. Aircraft carriers outperformed battleships in the effectiveness of the strike. The legendary «Yamato» itself was sunk by carrier-based aircraft [5]. The Second World War put an end to naval guns of large calibers. Only small guns remained on the ships, which were used for defense against aircraft attacks.

It’s impossible to give an overview of all the weapons used by the belligerents, as this is beyond the scope of this article. But even on these brief data, a conclusion on the problem of the use and development of artillery during the Second World War can be drawn. Artillery was a universal weapon capable of fighting ground, air and sea targets, as well as protecting allied targets in these conditions. Artillery made up the firepower of tanks and infantry formations and naval squadrons. It was often impossible to fight without it.

Bibliography:

«Military Factory»: https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/ww2-artillery.asp

William G. Dennis. U.S. and German Field Artillery in World War II: A Comparison; Published by the National Museum of the United States Army: https://armyhistory.org/u-s-and-german-field-artillery-in-world-war-ii-a-comparison/

Chris Foss. Tanks. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.

Grabin V.G. The Weapon of the Victory. Moscow: Politizdat, 1989.

Kofman V.L. Japanese battleships of World War II. Moscow: EKSMO, 2006.