King of Battle. Artillery in World War I

394 Pages·2016·3.666 MB·English

by  Edited by Sanders Marble

i
King of Battle
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi 10.1163/9789004307285_001
ii
History of Warfare
Editors
Kelly DeVries (Loyola University Maryland)
John France (University of Wales, Swansea)
Michael S. Neiberg (United States Army War College, Pennsylvania)
Frederick Schneid (High Point University, North Carolina)
VOLUME 108
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hw
iii
King of Battle
Artillery in World War I
Edited by
Sanders Marble
LEIDEN | BOSTON
iv
Cover illustration: A British heavy gun in action. Photo taken between 1914 and 1918. The photograph
shows British soldiers preparing artillery shells and manning a large artillery piece. Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540, USA, LOT 9212.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Marble, Sanders, editor, author.
Title: King of battle : artillery in World War I / edited by Sanders Marble.
Description: Boston : Brill, 2015. | Series: History of warfare, ISSN
1385-7827 ; volume 108 | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015038032| ISBN 9789004305243 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9789004307285 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1914-1918--Artillery operations.
Classification: LCC D529.5 .K56 2015 | DDC 940.4/1--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.
gov/2015038032
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issn 1385-7827
isbn 978-90-04-30524-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-30728-5 (e-book)
Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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ContentCsontents v
Contents
Preface vii
List of Maps, Figures and Tables viii
List of Contributors xii
1 Introduction 1
Bruce Gudmundsson
2 The British Artillery in World War I 35
Sanders Marble
3 The French Artillery in the First World War 62
Bruce Gudmundsson
4 German Artillery in the First World War 101
David T. Zabecki
5 Austria-Hungary in the First World War 126
John R. Schindler
6 Bulgarian Artillery in the First World War 157
Dimitre Minchev
7 Ottoman Army Artillery in the First World War 173
Edward J. Erickson
8 Italian Artillery during the First World War: Its Structural, Organic,
Tactical and Material Evolution 196
Filippo Cappellano
9 Serbia’s Artillery during the First World War 221
James Lyon
10 Russian Artillery 255
Andrey Pavlov
11 United States Field Artillery in World War I 281
Janice McKenney
vi Contents
12 Artillery of the Army in India in World War I 299
Kaushik Roy
13 Romanian Artillery in the First World War 324
Cornel and Ioan Scafeş
14 Conclusion: Artillery as a Result of World War I 360
Boyd Dastrup
Index 377
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PrefacePreface vii
Preface
Artillery dominated the battlefields of World War I. That was seen in various
ways, from wounding patterns and doctors’ clinical data, to memoirs, diaries,
and letters, through to changed military doctrine after the war. No nation that
had experienced significant ground combat would blithely assume morale
could replace firepower. Artillery even holds the dubious distinction of causing
a new diagnosis, shellshock.
Yet there is little coverage of artillery in World War I, and even less of that is
international comparative history. Historians have covered the artillery of
many nations, but often simply cataloging the weapons themselves rather than
looking at organization, training, doctrine, and actual employment. Other
publications have been more about heritage and organizational pride than
probing analysis. Overall, there are only a few books examining artillery in
World War I on a comparative, international basis.
Through our chapters here we seek to fill that gap. We have generally left
details of the weapons alone – that data is published elsewhere – but have
looked at other facets of artillery in World War I, from new technologies, evolv-
ing training and doctrine, and organizational and conceptual changes. Given
space constraints, there is generally little operational detail in these pages, but
most of these chapters could be expanded to fill a book, and some information
had to be sacrificed for space. In the main, we have looked at battlefield artil-
lery, what would have been included in fire plans in the later war. That means
some types of artillery have received limited attention – coastal artillery, anti-
aircraft and anti-tank artillery especially. Mortars have generally been includ-
ed, albeit in less detail. Naval artillery has been excluded. We tried to include
the main combatant nations. Smaller nations, such as Belgium, Portugal, and
Japan should have their own interesting stories to tell, including whether their
limited battlefield experience influenced subsequent developments in their
artillery. We included the Indian artillery because it was substantially different
from British artillery, but did not include the Dominion artilleries because
their differences were far less marked; there may be scope for a study on that
topic alone. Authors have taken different approaches to their subjects, mainly
thematic or chronological, and their choices have highlighted different infor-
mation. We thought this was a strength since every nation’s experience was
different, and the flexibility allowed for the highlighting of key elements.
No history is final, and we hope this book is useful for a generation, and also
sparks another generation of studies to remedy gaps.
Sanders Marble
viii List of Maps, Figures and tabLliests Of Maps, Figures And Tables
List of Maps, Figures and Tables
Map
13.1 Map of Romania in WWI 325
Figures
9.1 Serbian Army M907 75mm field gun near Ostružnica, autumn
1914 238
13.1 A delegation of Russian officers visiting the Railroad Workshops in
Bucharest 328
13.2 75mm Krupp field gun M.1904 L/30 of the 4th battery, 15th Artillery Regiment,
crossing a locality in Transylvania 331
13.3 105mm Krupp howitzer M.1912 L/14 in action in Transylvania 333
13.4 Romanian field guns captured by the German and Austro-Hungarian troops
are displayed in the central square of the city of Braşov 334
13.5 Preparing the emplacement for a 120mm De Bange long gun M.1878
L/20.3 337
13.6 120mm De Bange long gun M.1878 L/20.3 from the 3rd battery of the 4th
Artillery Regiment emplaced in a forest 338
13.7 53mm Gruson infantry gun M.1887/1916 during the summer 1917 battles 339
13.8 120mm Baquet short gun M.1890 L/14 341
13.9 53mm Gruson M.1887/1916 infantry guns battery on the march 342
13.10 105mm Krupp howitzer M.1912 L/14 during the battle of Mărăşeşti 345
13.11 105mm Krupp long gun M.1891/16 L/35 emplaced in the Cosmeşti graveyard
during the battle of Mărăşeşti 346
13.12 Another 105mm Krupp long gun M.1891/16 L/35 emplaced in the Cosmeşti
graveyard during the battle of Mărăşeşti 348
13.13 150mm De Bange long gun changes position during the battle of Oituz 351
Tables
1.1 Guns and howitzers of the US Army “system of mobile artillery” 4
1.2 ‘Two-by-two’ taxonomy for field pieces 6
1.3 ‘Two-by-three’ taxonomy for field pieces 6
List of Maps, Figures and Tables ix
1.4 Quick-firing field guns for field batteries; 1914 8
1.5 Quick-firing field guns for horse artillery batteries; 1914 9
1.6 Quick-firing light field howitzers 10
1.7 Weights of standard light field howitzers and light field guns 11
1.8 Quick-firing heavy field howitzers; 1914 12
1.9 Quick-firing mobile heavy guns 13
1.10 Other mobile heavy guns 14
1.11 Light field guns without integrated recoil mechanisms 15
1.12 Experimental Russian siege pieces compared to Russian heavy field
pieces of corresponding calibers 17
1.13 German siege pieces with integrated recoil systems 17
1.14 Older siege and fortress guns 19
1.15 Older short-barreled siege pieces 21
1.16 Coast defense mortars 22
1.17 Coast defense guns 22
1.18 Mountain guns and howitzers (Pack) 24
1.19 Mountain guns and howitzers (Draft) 25
1.20 Balloon guns 26
1.21 Small caliber guns 27
1.22 Mortars and minethrowers 28
3.1 Artillery pieces of the de Bange system 63
3.2 Artillery pieces assigned to French field armies; August 1914 63
3.3 Characteristics of older French guns 64
3.4 Aerial torpedoes fired by 58mm trench mortars 74
3.5 French trench mortars developed in 1915 76
3.6 Distribution of 58mm trench mortars to formations in the field; 29 June
1915 77
3.7 Older artillery pieces serving with French field armies 77
3.8 Monthly rate of delivery to the front of older artillery pieces 79
3.9 Orders for modern heavy pieces in place during the first year of the war 82
3.10 Number of older artillery pieces serving with French armies in the field 83
3.11 Production of modern heavy artillery pieces in 1915 83
3.12 Number of motorized batteries; August 1914 to September 1915 85
3.13 Shipboard and coast defense guns employed as mobile heavy guns 87
3.14 Shipboard and coast defense guns moved by rail 87
3.15 Coast defense mortars employed as siege mortars 88
3.16 Ideal army corps heavy artillery 92
3.17 Ideal army heavy artillery 92
3.18 Ideal regiment of motorized artillery 92
x List Of Maps, Figures And Tables
3.19 Number of mobile heavy batteries called for by various programs; August 1915
to May 1916 93
3.20 Orders for modern heavy pieces; program of 30 May 1916 93
3.21 Production of modern heavy guns 93
3.22 Production of modern howitzers and siege mortars 94
3.23 Characteristics of French 155mm Guns 94
3.24 Number of 75mm field guns built and rebuilt 97
3.25 75mm field guns at the front 97
3.26 Types of artillery regiments 100
4.1 104
4.2 114
7.1 Distribution of Ottoman artillery, September 1914  178
7.2 Fifth Army artillery ammunition report, 23 June 1915 for the period: 8 May –
8 June 1915 183
7.3 Distribution of Ottoman artillery and ammunition, mid-year 1918 193
8.1 Availability of guns and ammunition on entry into the war and at the armi-
stice 217
8.2 Data for the production of weapons and ammunition in Italy  218
8.3 Data concerning the consumption of ammunition by the artillery 218
8.4 6th Battle of the Isonzo (capture of Gorizia), 4 – 16 August 1916, attacking
front 35 km 218
8.5 11th Battle of the Isonzo, 18 – 24 August 1917, attacking front 16.5 km 219
8.6 Technical data and performance of principal artillery pieces 219
10.1 257
10.2 272
12.1 Artillery establishment of the army in India in 1904 299
12.2 Organization of army in India’s artillery in the beginning of 1914 300
12.3 Strength of the army in India in 1914 and in 1918 303
12.4 Expansion and deployment of the army in India’s artillery branch 305
12.5 Important items of ammunition and explosives supplied to Mesopotamia
from India between 1914 and 1918 317
12.6 Stockpile of ammunition in Mesopotamia on 26 June 1917 317
12.7 Ammunition for selected guns sent to IEFD from August 1914 to 23 November
1918 318
12.8 Comparative distribution of guns in Mesopotamia and France on 1 October
1918 319
12.9 Types and number of guns at Salonika on 20 October 1918 321
13.1 Quick-fire field guns for field batteries 354
13.2 Quick-fire field guns for horse field batteries 354