The Weapons of World War I: A History of the Guns, Tanks, Artillery, Gas, and Planes Used during the Great War by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors [Editors, Charles River]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2015-01-28T07:00:00+00:00

The abilities of these weapons, as well as the thousands of pieces of conventional field artillery deployed by the various great powers during the war, would have been unable to fire with such devastating effectiveness without improvements in the science of gunnery. Throughout the war, the combatants could launch tens of thousands of shells within just a few hours during preliminary bombardments which preceded major attacks, something that 19th century commanders would have found inconceivable. For most of the 19th century, aside from mortars, artillery still fired in a flat or slightly arched trajectory at targets within their line of sight. This remained the case until the late 1880s, when the German Army created the lining plane, which allowed gunners to target more effectively. However, this method was entirely superseded a few years later by an optical sight, the Panoramic Telescope or Dial Sight, which allowed gunners to rapidly establish the azimuth and train their pieces with greater precision. Techniques continued to improve dramatically in the years leading up to the war and in the opening stages of the conflict when aerial photography allowed for the pinpointing of targets not in line of sight. It took a while to adapt these techniques effectively to battlefield situations, as the fact that rounds could now be delivered at such vast distances severely affected initial accuracy when not firing in perfect conditions. However, by the final years of the war, field artillery was capable of “firing off the map” by utilizing a series of grid coordinates, thereby allowing gunners to rapidly deliver barrages with pinpoint accuracy. This technique has changed little in the past century as it continues to prove itself effective and efficient.

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