Artillery Plans

[Old Tom]

Accounts of major offensives often detail the weights of artillery ammunition fired, but I have not noticed any description of the planning process leading up to those barrages. My understanding is that this was the responsibility of Army Corps staff and I assume that all branches of the staff including both 'G' and 'Q' would be involved. I assume the process would start with the identification of the targets and the nature and quantity of ammunition required. Other factors might be the availability of guns and howitzers.  The lead time for the provisioning and positioning of that ammunition could be a determinant of the timing of the offensive, but that timing might have already been set by a higher level. My reading, and memory (such as it is) suggests that the process was carried out very effectively by the 2nd Army.

I would like to know of any published work which deals with this topic and any suggestions would be welcomed. 

[Neil Mackenzie]

Tom

 

This may be of some use.

 

http://www.gutenberg-e.org/mas01/mas09.html

 

Best wishes

 

Neil

[Old Tom]

Many thanks!  A quick scan shows this to be a mine of information, although it does not seem to address the logistic part of the question. Can you indicate its origin? Is it a PhD treatise?

[Neil Mackenzie]

Not sure Tom - I found it by Googling when I was looking for info on Counter Battery Staff Officers (CBSO's) . As you can see there are no details on the link to indicate the background to the article.

 

Neil

 

 

[petwes]

Reviewed here:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/blogs/entry/1530-from-the-infantry-cannot-do-with-a-gun-less/

[josquin]

Tom,

As Petwes's post indicates, Neil was quoting the work of Sanders Marble, a Senior Historian at the U.S. Army Office of Medical History.

Marble, an American researcher from Virginia, has a Ph.D. in History from University College, London (conferred in 1998) and has

authored, co-authored and edited three excellent books on the artillery of the Great War, as follows:

   Sanders Marble: British Artillery on the Western Front in the First World War: "The Infantry cannot do with a gun less."  2013, Rev.ed., Routledge.

   Paul Strong & Sanders Marble:  Artillery in the Great War.  2014, Pen and Sword.

   Sanders Marble (ed.): King of Battle: Artillery in World War I.  2016, Brill.

The 2016 volume is a collection of essays examining the artillery technology, organization, doctrine, training, and national idiosyncracies

of 12 nations,including all of the major Great War combatants.  All three of the books are likely to consider the topics of your enquiry--

certainly a promising point of departure for more specialized research.

Best regards,

Josquin

[Old Tom]

Thanks Josquin and Petwes, Just what I was looking for. Curious that the thread cited seems to lead nowhere.

 

Old Tom