German Artillery Tested Captured 155mm Howitzer — Then Admitted They'd Never Seen This Fire Rate скачать в хорошем качестве

German Artillery Tested Captured 155mm Howitzer — Then Admitted They'd Never Seen This Fire Rate

German Artillery Officers Tested Captured 155mm Howitzer — Then Admitted They'd Never Seen This Fire Rate In late 1944, German artillery officers conducted live-fire tests on a captured American M114 155mm howitzer at the Hillersleben proving ground. What they discovered shocked the Wehrmacht's artillery establishment: the American gun could sustain 4-6 rounds per minute while Germany's standard sFH 18 howitzer managed only 2 rounds per minute under optimal conditions. This wasn't just about having better equipment—it represented a fundamental clash in artillery philosophy. German doctrine emphasized precision and methodical fire, while American doctrine prioritized rapid sustained fire and overwhelming volume. The M114's semi-automatic breech, hydraulic recoil system, and split-trail carriage design enabled faster firing rates that were built into the weapon itself, not dependent solely on crew skill. Discover how this rate-of-fire gap affected major battles from Normandy to the Eastern Front, why German attempts to close the gap failed, and how the lessons learned shaped modern NATO artillery doctrine. The Bundeswehr eventually adopted the very weapon that had outperformed Wehrmacht artillery, proving that sometimes the best response to superior enemy technology is honest evaluation and adoption. 📌 Key Topics Covered: M114 vs sFH 18 technical comparison Time-on-Target doctrine vs methodical barrage fire Captured weapon testing at Hillersleben Counter-battery warfare dynamics Post-war artillery development and NATO standards SOURCES U.S. Army Field Manual FM 6-40, "Tactics and Technique, Field Artillery Battalion" (1944) - American artillery doctrine and Time-on-Target procedures Heeresdienstvorschrift 481, "Die mittlere und schwere Artillerie" (German Army artillery manual, 1940s) - Wehrmacht artillery doctrine and crew drill procedures "German Artillery of World War Two" by Ian V. Hogg (1997, Greenhill Books) - Technical specifications of sFH 18 and German artillery development "US Field Artillery of World War II" by Steven J. Zaloga (2007, Osprey Publishing) - M114 development, specifications, and combat employment "Steel Wind: Colonel Georg Bruchmüller and the Birth of Modern Artillery" by David T. Zabecki (1994, Praeger) - German artillery doctrine evolution from WWI through WWII United States Army Ordnance Department Technical Manual TM 9-325 (1944) - M114 maintenance and crew drill procedures "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War" by Robert Coram (2002) - Discussion of rate-of-fire advantages in weapons systems (OODA loop application to artillery) Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv Freiburg - Heereswaffenamt captured weapon evaluation reports (Beutewaffenprüfungen 1943-1944) "The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944" by George Blackburn (1995, McClelland & Stewart) - First-hand account of Allied artillery operations "On Artillery" by Colonel Georg Bruchmüller, translated and edited by LTC David Zabecki (1993, U.S. Army TRADOC) - German artillery theory Rock Island Arsenal Historical Archives - M114 development documentation "Fire Support in Joint Operations" - U.S. Joint Publication 3-09 historical references to WWII fire support evolution #ww2 #ww2secrets #ww2history #worldwar2 #wwii