Chapter 193 Infantry-Artillery Relationship

(The picture below shows the French Senegalese Chasseurs)

The mortar is actually not just a long-range grenade. Its emergence changed the relationship between infantry and artillery, which was in an embarrassing situation during World War I.

During the Napoleonic era, the relationship between infantry and artillery was very friendly.

At that time, artillery had a short range, artillery and infantry were co-existing, and even infantry could be transformed into artillery. The synergy between the two only required a loud shout.

However, as the accuracy of artillery becomes higher and higher and the range becomes longer and longer, the relationship between infantry and artillery is gradually stretched or even isolated.

The reason why the French artillery is accustomed to deploying 75 guns one kilometer behind the defense line is not only to facilitate the attack, but also for infantry and artillery coordination: at this distance, the signal flag can still be seen.

Further distance requires radio or telephone contact.

Radio stations were not yet popular, and telephones had fixed lines and could not synchronize with the movement of the front. The quality of telephones during this period was not good enough, and instructions could not be conveyed clearly and accurately amidst the sound of gunfire.

"Hey, we're about to charge, stop firing!"

"Understood, fire immediately!"

There was a roar, and all the shells hit the charging head!

(Note: Even in modern artillery, in order to reduce false alarms, numbers are replaced by words such as "Dongyaoguai" that are easy to distinguish)

However, when the enemy generally equipped long-range artillery to fight France at a distance, France had to equip long-range artillery to fight against it.

Therefore, the distance between infantry and artillery is at least several kilometers, and they are often out of sight of each other. Although they are on the same battlefield, they fight in different planes most of the time.

The emergence of mortars just filled this gap.

It is flexible and can hide in the trench and fire one shot to change places. Although it has a short range, it has a strong survivability. It is not like the 75-gun that can be suppressed by the enemy's long-range artillery at any time if it is exposed outside the position.

Its coordination with infantry is not as difficult as the 75mm artillery and 105MM artillery. Even without communication tools, the infantry can communicate by shouting, blowing whistles, and flying flags.

Thus, the infantry once again transformed from having no artillery to having its own artillery.

This is something that frontline troops cannot refuse. This is a leap from nothing to something. Those who refuse obviously have ulterior motives.

This is also true.

The first to be equipped with mortars was the 51st Infantry Division of the 6th Army, which was the unit that Gallieni could directly command.

This is not because Gallieni is selfish, but that regardless of the feedback from the officers participating in the training, various interest groups still refuse to equip mortars.

Most of them are of the "offensive theory" faction. Commanders insist that the range and rate of fire of the 75-gun are the most perfect offensive artillery, and no equipment can replace it.

The "defense theory" group generally believes that artillery with a longer range is needed so that the enemy's attack can be blocked beyond the range of the enemy's artillery.

Coupled with the insistence of the French Commander-in-Chief, the mortars could only be equipped to the 51st Infantry Division stationed in Ypres.

Everyone thought that this incident would pass quietly and people would soon forget about the mortars.

However……

The German defense line, which was originally filled with mud and considered impenetrable, was easily broken through by the 51st Infantry Division equipped with mortars and advanced three kilometers to create a breakthrough.

If it were not for the fear of being surrounded by the enemy if it went too deep, the 51st Infantry Division could continue to advance.

Kobdo immediately seized the opportunity to give the 51st Infantry Division a special episode.

Reporter: "General Dawit, it is said that the terrain of Ypres is very special and our army is in unfavorable terrain. Is this true?"

The division's Major General Davitt answered affirmatively: "Yes, of course. The German side is surrounded by hills and highlands, but we are in an open space as far as the eye can see. We have no danger. There will always be only cold, rain and death here, but We did not give in, we..."

The reporter interrupted the major general: "Excuse me, what allowed you to win under such unfavorable conditions?"

Major General Davit replied: "Of course it is the commander's decision and the courage of the soldiers. Sir, we charged towards the enemy bravely and were not afraid of enemies several times our size..."

The reporter gave him a few winks, and then Major General Davit suddenly realized: "Oh, of course. The mortar is also a credit. It is a very good piece of equipment, and the soldiers like it very much! But more importantly, we adopted it. The right tactics..."

Shortly after Major General Davit spoke, he received a call from General Galieni: "Congratulations, General Davit, you were promoted because of your heroic actions. You are now the deputy commander of the Senegalese Chasseurs!"

Major General Dawit froze in place: "Senegal..."

…

Compared with Major General Davit’s speech, the soldiers made no secret of their love for mortars. They used all the words they could think of to praise it:

"This is a great piece of equipment. It is simply made for war. Without it, we would not have been able to achieve such a victory!"

"The German trenches are two hundred meters away, and we can't do anything about them. Breaking out of the trenches means death. But mortars... are amazing. We can hide in the trenches and shoot shells into the enemy's trenches. , can you imagine hiding in the trenches but being able to fire artillery shells into the enemy's trenches?"

"The Germans were frightened by us, and sometimes they deployed their firepower and troops on the other side of the hill, where we could not see or hit them. But the mortar could do that. The mortar shells could bypass the hill and hit the enemy hiding behind it, and the enemy could not fight back! God, this is the gun we need, this is the gun for the infantry!"

...

These words were soon published in the "Meritorious Newspaper", accompanied by photos of the mortar.

There were also several schematic diagrams, with dotted lines marking the curved trajectory of the mortar, telling readers how it hit the enemy trenches and bypassed the hills to hit the enemy behind them.

Soon, the whole army went crazy about it. Everyone wanted to have this kind of gun. The soldiers shouted at the officers:

"We don't know any tactical theory, we just know we need this kind of gun!"

"Whether it's attack or defense, this kind of gun can work. It has proved its value in actual combat!"

"The country can produce this kind of gun, and the front-line soldiers also need this kind of gun. I don't understand why it is not given to us?"

"What is standing between us and preventing us from getting it? Is it the interests? The price is our lives?"

...

The angry soldiers even secretly discussed that if their superiors did not agree to equip this kind of gun, they would refuse to fight.

This seemed completely reasonable to them, because they fought for the country, not for the interests of the capitalists, unless the capitalist was Charles.

Because from the research and development of the equipment, it can be seen that only Charles cares about their life and death, and other capitalists only want to make money!

Under this strong pressure, the major forces of the military finally chose to compromise.

Then, orders flew to the Saint-Etienne Arsenal like snowflakes.

Steed was so happy looking at these orders that he couldn't close his mouth. He squinted his eyes at the check in his hand and muttered to himself: "This is just the beginning, gentlemen, the next one is the 37MM gun, which is also something you have to buy!" (The above picture is a simplified diagram of the ballistics of various artillery)