Summary: Field Artillery
Field Artillery and The Battle of Cantigny
Field Artillery has evolved a vast degree with beginning uses of gunpowder, wooden cannons and iron cannon balls. Years later there are complex fuses, computerized cannons and precision guided munitions. Many significant wars and battles occurred throughout our Nation’s military existence. Without artillery shaping the battlefield, it is possible the outcomes written in history books would not be the same. The Battle of Cantigny, France was one of the most famous battles in which artillery usage played a significant role in regards to the American forces success. Ninety-nine years have elapsed since the Battle of Cantigny and there are remarkable similarities with maneuver and artillery tactics …show more content…
This was the first operation the Americans would partake in since joining the war in 1917. General Pershing, Commander of the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) was adamant that this operation could not fail because of this. As a result the American forces conducted a lot of training and rehearsals in preparation to ensure that every soldier is familiar with his role and the overall plan (Herbert, 2013). This is very similar to how we plan for major operations today such as conducting ROC drills, rehearsals, and even a full scale walk-through to ensure that everyone is on the same …show more content…
From standing on line waiting for fire commands to special operations raids, it all started somewhere. The battle of Cantingy was one of the first battles that involved combined arms tactics. With the use of infantry, artillery, French armor, and French aircraft the battle of Cantingy was won. From there we learned from our mistakes and improved systems to be more effective in the future. The use of forward observers was yet to be introduced and even more fires planning was still be understood and used as we do today. During these early battles artillery had short range and communications were even worse. All communications were still in its infancy at this time and had to be run by wire, it was very ineffective. All airspace coordination still had to be implemented, close air support was still far beyond the horizon and most bombs were simply dropped by hand out of
Field Artillery has evolved a vast degree with beginning uses of gunpowder, wooden cannons and iron cannon balls. Years later there are complex fuses, computerized cannons and precision guided munitions. Many significant wars and battles occurred throughout our Nation’s military existence. Without artillery shaping the battlefield, it is possible the outcomes written in history books would not be the same. The Battle of Cantigny, France was one of the most famous battles in which artillery usage played a significant role in regards to the American forces success. Ninety-nine years have elapsed since the Battle of Cantigny and there are remarkable similarities with maneuver and artillery tactics …show more content…
This was the first operation the Americans would partake in since joining the war in 1917. General Pershing, Commander of the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) was adamant that this operation could not fail because of this. As a result the American forces conducted a lot of training and rehearsals in preparation to ensure that every soldier is familiar with his role and the overall plan (Herbert, 2013). This is very similar to how we plan for major operations today such as conducting ROC drills, rehearsals, and even a full scale walk-through to ensure that everyone is on the same …show more content…
From standing on line waiting for fire commands to special operations raids, it all started somewhere. The battle of Cantingy was one of the first battles that involved combined arms tactics. With the use of infantry, artillery, French armor, and French aircraft the battle of Cantingy was won. From there we learned from our mistakes and improved systems to be more effective in the future. The use of forward observers was yet to be introduced and even more fires planning was still be understood and used as we do today. During these early battles artillery had short range and communications were even worse. All communications were still in its infancy at this time and had to be run by wire, it was very ineffective. All airspace coordination still had to be implemented, close air support was still far beyond the horizon and most bombs were simply dropped by hand out of