Chapter 193 Infantry and Artillery Relationship

(The picture below shows the French Senegalese Chasseurs)

The mortar is actually not just a long-range grenade. Its appearance changed the relationship between infantry and artillery, which was in an awkward 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, and artillery and infantry were present together. Even infantry could be transformed into artillery. The coordination between the two only required a loud shout.

However, as artillery became more and more accurate and its range became longer, the relationship between infantry and artillery gradually became separated and even isolated.

The reason why the French artillery was accustomed to deploying 75mm guns one kilometer behind the defense line, in addition to facilitating attack, was to facilitate infantry and artillery coordination: at this distance, signal flags could still be seen.

If it is farther away, radio or telephone communication will be needed.

Radios were not yet popular, and telephones were fixed lines that could not keep pace with the advance of the battle line. The quality of telephones during this period was not good, and commands could often not be conveyed clearly and accurately amid the sound of gunfire.

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

"Understood, fire now!"

With a loud bang, all the shells hit the heads of our own people who were charging!

(Note: Even in modern artillery, in order to reduce false alarms, numbers are replaced with words such as "洞姚拐" that are easier to distinguish)

However, when the enemy was generally equipped with long-range artillery to fight France at long distances, France had to equip long-range artillery to fight against them.

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

The emergence of mortars just filled this gap.

It is mobile and flexible, and can hide in a trench and fire a shot before moving to another location. Although its range is short, it has strong survivability. Unlike the 75 gun, it is not exposed outside the position and may be suppressed by the enemy's long-range artillery at any time.

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

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

This is something the front-line troops cannot refuse. It is a leap from nothing to something. Anyone who refuses it obviously has ulterior motives.

This is also true.

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

It's not that Gallieni is selfish, but no matter what feedback the officers participating in the training give, various interest groups still refuse to equip themselves with mortars.

Most of them were "offensive theory" factions, and the commanders insisted that the 75 gun's range and rate of fire made it the perfect offensive artillery and that no other equipment could replace it.

The "defense theory" school generally believes that artillery with a longer range is needed so as to block the enemy's attack outside 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 mortar.

However……

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

If the 51st Infantry Division had not been worried about being surrounded by the enemy if it went too deep, it could have continued to advance.

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

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

The division commander, Major General Davidt, answered with certainty: "Yes, of course. The Germans have hills and highlands, but we are in an open area as far as the eye can see. We have no strategic location to defend. There is only cold, rain and death here forever, but we did not surrender. We..."

The reporter interrupted the major general and asked, "Excuse me, what enabled you to win under such unfavorable conditions?"

Major General David replied: "Of course it is the commander's decision and the soldiers' courage, sir. We bravely charged towards the enemy and were not afraid of the enemy that was several times our number..."

The reporter gave a few glances, and Major General David suddenly realized: "Oh, of course. The mortar also contributed to this. It is a very good equipment and the soldiers like it very much! But more importantly, we adopted the correct tactics..."

Soon after Major General Davide spoke, he received a call from General Gallieni: "Congratulations, General Davide, you have been promoted for your heroic actions. You are now the deputy commander of the Senegalese Chasseurs!"

Major General David was stunned: "Senegal..."

…

Compared to Major General David's speech, the soldiers did not hide their love for the mortar. They used all the words they could think of to praise it:

"This is a great piece of equipment, it was made for war, without it we wouldn't have been able to achieve such a victory!"

"The German trenches were 200 meters away, and we could never do anything to them. Rushing out of the trenches meant death. But the mortar...it was amazing. We could hide in the trenches and fire shells into the enemy trenches. Can you imagine? Hiding in the trenches, but being able to fire shells into the enemy trenches!"

"The Germans were frightened by us. Sometimes they deployed their firepower and troops on the other side of the hill. We couldn't see them or hit them. But the mortars could. The mortar shells could bypass the hill and bomb the enemy hiding behind it, and the enemy couldn't fight back! God, this is the gun we need. This is the gun for the infantry!"

…

These words were soon published in the newspaper "Meritorious Service", accompanied by a photo of the mortar.

There are also several schematic diagrams, with dotted lines marking the curved trajectory of the mortar, showing the reader how it hits the enemy trenches and bypasses the heights to hit the enemy behind it.

Soon, the whole army went crazy for this. Everyone wanted to have this kind of gun. Soldiers shouted to officers:

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

"Whether it's attacking or defending, this cannon can be used. It has proven its value in actual combat!"

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

"What stands between us and us from getting it? Is it the benefits? The cost is our lives?"

…

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

This seemed perfectly reasonable to them, for they were fighting for their country, not for the interests of a capitalist, unless that capitalist was Charles.

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

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

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

Steed was so happy to see 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 cannon, which is also something you have to buy!"

(The above picture is a simplified diagram of the trajectory of various types of artillery)

(End of this chapter)