Looks like a WWI "earthmover" shell.
And entirely off topic, but how did they (each side in WWI) never bother to correct their fuse times? Didn’t they use spotters?
Yours, TDP, ml, msl, & pfpp |
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Written By:
Tom Perkins
URL:
http://tomdperkins.blogspot.com/
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Sometimes you want a delay like that. There is a specific fuse for that.
You also have VT (variable time) fuses which you set according to the height you want the shell to burst (air bursts).
If you’re firing at a trench, you want the thing to go off head high. Same with infantry in the open.
Lots of trees? You want them going off in the tree tops (as well as penetrating the trees and going off on the ground).
So yeah, they used FOs but sometimes they want the effect of penetration. If not, it’s up to the forward observer to correct it. |
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Written By:
McQ
URL:
http://www.qando.net/blog
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I suppose they could be trying to collapse fortifications, but I recall footage of a lot of them going off like that in no-man’s land.Lots of trees? You want them going off in the tree tops (as well as penetrating the trees and going off on the ground). Battle of the Huertgen Forrest rings a bell on that comment.
Yours, TDP, ml, msl, & pfpp |
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Written By:
Tom Perkins
URL:
http://tomdperkins.blogspot.com/
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I suppose they could be trying to collapse fortifications, but I recall footage of a lot of them going off like that in no-man’s land. That could be a function of a bad call for fire from the FO as well. Additionally, making big holes in no-man’s land impedes the ability of your enemy to make a rapid assault on your side.Battle of the Huertgen Forrest rings a bell on that comment. Yup. Look at some old photos of just about any battle involving trees and artillery and you’ll see many of the trunks cut off about head high. The more crap you have flying around from your arty, the more effective it is. Shrapnel or a big freakin’ tree limb, it doesn’t matter as long as it takes the bad guys down.
Think of sea battles where round shot would smack into the opposing wooden ship and loose a torrent of wooden splinters (much like the spalding effect inside an armored vehicle) which were, in many cases, as effective as shrapnel. |
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Written By:
McQ
URL:
http://www.qando.net/blog
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Think of sea battles where round shot would smack into the opposing wooden ship and loose a torrent of wooden splinters (much like the spalding effect inside an armored vehicle) which were, in many cases, as effective as shrapnel. Or the "cartwheel" that would fly off the back of WWI (and some WWII) naval armors, when taking a direct shot.
FWIW, I do take military history as seriously as I do any other topic, and more than a good many.
Yours, TDP, ml, msl, & pfpp |
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Written By:
Tom Perkins
URL:
http://tomdperkins.blogspot.com/
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Good reaction time on the driver there, he goes right around the hole. |
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Written By:
jows
URL:
http://
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