LOCATING ARTILLERY ASSOCIATION

The Eyes And Ears Of The Battlefield

Locating Artillery Overview

Since the invention of gunpowder and its use in warfare, the cannon (and, later, the gun) has become a dominant feature on the battlefield. In the last 3 centuries, the number and placement of the artillery has often been the deciding factor in battle.

By the start of World War 1, the artillery gun had largely disappeared from its previous position in the front lines, although in the first months of the war there were still occasional direct fire engagements, but it soon became obvious that such exposure of artillery batteries was suicidal.

Artillery went into hiding and habitually fired from behind hills and woods. As daytime aerial observation came into use, especially from balloons, camouflage became a fine art and, together with night firing, was used to conceal battery locations. These precautions for self preservation by the artillery did not occur at the expense of its basic mission of supporting the infantry.

Although the batteries were now dispersed over a greater area behind the front lines, their fire could be concentrated on any target within their longer ranges. It was quite obvious to all armies engaged on the Western Front that for the infantry to survive, something had to be done to silence the guns. But first, these guns had to be located. 

The problem was not simple, especially under the adverse conditions in which all military operations are conducted. Aerial observation was employed from the beginning, both by balloon, which had been trailed as early as the Boer War, and the then novel aeroplane (which only had its first powered flight in 1903). However, direct visual observation was only partly effective and aerial photography was cumbersome, slow, and unreliable.

Borne out of a need for Artillery to enhance its supremacy on the battlefield with accurate and timely target information, elements of Locating Artillery began to develop, with Sound Ranging, Survey, Flash Spotting supplying the raw data and Counter bombardment sections acting as collecting points for all data on enemy.

By World War2 the use of massed guns decreased with more emphasis placed on the use of howitzers (high angle guns) and mortars. This type of weapon was, in general, far easier to move and far easier to hide. They were an ideal weapon for mountainous or jungle terrain therefore new methods of detection would be required to combat this new threat. The scientists were again put to the test and many new gadgets were tested with the new electronic device ‘Radar’ and ‘Short base’ Sound Ranging equipment proving to have the most potential.

1966 heralded in Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, included was a Detachment of Locators. This was a small Unit with never more than 100 Locators in Vietnam at any given time; they would show their versatility and ability to work in small groups through out the area of operation. This has become a trademark of a ‘Locator’.

By the late 1960`s and into the 1970`s the emergence of the electronic era was to impact on the Locating skills. Apart from the introduction of the Mortar Locating Radar there would be the electronic Gun Calibration sections, light Meteorology Sections and sensor equipment. The Surveyors received desktop and hand held calculators to replace the tedious long formula calculations, as well as electronic distance measuring devices.

The new locating unit of the 1990`s had by now had moved further into the Electronic Era. Gone was the old Mortar Locating Radar, replaced by Weapon Locating Systems. Survey had updated to a stage where very little fieldwork was required and electronic equipment produced answers in minutes that may have taken days to produce.

BASIC METHODS

Even a brief explanation of Locating Artillery (such as this) would be incomplete without some explanation of the types of methods and equipment used.

Flash Spotting - observing the gun flash and taking a Director bearing on the direction of the flash. Observations from several positions could be used to calculate the position of the gun.

Sound Ranging - Placing microphones at regular surveyed locations to detect the sound of gunfire and by using the time difference of the sound as it reaches each microphone, calculate the position from which the sound pulse originated.

Radar – A radar projects an electronic beam at an object, this object may be anything from an aircraft to a mortar bomb, depending on the role of the radar.

When the beam strikes the object (called the Target) the Radar receives an echo or returning signal. This signal carries data on the target, which is normally decoded by a computer, and the location of the target can be determined

Sensors – can be a variety of equipment, such as Infra-Red, Thermal Imagery, Acoustic and Seismic which are used together or separately to mount surveillance of tracks or paths used by the enemy (or which can be used by the enemy) to give early warning of the stealthy approach of the enemy.

Survey – The accuracy of detection and the accuracy of the location detected is very much related to the exact position of the detection equipment and/or the observer. In order for Artillery Locating units to be able to give accurate information to the counter battery artillery, they must have accurate information about their own location. Artillery Locating units therefore have their own surveying sections responsible for providing accurate survey information to the detection equipment and observers.  

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