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Field Artillery Essay

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Support from field artillery has been crucial to every conflict the United States of America has faced since its establishment as a country. Field artillery provides valuable support to its infantry counterparts by allowing them to close the distance and destroy their enemies. It molds and shapes the battlefield. The evolution of field artillery has been remarkable throughout the last 240 years to say the least. Throughout World War II, more specifically the Battle of Anzio, the Army made essential changes and improvements to the weaponry, tactics and techniques of field artillery that ultimately changed the outcome of the battle, which greatly contributed to the allied victory.
On January 22, 1944 a British-American force, landed along …show more content…

He instead decided to establish a beachhead at Anzio and a nearby village known as Nettuno. The commander of the opposing German forces, Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, massed his troops in order to contain the Anzio threat. By the first of February he was able to mass a force equivalent to five divisions, and forty-two batteries, including a Krupp K-5 railroad artillery piece, nicknamed “Anzio Annie” (Dastrup, 1992/Desbois, 2011). Using the artillery brought with them, along with aircraft flown in from France they were able to halt the allied movement at the …show more content…

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division held them off, and prevented their forces from massing in any particular area by concentrating artillery fires on two critical areas of the battlefield (Carter 2010). This successful defense of the beachhead also allowed Allied forces to link with the forces near Monte Cassino. General Raymond McLain, Commander of the 45th Division Artillery told Colonel L.S. Griffing, of the Army ground forces board, “Our only salvation on the beachhead has been the use of mass fires, and an effective counter-battery system” (Dastrup 1992). The Anzio forces and the German forces remained in a stalemate until 23 May, when Operation Buffalo was launched, and the Cisterna sector fell 2 days

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