The Age of Artillery
There is still a lot of thinking on the First World War founded in the realm of post war myth. Many of us grew up with this myth created by many sources as a world, shattered by the immensity of the sacrifice all nations had faced, tried to find scapegoats and understand the reasons why these events had happened. These pages represent a collection of references and material that I hope will help readers to understand the roles of artillery in the First World War.
There are many views on what exactly broke the impasse that was trench warfare, but modern theories pay due regard to the importance of artillery, and the lessons learned on how to employ its destructive power, in resolving the dilemma of defence.
These pages could of course just help to inspire someone in their modelling or 'gaming.
Interesting articles.
- Direcft artillery fire
- Artillery at Loos 1915
- Trench Mortars in action 1916
- British guns in Italy 1917
Links on the web about artillery.
Just a few of the many links to artillery resources on the web. I chose them bcause they are interesting.
- Landships artillery
- A forum discussion on Bulgarian artillery
- Art of War: the age of artillery
- Vintage Photographs - Artillery, from 'Firstworldwar.com'.
- New Zealand artillery in World War 1
- Artillery War Diary Transcript Links (WW1).
- Big guns of the Great War.
- All quiet on the western front The classic attack/counterattack scene from the 1930's Lew Ayres version of the movie, and still one of the ultimate anti-war movies. A graphic demonstration of the power of artillery (even though it's only a movie).
Wargames Scenarios
- Action at Nery. While this action involved very little artillery, it has taken its place in the folklore that is the BEF in 1914,featuring the heroic 'fighting' of a battery of 13pdrs by soldiers from the Royal Horse Artillery. This is a link to the Yahoo List Files section, where the scenario (written by Robert Dunlop) is stored.