Each afternoon we creep unostentatiously into subterranean burrows, while our respective gunners, from a safe position in the rear, indulge in what they humorously describe as “an artillery duel.” The humour arises from the fact that they fire, not at one another, but at us.
Ian Hay (Major John Hay Beith), The First Hundred Thousand: Being the Unofficial Chronicle of a Unit of “K(1)”, 1916.
October 30, 2020
QotD: Artillery “duels”
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The [London] Times of the time is full of talk of these “artillery duels”. Eventually, the gunners did figure out how to fire on other gunners. The war ended shortly after.
Comment by Patrick Crozier — October 31, 2020 @ 12:24
I remember reading about the (slow) development of counter-battery fire during WW1, and I wonder if the British/Allied shell shortages of the early years of the war retarded the development of more sophisticated artillery operations.
Comment by Nicholas — October 31, 2020 @ 12:31