Welcome to the podcast: “Fire Mission Battery!”
Hello, I’m Jon Moore, I’ll be your host for this journey through a history of artillery.
Why artillery? In this modern age with its obsession with armoured vehicles, air power and cruise missiles it is easy to forget the power, efficacy and sheer excitement of a gun line in action.
Add to this Napoleon’s statement: “God is on the side of biggest guns.” and we start to get a feeling for this particular arm.
To begin with I’ll define some terms. Artillery weapons will be referred to as guns throughout this podcast. The people servicing the guns are gunners. The group of gunners, including a sergeant and Bombardier/Lance Bombardier servicing the gun is a gun detachment. Sometimes referred to as a gun crew. The gun is composed of a barrel, is supported on a gun carriage and is pulled, since horses were retired, by a gun tractor. This gun tractor is, in the majority of cases, a truck, sometimes a small four wheel drive like a landrover. Sometimes a couple of donkeys for mountain guns. I have seen a North Korean military parade where the gun tractors were actual farm tractors painted olive green. There is also the combination of tractor and gun known as self propelled artillery.
All of the above is a broad outline for Field guns, from say 75mm to about 120mm. We will see as we move through history, calibres are a many varied thing, just like love. Larger calibres from, say 155mm and up are referred to as medium guns. There are also heavy guns from the nine inches of the British Armies of World War Two to the 205mm of the Israeli Defence Forces. Bigger still, usually, are the coastal defense guns.
At the other end are things like mortars which swap back and forth from infantry weapons to artillery weapons. We will be touching on them as we move through this series. During WW1 the number and calibres of mortars can become mind boggling so prepare for that!
Another class, obviously only since the Wright Brothers, is anti aircraft guns. We will cover them as the timeline reaches them. This will be the case for anti tank or, if you prefer, tank attack guns. Again in the far distant future of this podcast.
I’ll be having special guest interviews with gunners who have serviced particular guns as they come up. I’m also attempting to contact re-enactors who crew historical weapons for that personal touch.
If you wish to offer your expertise, please contact me through the feedback form on the website. See the show notes for that. I’d really appreciate any input from others with experience and/or knowledge.
We will begin on St Barbara’s Day the 4th of December with a look at early Chinese guns. From that point on I’m looking at monthly episodes to start with.
We will be starting on that day because St Barbara is the patron saint of gunners.
Thanks for listening, please tell everyone you know anyway you can about the podcast and I’ll be back on the 4th of December with episode One!