Mortars vs Artillery

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by swaghauler

Keep in mind that Artillery is a "High Value Target" in war. This means that Artillery Battalions and Regiments (a divisional sized unit in the US Army) would have suffered the same losses of Artillery Pieces as they did in Tanks. 20% unit strengths would be common.

I vaguely recall something about the Soviets specifically tasking some of their artillery units for counter-battery fire, hence why they had so many artillery regiments and divisions.
And then there's their inclusion of artillery pieces in Motor Rifle Regiments.
They certainly did love artillery (as Stalin called it, artillery was "Bog Voyny", i.e. God of War)

[StainlessSteelCynic]

As something by way of extra information...
While I was looking for details on Soviet Motor Rifle Divisions, I came across this extract from our old pal Viktor Suvorov.
http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov12/03.html

The link has the organization of a Soviet Division but more importantly, it gives an explanation for the distribution of Soviet units in Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
The most interesting point to note however, is that this page is from a Russian language military literature website. If you're prepared to wade through machine translations, the site may be worth mining.
Main page - http://militera.lib.ru/research/index.html

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

I vaguely recall something about the Soviets specifically tasking some of their artillery units for counter-battery fire, hence why they had so many artillery regiments and divisions.
And then there's their inclusion of artillery pieces in Motor Rifle Regiments.
They certainly did love artillery (as Stalin called it, artillery was "Bog Voyny", i.e. God of War)

The Soviet forces had a 3 to 1 Numerical Superiority over NATO in Artillery. They also had a Range Superiority in each class of howitzer. We had a much better "hit probability" with our electronics assistance and a much better CEP (circular error, probability) per gun than the Soviets. It was a "crap shoot" as to who would prevail in an artillery duel.

[swaghauler]

As has been discussed before; A "Field Gun" is a cannon designed primarily as an Anti-Armor Cannon but with a secondary "Fire Support" role. The statistics for these guns appear in the Heavy Weapons Handbook as AT guns but are incomplete. I have included some additional information about these guns that GMs may find useful. Use whatever you feel is appropriate for your own campaign.

D44, 85mm: No longer in PACT service.
Indirect Fire Range: 15.65 km
Elevation: -7 degrees to +35 degrees
Traverse (manual): 54 degrees
Special Features: Telescopic Sighting (DIFF to hit).

M1944, (BS-3) 100mm: No longer in PACT service.
Indirect Fire Range: 20 km
Elevation: -5 degrees to +45 degrees
Traverse (manual): 58 degrees
Special Features: Telescopic Sighting (DIFF to hit).

MT-12 (Rapira) 100mm Smoothbore: Russian reserve service.
Indirect Fire Range: 8.2 km
Elevation: -6 degrees to +20 degrees
Traverse (Manual with hydraulic Assist): 54 degrees
Special Features: Stereoscopic Coincidence Sighting (AVE chance to hit) including a laser designator to fire the laser guided 9M117 Kastet missile with a range from 100m to 4km (speed 300m/sec).

Sprut (Octopus) B 125mm (Called the Rapira 3 in game): In service.
Indirect Fire Range: 12.2 km
Elevation: -6 degrees to +25 degrees
Traverse (Fully Powered with Manual Backup): 360 degrees
Special Features: APU for full powered movements and limited travel without prime mover. Enhanced Ballistic Targeting Sight with Telescopic Backup (EASY to hit, Diff with backup) Laser Designator for fire of all Soviet "Tube launched" 125mm AT missiles.

Type 46 130mm: In service.
Indirect Fire Range: 22.5 km, 27.5 km Base Bleed, 38 km RAP
Elevation: -2.5 degrees to +45 degrees
Traverse (Manual with Hydraulic Assist): 50 degrees
Special Features: Stereoscopic Coincidence Sighting (AVE to hit)

Methods of Traverse:

Manual: This is your typical wheel cranked traverse and elevation mechanism. It does use hydraulics to make the cranking consistent, but lacks a "boost" to speed up cranking. You could make 1 to 2 degrees of travel per second.

Manual, Hydraulic Assist: This is a manual wheel crank with both a faster "high speed" crank setting (via a gearbox lever) and a lower more precise slower crank setting. It allows for a faster traverse of up to 5 degrees per second for a very fit operator.

Powered Traverse: This is an electric or mechanical powered drive that traverses and elevates at the touch of a lever or pedal. It can manage up to 10 degrees a second of traverse.

Types of Sighting Systems:

Telescopic Sighting: In this 3 step sight you must put range finding stadia (lines) on the target to determine the range to the target. You then enter that range into the gunner's sight and then traverse the gun until the sight lines up with an indicator on the gun. This gun sight takes 15 seconds to use and gives a Difficult Skill test against a stationary target on an unaimed shot.

Stereoscopic Coincidence Sighting: This sight requires you to center two blurry mirror images of the target in the sight and then turn a knob until the image of the target comes into focus. At this point the sight will list the range to target which you can input right from the ranging sight. You then traverse the gun until it lines up with the sight. This takes 10 seconds and gives you an Average Skill test against a stationary target on an unaimed shot.

Enhanced Ballistic Sight: This sight receives range information from the laser designator on the gun and factors in exterior ballistics such as wind speed, barometric pressure, and gun cant. It then projects a box that you traverse the gun to. The box turns into a crosshair when the tube is on target. This sight provides an Easy test of skill against a stationary target on an unaimed shot. It takes 5 seconds to "laze" the target and determine the range/deflection.