Impact of World War II Field Artillery on Future Air Defense Artillery Field artillery in World War II created the foundation for modern air defense equipment, techniques, and procedures. Considered to be one of the bloodiest battles of World War II (Kelly, 2016), the Battle of the Bulge was a key conflict between Allied and German forces. Both sides employed thousands of personnel and equipment dedicated to field artillery maneuvers. After World War I, the U.S. Field Artillery School focused its efforts on creating brand new artillery weapons that were crucial to Allied triumph. The victory in this battle allowed for technological and procedural advances in field artillery. This eventually led to the development of Air Defense Artillery. …show more content…
They launched an offensive attack on Allied forces. With Germany suffering attacks on three fronts, they initiated a campaign attempting to gain control of the sea port of Antwerp, Belgium. By doing so, they would cut supply lines and separate the Allies in two. This would cause half the Allied forces to be stuck in the North with no ability to receive supplies or retreat (Biggio Jr., 2004). Without Allied knowledge, the Germans secretly deployed 26 divisions. These divisions comprised of 250 thousand men and over one thousand tanks. The attack began on the western front of German territory. It extended from France through Luxembourg and North into Belgium in the region of Wallonia. The Germans initially broke through Allied lines with heavy mortar and artillery bombardment. They used this opportunity to advance quickly. Allied forces held their ground, despite the surprise …show more content…
Prior to this, field artillery officers had autonomous control of their firing batteries. No higher echelon directed fire. When the U.S. War Department created the Fires Direction Center, it gave centralized control to unit command. This allowed mass fires to be coordinated across four divisions on a single target if needed. The FDC system worked so well that Germans tried to emulate mass fires. They were not able to coordinate their firing batteries and failed. The integral network that exists now in Air Defense Artillery is a much more complex version of the previous FDC created in 1941 (Biggio Jr.,