The Role Of Artillery In World War I

Artillery played many roles during the many battles of World War I, using their newly invented and improved firepower to change the tide of battle in the allied forces favor. Artillery mainly served two roles during World War I, the supportive and defensive roles. Concerning the supportive role, artillery played a major role in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and the Battle of Verdun, aiding infantry and allowing maneuver commanders to win battles. Using artillery in the other role in two other major battles, the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, allied forces did use artillery in an offensive role, causing destruction and damage to secure victory.
To begin, artillery played a major role in the many key battles that later

Artillery is not only destructive on the physical realm of things but also serves to psychologically damage the enemy, causing fear and intimidation amongst the axis of evil with the might of artillery. Rather than using artillery to work directly with infantry and other armored units, allied forces used artillery to annihilate the enemy, causing destruction by inflicting casualties, destroying and damaging structures and weakening resolve. The battle of St. Mihiel set records for war and artillery in general. During this battle, allied forces at St. Mihiel “…set a record for concentration of artillery fire by a four-hour artillery preparation, consuming more than 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition” ("The War with Germany, A Statistical Summary, Chapters 8-10, Appendix, Index."). During the battle, CPL Eugene Kennedy wrote, “In one instant the entire front as far as the eye could reach in either direction was a sheet of flame while the heavy artillery made the earth quake. The barrage was so intense that for a time we could not make out whether the Americans or Germans were putting it over. After timing the interval between flash and report we knew that the heaviest artillery was less than a mile away and consequently it was ours” ("THE ST. MIHIEL OFFENSIVE"). The raw and destructive power of artillery helped completely overwhelm the German forces and allow allied infantry the chance to

After the battle of St. Mihiel and the Battle for Bazentin Ridge, Germany had been retreating repeatedly, losing more and more ground to allied forces with the aid of artillery. Suffering many casualties and losses of equipment and vehicles, Germany’s morale was low as they took up one last stronghold and bunkered in to defend against the allied forces. After pushing back German forces all the way back to the Hindenburg Line, allied forces utilized artillery for one last time in an offensive role. General Macarthur “…directed a massive barrage which pinned the Germans down while Major Ross of the 168th led a group through the wire and enveloped the Germans, who were routed and either killed, fled, or captured” (www.pbs.org). Artillery had been a crucial and key point in the very last and decisive battle of World War I, helping secure victory as the German government eventually surrendered and signed the