Artillery reglage - Methods?

[Mark66]

Hi all

The RFC method for 'art. obs.' has been pretty well spelt out, with the clock method and one-way telegraphy of code letters to a receiver at the artillery battery, and signalling to the aircraft from the battery via white cloth panels.

But I heve never seen a description of how the French and German airmen carried out the same activity, and any particular techniques they might have used that were unique to their services. And how they might have changed through the course of the war.

Can anyone point me to any suitable sources? Or does anyone want to post any info they might already have compiled?

Mark66

[Romani]

Hi Mark,

Search this forum as the subject has arisen in the past. I have little time but I will give you a quick answer.

German artillery, as befits the squareheads used map grids for plotting fire. Fire was directed against a certain grid square.

The information you are looking for is in "Handbook of German Military Aviation 1918" IWM, reprint by Battery Press 1995

Duties and tactics of units, pages 58-61

The concise answer to the question you ask about, reglage is (p. 59)

The method of signalling rounds in normal shoots is with corrections for line and range: right, left, over , short. etc. The observer first reports the correction for line and then for range.

I will scan the text later today to give you a full detailed answer. In the meantime, you can search the forums.

[Romani]

Here is an excerpt wich hopefully answers your question.


The divisional artillery commander usually issues general instructions for registration with air observation. The departure of the aeroplane is notified to the ground-station officer (Antennen-Offizier) who informs the artillery sub-group commanders concerned, the battery commanders, the wireless station, the wireless jamming stations, and the anti-aircraft guns.

The observer flies at such heights and within such areas as ensures good communication both by wireless and ground signals, and should endeavour to fly approximately over the line of fire at the moment of impact.

The method of signalling rounds in normal shoots is with corrections for line and range : right, left, over, short, etc. The observer first reports the correction for line and then for range.

The correction for line, which is stated every time an observation is signalled, is given in figures corresponding to the estimated distance from the centre of the target, if the round falls outside the target. If the round is not right for line, certain signals are employed to indicate the correction

The corrections for range are signalled without mentioning the estimated amount of the correction.

When bracketing or grouping, every round or salvo is observed and reported singly.

In the case of salvos and when sending observations of the fall of rounds during fire for effect, the number of observed short rounds is reported first, then the estimated average correction for fine, then the estimated average correction for range, and finally the number of rounds over, without any estimates of distance in metres.
Examples :—

(a) 3 R 025 K N=3 rounds observed, on an average about 25 metres to the right, close in front of the target.

(b) 7 ZM K 3W = 10 rounds observed, on an average in the centre of the target, 7 rounds short, 3 rounds over.
(R = right. 025=25 metres. K N=short, close to target. Z M=centre of target. K=short, i.e., in front of target. W=over, i.e., behind target).

Rounds which are noticeably short or over, or fall very much to a flank, are specially reported.

The artillery aeroplane communicates with the ground by means of wireless or, when carrying out simple tasks, by light signals. Communication from the wireless station to the artillery commanders or the batteries actually firing is provided for by telephones. When the aeroplane is fitted with a wireless receiving set communication from the ground is effected by wireless ; otherwise ground signals are employed. The co-ordination of these means of communication is secured by a ground-station officer.

[Mark66]

Thanks very much Romani.

Sounds like the Germans - maybe towards the end? - had 2-way radio communication as a possibility. AFIK, the British stayed with 1-way telegraphy because of the prohibitive weight of a 2-way transceiver. Interesting. I'll go hunting in the Aerodrome archives for more.

Edit - went hunting in the archives and found the link to Harold Porter's book Aerial Observation. Thanks for the tip

(settles back in comfy chair for a good read...)

Mark66

[Romani]

Mark, I did some digging on the subject. There's something on artillery liaison with spotter planes in Hoeppner memoir, pages 142-43 (Battery Press reprint), but I can't make sense of it. As far as I can understand, is all about what in modern parlance is called "networking". It says obliquely that bidirectional communication with the spotter airplane was not possible because the observer had his hands full already to in addition receive messages from the battery.

[Romani]

Digging further, in "The German Air Force in the Great War" by Neumann et alia (Naval and Military press reprint) I found a more detailed description.

Part 2, Chapter II, Types and their application, Cooperation between aeroplanes and artillery
pp 146-150.

I quote the excerpts that answer your question.

To obviate long and tedious descriptions the whole battle zone was divided into a series of squares, 1000 metres each way, and the horizontal and perpendicular lines were marked with numbers, or numbers and letters. These large squares were divided into twenty-five smaller squares, and these were quartered with letters. It was therefore possible to indicate an area of 100 square metres by using six numbers and a letter—e.g. 2635.20.C.

Apart from this method of ' pin-pointing' by squares, each marked target would be indicated by some covering name. Christian names were used, or names of towns, rivers, etc. When a message was abbreviated it was, of course, necessary that the receiver should use the same abbreviations and map divisions as the observer.

Every wireless station had its special call consisting of two or three letters, a fact which made it possible for each wireless message to be directed to a definite address. Communication between the ground station and the aeroplane was effected by strips of white cloth in summer, or red cloth in winter, each strip measuring about 16 ft. by 2 ft. These strips were laid out in certain figures, each figure indicating some specific abbreviation. Wireless telegraphy was also used for communicating from the ground to the aeroplane. Good results were obtained at night by using coloured lights for artillery control.

[Romani]

[...]

In order to carry out his work the artillery observer had to know, among other things, the exact position of our own batteries, of the lines, and of the message-receiving stations. He was not allowed to take any map which had been marked with notes on his flight, lest important information should fall into the hands of the enemy. Then again he had to memorise the whole region behind the enemy's lines. It was well worth his while to study all the latest aerial photographs before embarking on a flight.

The following example will give a practical illustration of the manner in which the artillery observer carried out his work. His orders might be as follows : ' Direct the fire of a heavy howitzer battery 2/Fs.A.7 on the hostile battery at 3251.21.a as target No. 1, and the fire of the mortar battery 5/Fs.A.7 on the battery at 3452.11.a as target No. 2.'

[Romani]

As a preliminary the observer gets into touch by telephone with both the batteries with which he is to work. He informs them: ' I shall start at 6.30 a.m. and engage target No. 1 first, then target No. 2. My call is Ka.' The ' ready to fire' signal for both batteries will then be displayed on the ground station.

The machine starts, flies over the message-receiving station, and calls it up several times as follows: ' Ka Target No. 1,' in order to make sure that the wireless station is receiving his signals. The sign ' Received' is then laid out on the ground. As soon as the battery is ready to open fire another signal is displayed. The shoot can now begin. The machine flies towards the target and gives the order to open fire. The battery fires, and after a short time the observer will notice a burst in the neighbourhood of the target. The position of this burst he announces by wireless, e.g. ' 200 left 400 short.'

The battery alters the direction and elevation of its guns, and after about two minutes the observer again signals it to fire, and announces the position of the bursts as, say, ' 100 right 100 over.' In this manner shot after shot is observed until the shells are actually striking the target. At this point the general effect is reported, and the observer signals several shots simultaneously, e.g. ' 4 over, 1 direct, 2 over.' As soon as the battery is satisfied with the result it lays out the signal ' change targets ' on the ground. The observer replies : ' Received, Target No. 2.' Then the ground station again displays the signal ' ready to fire,' and the second shoot is carried out in the same manner as the first.

Before the installation of the wireless apparatus the position of each burst was communicated to the artillery by means of coloured lights fired from the machine. A white light meant over, a red short,one green right, two green left.

[Romani]

(I added italics in the preceding text for added clarity)

Finally, scrolling further down page 150, discussing opportunity fire on moving targets, there's the answer to the question if the spotter airplanes carried a receiving set, and what communications they did receive.


Any target wich seemed suitable to the observer he reprted in the form of a question and then he waited for the signal 'yes' or 'no' to be displayed, or until he was informed by wireless wether he battery wished to open fire or not.

Now, I don't know what was the state of the art of wireless sets in 1917-18, I don't know if the observer carried headphones and he heard Morse dots and slashs on them, or if the teleprinter had already been invented, and he could read the words printed in a continuous strip of paper as seen in some period movies.

You will have to do your own research or perhaps another forumite can contribute.

[Mark66]

Thanks so much for those postings. Two-way telegraphy would have been closer to the state of the art in 1918 than telephony, although the Porter book does say that if the war had gone into 1919 then the US (and presumably French, at least) would likely have brought in telephony as they were successfully demonstrating it within a year or so of the end of the war.

Interetsing stuff.

mark66