- Reaction score
- 6,221
- Points
- 1,260
Back in the late '60s (68/69 I think, but I could be off by a wee bit) we thought that we should have a range of indirect fire support, beginning with 8â ? howitzers (Corps Arty) able to blanket the zone of contact which we saw as stretching out to about 10 km on the enemy's side of the FEBA.
We saw the 60mm mortar as a platoon weapon which was not to be coordinated by the battalion/battery FSCC. 81mm mortars were, in our view, the best killers in the battalion, we had eight and believed that (two groups of four each) was an irreducible minimum, even for a three company light battalion. We also believed that the mechanized battalion should have four 4.2â ? (later 120 mm) (APC mounted) mortars to cover the gaps on the far side of the obstacle. (Remember, please, we, in Germany, had a set piece battle; we knew the ground and our CO had a good idea of how we planned to fight over it ... badly outnumbered and, almost certainly, without any reserves.) 'Our' (1RCHA's) 155mm howitzers and â ?all guns within rangeâ ? were the main 'weight' in our fire planning but it was to be mortars (60s and 81s), we believed â “ I believe, still â “ which were going to kill great masses of East Germans, maybe even enough to let us break contact and scamper back to an intermediate position when the nukes started popping.
We saw the 60mm mortar as a platoon weapon which was not to be coordinated by the battalion/battery FSCC. 81mm mortars were, in our view, the best killers in the battalion, we had eight and believed that (two groups of four each) was an irreducible minimum, even for a three company light battalion. We also believed that the mechanized battalion should have four 4.2â ? (later 120 mm) (APC mounted) mortars to cover the gaps on the far side of the obstacle. (Remember, please, we, in Germany, had a set piece battle; we knew the ground and our CO had a good idea of how we planned to fight over it ... badly outnumbered and, almost certainly, without any reserves.) 'Our' (1RCHA's) 155mm howitzers and â ?all guns within rangeâ ? were the main 'weight' in our fire planning but it was to be mortars (60s and 81s), we believed â “ I believe, still â “ which were going to kill great masses of East Germans, maybe even enough to let us break contact and scamper back to an intermediate position when the nukes started popping.
