Developments in artillery techniques

It was common practice in the early part of the First World War to precede every major advance or attack with a long and sustained bombardment of the enemy trenches by the Artillery. The idea behind this bombardment was to cut the barbed wire which guarded the enemy trenches, destroy the trenches and to demoralise the enemy. Although the theory was good, in practice this technique failed to achieve any real results. This was clearly illustrated on the Somme. Despite a prolific bombardment the barbed wire remained in place, the enemy were given plenty of warning that an attack was about to take place and the shell damage to No Man’s Land made it very difficult for the Allied troops to advance.

Map showing details of creeping barrage to be used in an engagement undertaken by 18 DLI. (DUL ref: Lowe Papers, file B2)

Photograph showing section of 142 (Durham) Heavy Battery, (DUL ref: Ass MSS 1584)

As a result of this and other failures, new artillery techniques were developed. One of the first to be trialled successfully was the concept of the ‘creeping barrage’. Rather than having a long bombardment for days before the attack, under this scheme the bombardment would start shortly before the order to advance. The bombardment would then move forward just in front of the advancing troops, normally at a rate of approximately 50 metres per minute. Although this method required very careful planning it had a number of advantages. It prevented the enemy from having too much notice of an attack and was able to provide cover for the advancing troops. The creeping barrage was successful and was used in many more campaigns. It was particularly useful when combined with the use of tanks and aircraft.

The creeping barrage was not the only development in artillery techniques. Use also started to be made of various methods of hitting specific targets more accurately. This included the use of aerial reconnaissance shots to pinpoint enemy gun positions, sound ranging (using the sound of the enemy gunfire to guess their position) and ‘flash-spotting’ (using the flash from the gun muzzles of the enemy to locate enemy positions). These counter-battery barrages and attacks were much more successful and certainly helped the Allies in their campaign.