Artillery Doctrine

[AngrySwan]

Germany starts the 1941 campaign with 105 mm howitzers and 210 mm mortars that have some support and counterbattery capability; in not so important sectors the infantry will have to rely on them. However, in the directions of main attacks the Army needs something better. What they need is close support, standard and counterbattery artillery.

Close support

Powerful artillery with short range, mostly Nebelwerfer and Wurfrahmen artillery. These pieces are new and not so many but they have shown themselves on the battlefield. The ''artillery group 54,112'' consisting of a Nebelwerfer brigade and a Wurfrahmen battalion cleared the area of Zhashkiv and provided support to the motorized divisions.

Wurfrahmen is ''very short range'' artillery so these units must be protected against every kind of counterattack including airstrikes.

Standard

The ''standard'' gun is the heavy 150 howitzer. It can support infantry and duel with the standard Soviet 150 mm guns (there will be some reports from Estonia showing how to do this.)

Counterbattery

The 170 mm guns will be used in this role. They are not so good as close support but can take out the Soviet 150 mm guns while staying out of the range of Soviet artillery.

In large battles the Army needs to have all these types of artillery and use them together. While the long range guns duel with the Soviet guns the Nebelwerfers clear the way for infantry.