You would think so, given that it is part of Brooke's action. The effectiveness of the artillery in support along this line does get a mention in one of the papers compiled about 15 years ago for the 60th anniversary.(Fall of France 60 years on (??) ) However, the details are neither in Farndale's " Years of Defeat" nor Pemberton's WO study of Artillery equipment and Tactics 1950. Nor does it feature as a case study in war years RATM so it may not have been noticed or seen as significant at the time.Gooner1 wrote:Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal?Urmel wrote:I think the only place where you would have seen massed fire was the Tobruk siege line. Everywhere else there probably was too much dispersion both for the regiments as well as the targets.
Looking at the Army Training Memoranda there is only three mentions of artillery between September 1939 and March 1941. Feb 1940 includes a check list for gunner young officers. The 20 may ATM includes an exhortation to go for speed rather than slavishly following procedures. Probably a little late to have much impact in France. There is also a piece on cross observation of air bursts as a way to register guns and to distribute a correction for met across a formation. Nothing whatsoever on artillery lessons from France - probably because of the lack of consensus about the conclusions to draw.
The April 1941 ATM, distributed army wide, included four memoranda on matters artillery including an annex describing the Sidi Barani action (above) in some detail. There is also a note that the new two troop batteries will have eleven wireless sets, including three high power sets carried in armoured OPs (carriers), which gives an indication of the pace at which the restructuring took place. Other notes include an exhortation to practice WT rather than telephone or cable and an announcement of the re-establishment of Regimental Survey Parties.
