I have been reading "Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol II" by Ruppenthal and I found this on pages 272 and 273 and thought it was interesting. Having served in the artillery in fire direction I know about ammunition lots and segregation of lots and all that stuff, but I did not know that there was a huge problem with accuracy within lots and between lots. Now, my question is how much difference in meters was there potentially between lots, the book does not state, but it would appear to be large. Carl, any ideas?? Mike
One of the most troublesome problems which plagued ammunition supply through the entire period of operations was the problem of the segregation of ammunition by lot number. Under a system of mass production in many plants there is no guarantee that all ammunition of a single type will have the same ballistic characteristics. Ammunition must therefore be segregated or grouped according to performance characteristics, particularly with regard to range. It is desirable of course, to keep the number of lots delivered to a single battalion as small as possible and, conversely, the number of rounds per lot as large as possible.
Lot segregation was not a new problem,
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and attempts had been made to cope with it before the invasion. Tests carried out in the United Kingdom had shown that variations between lots and even within lots were too great for safety in the close support of infantry, and some nonstandard lots were therefore rejected. Some 800,000 rounds of 105-mm. howitzer ammunition, the type used in greatest quantity for close support, were classified before the invasion. But this quantity was quite inadequate, and units eventually had to be provided classified, unclassified, and even previously rejected ammunition.93 On the Continent the extended discharge over beaches, the continued receipt of many small mixed lots from the United States, the lack of transportation needed for the rehandling of ammunition once it was on the ground, and the October speed-up in unloading, accompanied by the forwarding of ammunition in bulk, all militated against the maintenance of lot integrity.