Carl Schwamberger wrote: ↑09 Apr 2022 23:52
Yuri wrote: ↑09 Apr 2022 15:22
...
Here the howitzers are not dug in, however, if you make a proper trench, then it is not easy to destroy them, as it may seem. The assumption that towed artillery is currently an anachronism is a delusion. ...
Have to agree. I don't see any evidence of any entrenchment for protection. Not even holes for individuals. The cannon and vehicles are too close together for my taste. Fifty meters between individual cannons was preferred in my training. Occasionally we spread out further. The vehicles would never be positioned this close to the cannon in our practice unless preparing to tow the cannon or deliver ammunition. Aside from holes or pits for individual protection we also had a set of smaller pits in the ground near the cannon for protecting the ready ammunition and redundant propellant charges.
Yes, that's right.
The D-30 howitzer has three-legged: two sliding and one fixed. When transferring the D-30 howitzer from a marching position to a combat position (installing the gun in a combat position), the fixed leg is installed along the main direction line.
The main direction is the direction in which all howitzers are most likely to fire (the direction from which the enemy is most likely to appear).
As can be seen, the barrels of the guns are directed along the line of the main direction (the barrels of all three howitzers are directed along the line of the fixed leg).
In the vertical plane, the barrels of all howitzers are raised to one level and this is (I am sure) level 30-00.
In this position, the barrels of all guns of the firing platoon (battery) should be located before the start of shooting, as well as will be installed immediately after the end of shooting.
We can say that these three howitzers were in the initial position and did not fire from them.
There are no spent cartridges next to howitzers. This is also a sign that the howitzers were not firing.
It is absolutely not clear why tractors (cars) are in this position. The first thing that comes to mind is that shells were brought on cars, but the body of the distant car burned out and it is clear that there are no shells in the body.
I have no clear hypotheses why cars are in this position.
The only plausible hypothesis is that the appearance of the enemy was unexpected for the crews and they drove the tractors to the guns as soon as they noticed the enemy approaching the firing positions of the platoon.
But it was too late.
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Most likely, this is a zone of steppes and the photo was taken either in the south in the steppes of Tavrida (Kherson, Zaporozhye) or in the east in the Donetsk region (Mariupol is also the Donetsk region).
Trees in forest plantations (trees around the perimeter of the field) are stunted, branches are thin and there are few of them. The top of the nearest tree is bent to the side at an angle of 90 degrees (this is a sign of constant wind).A sure sign that trees grow in the steppe zone, where there is little moisture, the wind blows constantly and in a certain direction.
In the north, that is, in the Kiev region, especially north of the city of Kiev (Chernobyl, Gostomel, Bucha, Vyshgorod), the trees are tall and branched, there are pine trees in abundance.
However , my student friend used to say this:
But our world is so diverse that there can be nothing in it that cannot be.
P.S.
It's nice to know that we are, if I may say so, colleagues.
My artillery specialization is barrel artillery of medium caliber 76-152 mm guns.
In addition to the 122 mm D-30, our battery had 76 mm ZiS-3 of the 1942 model, 152 mm D-1 of the 1943 model.
What systems have you had to deal with?
