Wednesday 17 April 2019

Reuse and Recycle

"January 17th, 1945
To commanders of corps artillery
To commanders of army artillery units
To commanders of fire support units

A large amount of guns and ammunition has been captured during offensive operations, which few generals and officers thought about using, despite complications with delivery of domestic ammunition.

Based on the orders of the Commander of Artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Colonel-General Nedelin, the Commander of Artillery of the 46th Army orders that:
  1. Form and put into service without any additional personnel or transport, using only internal resources:
    1. a 4-gun battery of 105 mm howitzers in every howitzer brigade.
    2. a 2-gun battery of 155 mm guns in every field artillery brigade.
    3. a company of 80 and 88 mm guns in every AA division.
  2. All missing 76 mm guns in anti-tank divisions and regiments are to be covered with 75 mm model 40 guns.
  3. Begin transferring ammunition to firing positions and army warehouses from the captured warehouses in Diósd, Herceghalom, height 268 (7 km north of Vichke), Patka station, Saimak, and others.
  4. The Chief of Artillery Supplies of the Army must inform units which warehouses they can get ammunition at, in what amounts, and for what calibers.
  5. The order is to be carried out by January 30th, 1945.
Report on the completed work, number of systems put into action, and number of transferred ammunition in daily reports and operational summaries.

Chief of Staff of Artillery of the 46th Army, Colonel Golovchanskiy
Chief of the Operational Department of the 46th Army, Lieutenant-Colonel Borisov"

7 comments:

  1. To be fair I understand Russian troops not wishing to retrain and use captured German equipment considering the fear of being mistaken for the enemy not to mention the fear of running out of captured ammo in the middle of a large battle.

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  2. Good point William. I wonder if the intention was to have mixed batteries? Although not an ideal solution for a weapon used close to the enemy it would be better than no a/tk gun at all. As Peter's articles do so often one thing leads to another.

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  4. about using trophies - from the experience of Guard Mortar Units in battle for Königsberg
    https://i.imgur.com/fRN7kn3.jpg

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  5. Replies
    1. Ex-Hungarian (note the place-names mentioned) 80 mm Bofors guns I assume:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofors_75_mm_Model_1929

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    2. Germany inherited a lot of Austrian 8 cm FK M 5 and 17s. Basically similar to 75mm, 77mm guns used by Germany and France.

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