Thursday 22 November 2018

122 mm HEAT Effectiveness

"October 20th, 1944

Report on the effectiveness of 122 mm howitzer HEAT shells

  1. 122 mm HEAT rounds were fired at a range of 4000-4500 meters using the DT scale and the stock special charge.
    Firing showed that:
    1. Calibration was performed against targets located on a hill pointed towards the battery and a flat horizontal clearing. 90-95% of the shells burst. The explosion is thermite type.
    2. When shooting at targets positioned on reverse slopes, the shells ricochet and do not explode.
    3. Firing at narrow targets from 4000-4500 meters is ineffective due to high dispersion.
      Firing at personnel is also ineffective. Compared to the HE-fragmentation grenade there are a lot fewer fragments, and thus a lot less damage is dealt.
  2. Firing at dugouts, pillboxes, tanks, or armoured cars was not performed.
Conclusions: using HEAT shells fired from a 122 mm howitzer at a range of over 2 km against enemy personnel or MG nests is unreasonable due to low effectiveness.

Chief of Staff, Captain [signature]"

1 comment:

  1. No mention of the muzzle velocity. Nor, the deviation at 4000 meters.
    If that is what is being tested. If it was just fragmentation targets could be set up a lot closer.

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