US Army Units use of captured German Artilley in Europe

I know not american but its Russian so its still the allies, is this alright?

German made PaK 40's captured by the Russians

 

That was the only one in my books I can find, but there is one of the americans using some Germans 88's but I cant find it, I hate that.

 

Yes they were LOL. Thanks. The Soviets I think were the largest users of enemy equipment.

 

Look at the elevation on those! Must be shooting at some serious range.

 

When I did my military service back in 1972/73 we had 2 pieces of 88 mm guns from WWII, they were still the most accurate guns at that time. We also had the M109's with 155 mm guns, but they were howitzers and used for other purposes.
Some 40 years old at that time, the 88 mm's hardly ever missed their target...
Regards
RAM
Retired Royal Norwegian Ordnance Corps.

 

RAM, I suggest you tone things down and show some respect to some long standing WWII Forum Members. Otherwise will be paying you a visit.

The point of this thread was to showcase some captured equipment, startign off with the fact that the US had to use captured Artillery + Shells because they had a shortage of their own. With the Industrial Capacity of the United States at the time, that is very surprising.

Also, not all 'captured' weapons were used because of a shortage. Some were used because they were superior to the standard issue the GI's got (or were produced by the home country).

 

Ah ah, found em, americans during Normandy.

Although I thought they were in use.

 

Sorry forgot the blurbs for the photo's

Top photo is a 8.35mm FlaK 22 (t)

Bottom photo is the 88mm Flak, with the rings being the amount of Russian planes shot down while it was in service during the Eastern front.

 

Ammunition, particularly artillery ammunition, tended to be a much more pernicious problem. In the early stages of the Army's expansion there were plans calling for a high priority in the production of 105mm shells of all types, inasmuch as these were the standard, general-support divisional field piece. Ammunition for heavier guns was accorded a lower priority, under the assumption that mobile warfare would reduce the utility of large, unwieldy and relatively immobile large artillery pieces. Unfortunately, a number of factors then intervened. First, congressional criticism was raised over large over stocks of all types of artillery ammunition that had accumulated in Tunisia in 1943. The Army was pressured to scale back production, particularly of 105mm ammunition. Secondly, the perceived need for an expansion of the heavy and medium artillery was mirrored by an expansion of the production facilities for the heavier types of shells. The expansion in heavy shell production was facilitated by converting light ammunition production to heavy. Thus, by late 1943 priorities had shifted radically. Many plants were retooling for other production, while some 105mm plants were closed completely. Events in France and Italy in mid 1944 then changed all the assumptions again. The fierce German resistance in the bocage of Normandy and in the Appenine Mountains of Italy placed a premium on all types of ammunition - just as stocks of 105mm ammunition began to shrink. Rationing was instituted (and extended to most other types of mortar and artillery ammunition), and captured German weapons and ammunition were utilized against their former owners. By 1 January 1945 the entire ETO stock of 105mm ammunition was reduced to 2,524,000 rounds, a twenty-one-day supply according to War Department planning factors, which were widely acknowledged to be too optimistic. The poor flying weather encountered in Europe in the fall and winter exacerbated this near-disastrous situation: Allied airpower was not always available to take up the slack. Although emergency measures in theater and in the U.S. improved matters, artillery ammunition shortages were to remain a chronic problem until the end of the war in Europe. Military History Online - US Army in World War II

 

I had never seen this photo, which I find most interesting. First of all, these are not 7.5cm Pak40, they are 5cm Pak38, just notice the curved shield and much smaller size.

Being by design anti-tank guns, they are being fired at rather a high angle, therefore probably doing HE work. Which is surprising for the 5cm HE shell was rather negligible, and AFAIK these guns simply did not have high-angle sights, only direct fire, AT sights.

All this looks like rather pointless to me, I would dare say a propaganda shot. Or someone just disposing in the proper manner of the last rounds found in stock before shipping the guns to the smelters

Any way, great pic Tomcat, look at the 'professional' poses these fine artillerists display.

On the basic tpic, The Red Rabbi is re-reading Marshall Sokolovky's "Strategy" (a drudging 1963 work, with enough political content to make his commie stomach happy for a good time ), and one of the maxims is that in prolonged operations where there is a high risk of losing contact with the supply bases, "Your supply base is in front of you, not behind"!

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Addendum: Only the first two guns are Pak38, the others behind are Soviet 76.2mm divisional artillery pieces. Consider these two as some sort of mascots then!

 

Also worth noting that they have just one box of ammunition nearby and no one seems to be getting more. There are also no spent cases lying around suggesting this is the first round fired. If this were a serious bombardment you would expect to see more boxes of ammunition stacked up and shell cases thrown a safe distance away.

 

The scene does look a little too clean and staged doesn't it?

 

thanks for the trained eye Za!
It does look a little manufactured, now that you mention it! It looks to me as though they all fired simultaneously as well, would this have been done in a true battle?

 

Looks like they are firing along with some 76.2mm M1942 (ZiS-3) in the background.

 

I went on what the blurb said without looking but good eye.

 

WWII - Testing German 155 mm Artillery Shells
Captured German 155 mm shells are tested and refurbished for Allied use. German shells can be used in Allied artillery.

WWII - Testing German 155 mm Artillery Shells

 

That's all right, the M12 gun was a French design one, and tey're talking about French and Belgian ammunition stocks.

What I don't understand is

What possile use would the Allies have for lumbar mills? Back pain ailments perhaps?

 

Boston accent? LOL

 

I love the look on the artilleryman's face when he was assembling the nose of the shell in the video LOL.