Tactical Command
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Artillery or SPG?
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23193		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  jprp [ Fri May 04, 2012 6:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Artillery or SPG?
Recently ive been trawling for historical models that can be proxies for Basilisks etc but im a bit confused as to what defines an Artilley piece and what is a Self Propelled Gun-please educate.
Author:  Dwarf Supreme [ Fri May 04, 2012 6:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
Typically a gun fires with a flat trajectory, while artillery fires with an arced trajectory. The weapon on SPA, self-propelled artillery, is mounted to allow the tube (or missiles) to be elevated to a great degree. Real world examples: a StuG is a self-propelled gun; a Wespe or Hummel is SPA.
Author:  Legion 4 [ Fri May 04, 2012 7:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
Yes, that is correct ... Field Artillery(FA) are long ranged support weapons like a field gun (flat trajectory) or howitzer (arced trajectory). This also includes missile/rocket artillery. All rarely if ever fire directly at targets. They fire indirectly and their fire is called in by a Forward Observer of some sort ... like (me) a Grunt with a radio. Self-propelled FA is any FA weapon system mounted on a chassis as opposed to being towed behind a prime mover, like a truck ... In Epic a Basilisk, Manticore, Minotaur and Bombard are considered SPFA ... Where an Earthshaker is considered FA ... or Towed FA ... SPFA - Image Towed FA - Image Image
Author:  jprp [ Fri May 04, 2012 9:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
Thanks guys that does help but im reading articles where they refer to things like the Jagd tiger (tank hunter) in the same breath as artillery, surely this is a line of sight weapon? "Maus" would be the same?
Author:  Legion 4 [ Fri May 04, 2012 11:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
The JagdTiger is an SP Anti-Tank gun or Tank/Hunter Destroyer as is the JagdPanther and Hetzer. They were all pretty much designed like all AT weapons ... for high velocity direct fire on targets. Many of those targets Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFVs) ... The Maus, basically since it has a turret, it's a (Super)Heavy Battle Tank ... with a very big, very high velocity main gun ...
Author:  Spectrar Ghost [ Sat May 05, 2012 12:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
You may also run into instances where the same weapon has been mounted differently and called different things - IIRC some of the StUGs had the same guns mounted as the German SPAs, the difference was that the StUGs had extremely restricted vertical traverse, and were only useful for direct fire, whereas the SPAs had much greater freedom in vertical traverse, allowing indirect fire.

Also the Basilisk is a good example of what is technically an SPA (1 BP, Indirect) able to be used in a secondary role as an assault gun (AP4+/AT4+).
Author:  Legion 4 [ Sat May 05, 2012 3:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
Yes, a StuG(Assault Gun) is like a JagdTiger or JagdPanther in that it's a cannon mounted in a bullt-up superstructure without a turret ... The WWII Germans and to a lesser extent the USSR, were "famous" for this type of AFV. The German Hummel and Vespa for example mounted Howitzers for indirect FA support ... Where, for example, the Nashorn, Elefant and Marders mounted high velocity cannons primarily for direct fire at AT targets ... The Germans also mounted lower velocity cannons in StuG Assault Gun type configurations, like the early StuG Mk.IIIs and IVs and the Brumrbar ... For close support Infantry tasks ... Here's the GHQ link for WWII German AFVs ... it pretty much cover all of the major SPFA, SPAT, StuGs, etc. that were used during that period - http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/world-wa ... erman.html ... gives you a pretty good idea of what we are talking about ...
Author:  jprp [ Sat May 05, 2012 6:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
See, thats why i like this forum-members with some knowledge that are willing to share.
Thanks Guys.
Author:  BlackLegion [ Sat May 05, 2012 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
StuGs where not part of the Panzer Divisions but part of the Artillery (red gorget patches. Tank Divisions had rose ones) hence the mentioning with artillery.
Author:  Legion 4 [ Sun May 06, 2012 12:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Artillery or SPG?
That is true, and sometimes you'll see Assault Gun type Platoon size units referred to as Batteries not Platoons like Panzer units. Artillery and Armor are separate branches, like Infantry and Combat Engineers. And we/they all work happily ever after in Combined Arms units, Teams, Task Forces, Battle Groups, etc. ...
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