Soviet World War II artillery power.

by RauJ

Hello, I'm currently reading "Lost Victories" written by Eric Von Manstein. In his chapter about the Crimean Campaign, and specifically on the part of the attack on Sevastopol by Eleventh Army he states:

"At no other time on the German side in World War II can artillery ever have been more formidably massed - particularly as regards the high calibres used - than for the attack on Sevastopol"

and on the end of the same paragraph states:

"The Soviet offensives of 1945 were based on a ratio of 400 guns to every mile of assault front!"

Is this claim true? and which is the battle on which the soviets amassed the most artillery? Was it on the final battle of Berlin?

abt137

Soviets numbers have never been 100% clear and some were either inflated for propaganda purposes, disinformation or simply lack of records. That said the actions prior to the Battle of Berlin (Seelow Heights) saw a massive concentration of Soviet artillery (and the rest of the Army branches naturally). Several sources cite +40K artillery pieces, +4K mortars and several thousand Katyushas of different models and calibers. Kursk battle does not come close to this.

On to organization. The most comprehensive soviet artillery organization would be the divisional one. Before getting into the numbers you must bear in mind that one thing is strength on paper and another the reality on the ground. A number of assets would be lost, others in need of repair after combat, ammo shortages, and commonly units are undermanned especially those in constant use. On top of all that fronts and units are often fluid so units, material, detachments may merge or break to form another units based on the needs and commanders decisions.

A typical artillery organization in a division would something like:

  • 1 heavy mortar brigade with 108 mortars of 120 mm
  • 1 light artillery brigade with 72 pieces of 76.2 mm
  • 1 howitzer brigade with 48 mortars of 122 mm and 24 of 152 mm
  • 1 motorized brigade with 12 122 mm guns, most likely SU-122 self propelled guns and 24 de 152 mm , probably SU-152
  • Plus tractors, vehicles, men and machine guns numbering aprox 10,000 people with arms, 165 7.62 mm machine guns, 24 12.7 mm heavy machine guns and 288 14.5 mm antitank rifles.

Divisions rarely operate by themselves in such big fronts and deployments, they are part of Armies or Army Corps. A Corps may have in addition some artillery of its own adding firepower to a specific division depending on the needs and as stated before grouping and regrouping based on the situation. As you can see a single division can pack around 180 artillery pieces + Katyuscha rocket launchers and a Corp would group 2-3 divisions so the 400 gun a mile ratio is not disproportionate in terms of guns, particularly considering we are talking about the final assault on Berlin for the coup de grace and the massing of artillery to open the assault would have been shocking. I would question the 1 mile front as I cannot see those guns packed on that line, it would be possible however if we consider a 1 mile arc but with the pieces deployed in several echelons in depth, which makes more sense as they have different range and targets. The std 76.2 mm piece would do more direct fire while the heavy mortars can deliver the charge from miles ways and in the rear of the enemy positions.

Artillery would not operate by itself as you probably know but as integrated part of the division with infantry, tanks and most likely aviation.

If you dare the reading, this is the DOD Military Intelligence "Handbook on USSR Military Forces: Chapter III, Field Organization" from 1946.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=dodmilintel

PD: edited for some typos.