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Also known over here as cannon cockers.

I recall reading of artillery units being used in No Africa ? and other areas in ground defence , that they depressed the guns to fire horizontally and wrote of firing over open sights , basically aiming down the gun barrel I take it .

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  • 2 weeks later...
Also known over here as cannon cockers.

I recall reading of artillery units being used in No Africa ? and other areas in ground defence , that they depressed the guns to fire horizontally and wrote of firing over open sights , basically aiming down the gun barrel I take it .

 

Yes, that's correct. My father's battery in Northern France actually engaged a German tank (Tiger?) over open sights with a 5.5" gun! - apparantly some SS unit got around behind the lines and ended up in front of the battery. Change of underwear for all. My father, being a battery surveyor, was actually, in this particular case "behind enemy lines".

 

In North Africa, anti-tank regiments were actually using 25pdrs (firing 20pd solid shot) in this mode.With heavier guns, this was relatively rare.

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Also known over here as cannon cockers.

I recall reading of artillery units being used in No Africa ? and other areas in ground defence , that they depressed the guns to fire horizontally and wrote of firing over open sights , basically aiming down the gun barrel I take it .

 

Firing over open sights is Known in Artillery terms as 'Point Blank Range'! :shocked:

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Just thinking of the German 88 originally built as an AAA gun , they found when used in a last ditch defence against ground targets it made a Great AT weapon and then mounted in the Tiger and King Tiger as the main weapon . Pardon if I used or left out any of the others tanks it was used in .

Edited by abn deuce
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