INFANTRY-ARTILLERY TEAM
Artillery “Close” Support Lieutenant Colonel McCormick, Field Artillery, New Georgia: “Our infantry, finding themselves with a mobile enemy on three sides and a swamp on the fourth, called for defensive fires. A horseshoe of concentration fires was laid down around them. Infantry commanders stated their willingness to accept responsibility for any casualties resulting from these fires, which were adjusted so close to the defensive positions that fragments were received within the perimeter. The fires were continued throughout the night with no casualties to friendly troops. This fire was credited with probably saving the force from disaster. For some time ‘Concentration 110’ became a by-word with all infantrymen.”
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——and How It Worked Report of Operations, Munda Campaign, New Georgia: “The best cure for the whistle-blowing, howling night attack was a closely adjusted system of night fires placed around our troops. The all-night firing of single batteries and sometimes a single gun discouraged these attacks. What few were attempted after this system was inaugurated were quickly stopped by short bursts of fire at maximum rate in the vicinity of the unit being attacked and along the front of adjacent units.”
Massed Fires Lieutenant Colonel James, Infantry, Sicily: “Our division artillery was never out of support for more than five minutes throughout the whole campaign. We’ve got a wonderful set of battalions in our division artillery, and we have worked so closely together that they are as much a part of our outfit as our own battalions. They keep right up on our heels all the time, and that is just what we have got to have. I don’t know what we could have done without them. They leapfrogged their batteries continually and went into some of the damndest positions I have ever seen, and delivered the goods. We just can’t praise them too much. They were always right there when you needed them.
“In one place where we just couldn’t get forward because the Heinies were on superior ground and had us pinned down with rifle, machine-gun, and mortar fire, the division artillery massed nine batteries on them and plastered them with 1,500 rounds in less than thirty minutes. We then walked through that position without a scratch, and the German dead were all over the place.”