artillery support

[Beldan]

Out of curiosity are there any artillery troops on the board ?

I have been thinking of the excellent artillery support we received whenever we needed it . And the artillery doesn't seem be represented on forums or in many of the excellent books coming out on Vietnam . ( I have spotted " Impact Zone"
Marine Artillery on the DMZ and it is coming .)

I rarely ever saw less than outstanding artillery support ( the South Viet 105 MM support was a bit iffy because of worn barrels ).

What did you guys experience with artillery .

[Andy]

Throughout my first year in Vietnam artillery, in-direct fire, was one of those things that always gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. However, 2 days after the start of Tet things got really nice.

I was in a Mechanized Infantry Company which always seemed to be cool, all those Ma Deuces, all that fire power. But right after Tet began we had two tanks from the 2/34th armor attached to us. We also had assigned to our company two SP-155s.

As you know Charles decided to stand and fight during Tet. A dozen APCs, 2 tanks and 2 SP-155s on line rolling into a target where Charles determined to hold his ground was just amazing. Those 155s leveling their barrels and pounding a kill zone, it always put a smile on this soldier?s face. I learned to love the term ?Beehive?.

Stay healthy,
Andy
PS: I have a few friends who call me a sociopath when I talk about such things. I don?t get it.

[Chas H]

Hey Beldan, I'm old redleg. Artillery support was one of things that the military got right in VN. There were few areas we occupied that were not in range of at least one arty unit.
And most arty positions were covered by other arty units.
I was in an 8"/175mm battery and we were well trained, well equiped and highly motivated. And we were very successful. I have no reason to believe that the other units over in Paradise were any different.

www.landscaper.net

[ArtySgt]

I was a section Chief on a 105 mm gun from Jun 67 to Jun 68 with the 1st Inf. Div.We took great pride in our support of the units in our area of operations. On two occasions we wre forced to use direct fire beehives.
After that we got a lot of respect from the enemy, no more penrtrating attacks on our positions.
The best compliment I got in Vietnam was from a grunt who got in to a fire fight with a NVA Unit, he simply said " you guys do good work ".
Been a while since I've posted here. I had hoped to get off the oxygen but that didnot happen, also got uncontraled diabetes and it's been a bear to deal with.
I wish you all well, regards, Frank M

[DMZ-LT]

Once again I thank you RED LEGS , I really mean that ! Keep Movin ArtySgt , wishing you well .

[Seascamp]

Well, Arty of sorts, over 25,000 rounds of 8/55 and double that of twin 5/38 in 67? alone. We could do run n?shoot or hook n? shoot. The 750 lb 8? armor piercing were just the stuff for digging deep holes and causing a huge secondary to go up and that was usually it for an underground bunker system.

We hung out mostly right off Monkey Mountain and awaited the ?911? call to come in. Also lots and lots of illumination star shell firing at night and support fire for the 5th Marines or anyone else hollering out. If on the hook we were every bit as accurate as Army Arty but the run and shoot deal wasn?t so accurate and mostly for going above the 17th to pick a fight.
Lucky for the NVA that they didn?t try any gun automaton for counter battery fire because a fire control lock was like a big red flag saying ?here I am? and that would be it for them, erased. The back side is that we were high velocity, low ballistic arc; like a tank turret gun, so we got mighty frustrated in Hue 68 when we couldn't get the arc we needed to get over the citidel walls and clear the way for the Marines. So close, but so far.

Scamp

[DMZ-LT]

Thank you. 3/5th with you guys killed a lot of NVA on the beach just south of Dong Ha in 68

[catman]

did his time with 8"/175, C Btry 6/27 FA, Dec 67 - Dec 68. My last unit of assignment was with B Btry 6/27 FA (MLRS).

Will try to attach a little video of MLRS for those who have never seen it.

Trav

P.S. Guess this is Palidin 155mm (M109A6) and MLRS (M270), hope you enjoy! Redlegs rule!

PPS...will not let me attch the file, I will try to send it to David and maybe he can do his voodoo to it and attach it for me. Oh yeah, Redlegs still rule!

Trav

[82Rigger]

Question for the Army AND the Navy "big bullet" folks:

How are the different types of projectiles marked?

I'm only familiar with the military small arms types which are color-coded on the tip of the projectile...orange for tracer, black for AP, blue for incendiary, etc.

Tell me a little about the different kinds (VN era) and the way they are fused and how the fuses are adjusted.

Scamp, in Navy ammunition where is the line between fixed ammo and separate components?

Is this too much for one question? Sorry! :re:

[catman]

Steve...my knowledge of tube arty is somewhat limited, but do a video search on yahoo for MLRS and watch the videos. Awesome stuff! Not fifteen minutes of any one day passes and I don't miss it.

Had a prior service (Vietnam Era Marine Grunt) working for me in the Desert, said, and I quote " Why the Hell couldn't we have had this in Vietnam?" Malcom Tauna, 100% Apache Indian, damn hard to "lead" troops like him.

Trav