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Contents
 NO. 5 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER)
 
 
 C o u t   e  s  y S  e  a t   t  l   e i  m e  s 
A OR WI   S  , WA S HI   N G O N : AARY OH NHI  DARI  RY
 
THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL
 
VOL. XIX
 
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1929
 
No. 5
 
THE DIVISION LIGHT HOWITZER
 
BY MAJOR LEROY P. COLLINS, F.A.
THE NEED FOR A HOWITZER
P
RIOR 
 to the World War the need for a light howitzer as a weapon for the field artillery component of the infantry division was not universally recognized. Germany and England had had such a weapon for years, but they stood alone. The importance of the light howitzer in divisional armament is one of the most valuable artillery lessons derived from the war. This is evidenced  by the fact that the United States and France are the only two great nations unprovided with such a weapon today, and we have adopted one to be supplied when funds are available while France has adopted it in principle. The recognition of the need for a howitzer in the division arises out of the following facts derived from experience on the  battlefield: (1) The light gun lacks the power to perform effectively all the missions assigned to the division artillery. The development of frontal and overhead protection of a heavier nature than that generally used prior to the World War, has brought out the need for a projectile of greater striking power. This requires a greater mass of metal with a heavier bursting charge. (2) The howitzer with its greater angle of departure can occupy  positions denied to guns of a flatter trajectory. Wooded and hilly terrain thus afford more battery positions than are possible with the gun. This fact was well illustrated during the war when the emplacing of large masses of artillery within a limited area was only possible by mixing howitzer batteries with gun batteries in order that every use might be made of suitable battery positions. Furthermore the howitzer is better protected from hostile fire by virtue of its deeper defilade.
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