Comparison of artillery role during Second World War: USA, Soviet Union and Germany

Vsaka država udeležena v drugi svetovni vojni, se je srečevala s svojimi težavami pri načrtovanju in proizvodnji orožja. Različni dejavniki, kot so na primer geografija, vremenske razmere, prometna infrastruktura, delovna sila, surovine, itd, so vplivali na smeri razvoja artilerijskega orožja v posameznih državah. V diplomski nalogi analiziram vlogo artilerijskega orožja treh največjih držav, ki so v drugi svetovni vojni odigrale ključno vlogo: ZDA, Nemčija in Sovjetska zveza. Bojevanje na večih frontah po Evropi pa je hudo obremenilo nemško gospodarstvo in s tem tudi proizvodnjo orožja, kar je posledično oslabilo bojno sposobno Nemške vojske. ZDA so se, zaradi svojega geografskega položaja in oddaljenosti od evropskega vojskovališča, počutile "varno", kar so izkoristile za proizvodnjo kvalitetnega, tehnološko dovršenega orožja, z veliko mero motorizacije in dobro logistično organizacijo. Z invazijami v severni Afriki, Italiji in Franciji so ZDA ustvarile logistične baze, kamor so ves čas dovažale opremo, orožje, vozila in zaloge. Med boji z Nemčijo so bile Ameriške artilerijske enote ves čas v prednosti, saj so imele vedno na voljo vso potrebno opremo in ni bilo strahu pred pomanjkanjem streliva ter orožja. Sovjetska zveza je zaradi nepričakovanega napada izgubila velike količine opreme in orožja ter izurjenih artilerijskih posadk. Prilagodili so se z načrtovanjem relativno bolj preprostega in lažjega orožja, z večjim poudarkom na neposrednem obstreljevanju in z varčevanjem s strelivom. Rdeča armada je v letu 1943 uspela na fronto pripeljati velike količine artilerijskega orožja, ki je s konstantno ognjeno podporo ščitila pehoto med proti ofenzivo. Po tem preobratu se je Nemčija do konca vojne samo še umikala.All countries involved in the Second World War faced difficulties in designing and producing weaponry. Various factors like geography, weather conditions, infrastructure, workforce, resources, etc., affected the artillery development in each country. In my thesis, I analyse the role artillery played in three of the countries, that had the biggest impact on the World War II: USA, Germany and Soviet Union. Fighting on several fronts at the same time had severely burdened German economy and consequently weapons manufacturing, which weakened the fighting ability of German armed forces. Geographical location of the continental USA and distance from the European theatre gave them relative safety, which led to the development of high quality, technologically advanced weaponry, with high level of motorization and well-organised logistics branch. The USA army successfully invaded North Africa, Italy and France, which led to the creation of several logistical bases. These bases were constantly receiving shipments of equipment, weaponry, vehicles and supplies. In battles with the German army, the US artillery enjoyed considerable advantage, because they always had all the necessary equipment and never faced shortage of ammunition and weapons. The Soviet Union lost a large amount of weaponry and trained artillery personnel in a German surprise attack. They adapted by designing relatively simplistic and lighter artillery weapons, by saving ammunition and with putting bigger emphasis on direct fire. In 1943, the Red Army managed to field large amount of artillery weaponry, which provided constant fire support during the counter-offensive. After this crucial transition, Germany was forced to slowly retreat from the Soviet territory