When, in the distant 1330, Bertold Schwartz, a German monk, discovered the propellant properties of gunpowder, he did not assume that he would become the progenitor of a new god - the god of war.
The birth of artillery
The discovery of the monk was very quickly applied in military affairs, and soon two directions of the development of weapons appeared, where the propellant properties of gunpowder were used. The first of these was the creation of light manual small arms, the second was the production of guns. The advent of handguns did not lead to the creation of a new kind of troops. They were simply armed with existing ones, replacing bows and light throwing spears - darts in the infantry and cavalry. But the appearance of the cannons formed new troops, which in Russia were called “firearms”, and which the Italian weapons theorist Niccolo Tartaglia suggested calling artillery, which means “the art of shooting”. Some researchers believe that this type of army appeared much earlier than the discovery of the German monk, with the invention of the first throwing machines - a ballist. Be that as it may, artillery became the god of war precisely with the creation of guns.
Development of the god of war
Over time, military affairs did not stand still, and artillery guns not only improved, but new types appeared: howitzers, mortars, multiple launch rocket systems and others. In the twentieth century, artillery truly dominated the battlefields. And along with the development of guns, artillery ammunition developed for them.
Types of shells
The first artillery shell, which was fired at the enemy, was nothing more than an ordinary stone loaded in a ballista. With the advent of guns, they began to use special stone, and then metal cores. They inflicted damage to the enemy due to the kinetic energy received during the shot. But as early as the twelfth century AD, a high-explosive shell was used in China that was thrown at the enemy by means of a catapult. Therefore, the proposal to produce hollow nuclei with explosives inside did not take long to wait. So there was a high-explosive artillery shell. He inflicted significant damage to the enemy due to the energy of the explosion and the expansion of fragments. After the appearance of armored targets, special armor-piercing, sub-caliber, and cumulative ammunition were developed to combat them. Their task was to break through the armor and disable the mechanisms and manpower that are in the reserved space. There are also special-purpose shells: lighting, incendiary, chemical, propaganda and others. Recently, guided munitions, which themselves adjust their flight to more accurately hit targets, are gaining popularity.
HE shells
A land mine is a
charge of explosives (explosives) that inflicts damage to the enemy by means of a shock wave, heat and explosion products (some explosives, for example, produce toxic emissions during combustion). High-explosive shell in its pure form is practically not used. The explosive charge is placed in a durable metal body that can withstand high pressure in the barrel. Therefore, when an
explosive is detonated, the shell forms a large number of fragments. Such ammunition was called high-explosive fragmentation shell (OFS). The vast majority of artillery ammunition is precisely the OFS.
Shrapnel
Since it is difficult to guarantee uniform dispersion of fragments when an ordinary OFS is blown up, a high-explosive fragmentation projectile with ready-made striking elements was developed. This type of ammunition was called “shrapnel” (in honor of the inventor, British officer Henry Shrapnel). It has the greatest efficiency when undermining at a height of several meters from the ground. In modern ammunition, the striking elements are in the form of feathered pyramids, which makes it possible to hit even lightly armored targets.
Landmine against armor
At the end of the 40s of the twentieth century, a high-explosive projectile was developed in Great Britain to destroy enemy armored vehicles. It had a case with thin walls, in which the explosive charge and a detonator with a moderator were placed. Upon contact with the armor, the thin metal shell was destroyed, and the explosive flattened out along the armor, capturing as much area as possible. After this, the detonator triggered and detonated explosives. As a result, there was a defeat of the crew and mechanisms in the reserved space by internal fragments and the burning of the upper layer of armor. This type is called high-explosive armor-piercing projectile. However, with the advent of dynamic protection and spaced armor, it was found to be ineffective. Currently, such shells are in service only in their homeland - in the UK.
HE shells
The first fuse of high-explosive ordnance was a conventional wick, which was set on fire by firing a cannon and triggered the detonation of explosives after a certain time. However, after the appearance of rifled guns and conical-shaped shells, which guaranteed a meeting with an obstacle in the front of the hull, shock fuses appeared. Their advantage was that the detonation of explosives occurred immediately after contact with the barrier. To destroy the fortifications, the fuses were equipped with a moderator. This allowed the ammunition to first penetrate the obstacle, thereby dramatically enhancing its effectiveness. Equipping a landmine with such a fuse with a more massive body with thick walls (which allowed, due to kinetic energy, to penetrate deep into the walls of long-term firing points), we got a concrete-piercing shell.
By the way, at the initial stage of World War II,
KV-2 tanks successfully fought German armored vehicles with the help of 152-mm concrete-piercing shells. When hit in a medium or light German tank, a shell, due to its weight, first destroyed the car, tore down the tower, and then exploded. The disadvantage of shock fuses was that when they got into viscous soil (for example, a swamp) they did not work. This problem was eliminated by a remote fuse, which allows for the detonation of ammunition at a certain distance from the cut of the gun barrel. Currently, this type of detonator is used in almost all OFS. It allows, for example, firing from tank guns at air targets (helicopters).
High-explosive combat use
High-explosive fragmentation shells are the main type of ammunition used by modern artillery systems. They are used to destroy fortifications, damage and destroy various military equipment of the enemy, his weapons, manpower. With their help, passages are made in
minefields and engineering defenses. For example, in the final period of World War II, Soviet
self-propelled artillery systems ISU-152, using a 152-mm high-explosive fragmentation shell, successfully destroyed the German bunkers at the
Zeelovsky heights, which ensured the breakthrough of the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies of Katukov and Bogdanov northeast of Berlin. Even in the most powerful non-nuclear weapons of our time (RZSO “Smerch”), the basis of the ammunition is 9M55F rocket-propelled high-explosive shells, which are equivalent to weapons of mass destruction during volley fire.