Artillery facts for kids

A 155 mm artillery shell fired by a United States 11th Marine Regiment M-198 howitzer

Artillery is a word for the big guns used in an army, for example cannons and howitzers. Such guns are used to shoot targets far away. Artillery is often used to stop enemy troops using an area, to bombard trenches and buildings with enemies in it and to support friendly units. There are many different weapons that are called artillery. They may shoot shells or missiles. Newer systems can even drop mines over a big area, making the area uncrossable. Anti-aircraft warfare includes the use of artillery to fight planes and other aircraft. Those who fire the artillery piece are called "gunners". In most cases someone else, called a "spotter" must see the enemy, because artillery often shoots in high angles and over terrain. The artillery crews do not have to see the enemy to damage them.

Different types of artillery

Images for kids

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  Soldiers of the Royal Artillery firing 105mm light howitzers during an exercise (2013)

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  French soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War 1870–71

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  British 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on a Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda. This is a part of a fixed battery, meant to protect against over-land attack and to serve as coastal artillery.

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  7-person gun crew firing a US M777 Light Towed Howitzer, War in Afghanistan, 2009

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  A bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon" from the Huolongjing.

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  A depiction of an early vase-shaped cannon (shown here as the "Long-range Awe-inspiring Cannon"(威遠砲)) complete with a crude sight and an ignition port dated from around 1350 AD. The illustration is from the 14th century Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing.

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  First Battle of Panipat

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  Bullocks dragging siege-guns up hill during Akbar's Siege of Ranthambore

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  The Austrian Pumhart von Steyr, the earliest extant large-calibre gun

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  Three of the large Korean artillery, Chongtong in the Jinju National Museum. These cannons were made in the mid 16th century. The closest is a "Cheonja chongtong"(천자총통, 天字銃筒), the second is a "Jija chongtong"(지자총통, 地字銃筒), and the third is a "Hyeonja chongtong"(현자총통, 玄字銃筒).

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  Artillery with gabion fortification

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  The Tsar Cannon (caliber 890 mm), cast in 1586 in Moscow. It is the largest bombard in the world.

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  A 19th-century cannon, set in the wall of Acre to commemorate the city's resistance to the 1799 siege by Napoleon's troops.

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  Prussian artillery at the Battle of Langensalza (1866)

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  Armstrong gun deployed by Japan during the Boshin war (1868–69)

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  8-inch Armstrong gun during American Civil War, Fort Fisher, 1865

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  The French Canon de 75 modèle 1897, the first modern artillery piece

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  German 15cm field howitzers during World War I

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  M982 Excalibur guided artillery shell

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  M1156 Precision Guidance Kit can be added to unguided projectiles

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  Artillery can be used to fire nuclear warheads, as seen in this 1953 nuclear test.

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  152 mm howitzer D-20 during the Iran–Iraq War

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  Battleship ammunition: 16" artillery shells aboard a United States Iowa-class battleship

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  Cyclone of the 320th French Artillery, in Hoogstade, Belgium, September 5, 1917

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  The Finnish Defence Forces using 130 mm Gun M-46 during a direct fire mission in a live fire exercise in 2010.

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  German Army PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery

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  Horse-drawn artillery

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  Man-pulled artillery

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  Australian gunners, wearing gas masks, operate a 9.2-inch (230 mm) howitzer during World War I

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  Firing of an 18-pound gun, Louis-Philippe Crepin (1772–1851)

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  Two French Army Giat GCT 155mm (155 mm AUF1) Self-propelled Guns, 40th Regiment d' Artillerie, with IFOR markings are parked at Hekon base, near Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in support of Operation Joint Endeavor

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  USMC M-198 firing outside of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004

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  Modern artillery ammunition. Caliber 155 mm as used by the PzH 2000

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  An artillery piece in the monument commemorating the 1864 Battle of Tupelo (American Civil War)

See also

In Spanish: Artillería para niños