Quoted: I need an answer for another discussion I'm having. If you are using a pack 75mm howitzer what ROF could you get if you were the only one operating it and you were possibly under sporadic but inaccurate rifle fire within 400-500 yards of the front line.  You need to move it to keep up with slow moving infantry, aim it, load it and fire it.   Would it make any difference if it was a 105mm recoilless rifle and weight about the third of the weight?

YOU MAY HAVE TO SPEAK UP FOR THESE GUYS.

nice

That's funny!!  


vmax84

I was in the Artillery for a few years and

that is a hard question.  I don't know of any modern redlegs that would have experience with a 75mm pack howitzer.  I can say that any standard howizter can be used for direct fire but it is not optimized for it.  Also, it does tend to be labor intensive to move and shoot it.  Especially alone.  Never had experience with a recoiless rifle, but it is a weapon much better suited for what you described and can probably have a ROF of a few rounds a minute, faster than a howitzer; and it would be easier to engage direct fire targets.

Basing off my experiance as an USMC RedLeg in a previous life, let me say a single man operated 75mm pack howitzer is going to be slow, very slow.  Moving, setting up, aiming are all going to take time.  Once emplaced (to include aimpoints) ROF will be how fast you can sight (and verify sight), fuse, load, ram, primer and fire.  Thats an awful lot for 1 man to do.  This weapon system called for a 4 man crew.

Pure guestimates in a perfect situation:
Emplace from transport: 10 minutes min
First round from reciept of firemission: 5 min
Rate of fire during fire mission: 1RPM or less.

Quoted: Basing off my experiance as an USMC RedLeg in a previous life, let me say a single man operated 75mm pack howitzer is going to be slow, very slow.  Moving, setting up, aiming are all going to take time.  Once emplaced (to include aimpoints) ROF will be how fast you can sight (and verify sight), fuse, load, ram, primer and fire.  Thats an awful lot for 1 man to do.  This weapon system called for a 4 man crew. Pure guestimates in a perfect situation: Emplace from transport: 10 minutes min First round from reciept of firemission: 5 min Rate of fire during fire mission: 1RPM or less.

+1 on being extremely slow to fire with only 1 man. The round doesn't have a seperate primer though, as the primer is located inside the case, same as with 105mm ammo. It is also loaded the same way, with "ramming" being done by the No. 1 simply giving it a good hard shove into the breech.

A little late on the reply I know, but some clarifications.  Im going off of 3 year olf memories here, so I may be off a bit.

To load and fire a 'fixed shell' howitzer the following must be done.
1. set deflection (left/right)
2. set elevation (up/down)
3. determine charge to be used and put in casing
4. affix projectile to casing
5. set fuze
6. apply fuse to projo
7.  load/ram round
8. set firing mech.
9. fire!

and that is after rolling into the pos. and emplacing the weapon.  And now that I look at it spelled out like that, Im going to lower my rounds per minute to 1 rnd per 2 min.  And that is being generous.

The 75mm M1 pack howitzer could be moved over rough ground by 1 man, but very slow.  The man hauling consisted of 2 troops pulling it by the a trail spike inserted near the lunette.  However the major restriction would be number of rounds carried, you couldn't carry too many on the trail.

The 75 used fixed ammo, no need to set to the fuze or cut charges.  Since you are firing direct there is no need to go through lay procedures or refer to an aim point.   I would really think rate of fire would be much higher than most here anticipate, since once fired the gunner would only have to hit the breach handle, ejected a case and load a new round, check sights and fire.

Let me get this straight.

This guy says he crews a 75mm pack howitzer by himself and pushes/pulls all 1339 pounds of it over the battlefield without the benefit of a vehicle. Sounds like a nice circus trick, but four questions immediately come to mind.

1. How does he move his ammo.

2. How many rounds does he take?

3. What is his endurance?

4. How much ground does he cover?

Tell him to please post a video, I would love to see this in action.

If he is moving this howitzer around by himself . . . forget even firing the bloody thing.

By the time you are caught up with the infantry and can get set up, they have moved up again.  Taking direct , if inaccurate rifle fire?  Return fire (with your rifle . . . you left it in the jeep???) and then continue with setting up.  That is . . . if you didn't catch a piece of a ricochet and the howitzer doesn't get damaged by being hit (unlikely, but . . . you will have to fix that flat if you expect to fire, it is a part of the weapon that is necessary ).  While a rather portable weapon, it takes time to do it right and just setting up under the described conditions will eat up most available time.  In addition 75mm ammo is not huge, but it will get very heavy in short order when being handled by just one person.

Possible . . . but as previously mentioned  it would take a miracle to get more than 1 shell in 2 minutes, maybe longer.