INTA 2040 Chapter Notes - Chapter 18: Indirect Fire, Signals Intelligence, Electronic Countermeasure
7 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Perhaps the most important single contribution of military technology during the period from 1830 to the outbreak of wwii was the trend towards greater and greater firepower. As the consumption of ammunition rose to previously unimaginable heights, the outcome was a revolution in logistics. Several solutions were found to the problem of the storm of steel unleashed by rifled, quick firing, automatic small arms and artillery. Of these, the most important was probably extreme dispersion, which caused each soldier and each unit to spread out much more than before. Dispersion in its turn led to problems in command and control, particularly on the move and in offensive warfare, when wire-bound communication systems could only be used with difficulty, and sometimes not at all. As dispersion and entrenchment caused he battlefield to assume as eerie, empty look, hitting an enemy who refused to leave cover became an almost insoluble problem.
