Why German Generals Feared American Artillery More Than American Tanks

In the summer of nineteen forty four, German generals on the Western Front discovered that the weapon they feared most was not the Sherman tank. It was the American artillery system. Built around a revolutionary fire direction center developed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the nineteen thirties, this system allowed a single forward observer with a radio to call down the fire of an entire corps onto a single target in minutes. At Mortain, two young lieutenants from the two hundred and thirtieth Field Artillery Battalion called fire from a hilltop that stopped four German panzer divisions in their tracks. At Elsenborn Ridge during the Battle of the Bulge, massed American artillery broke the main German offensive before it could reach the American foxholes. This documentary tells the story of the men who built the system, the forward observers who risked their lives to direct it, the Piper L four Grasshopper pilots who gave the guns eyes above the battlefield, and the proximity fuze that changed the nature of ground combat forever. From the classrooms of Fort Sill to the frozen fields of the Ardennes, this is the untold story of how American mathematics, trust, and industrial power created the most devastating artillery system the world had ever seen. Sources and References The National WWII Museum, "The 30th Infantry Division's Heroic Stand at Mortain, August 1944" https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war... The National WWII Museum, "The Battles for Elsenborn Ridge Part II" https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war... Army Historical Foundation, "U.S. and German Field Artillery in World War II: A Comparison" https://armyhistory.org/u-s-and-germa... U.S. Army Field Artillery School (USAFAS), Fort Sill Official History https://sill-www.army.mil/usafas/ HistoryNet, "Hallowed Ground: Hill 314, Mortain, France" https://historynet.com/hallowed-groun... Warfare History Network, "Desperate Days on Hill 314" https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art... Warfare History Network, "The Allies' Strong Stand Atop Mortain" https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art... Warfare History Network, "The Proximity Fuse: The Gunner's Dream Finally Became Realized" https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art... Georgia National Guard History, "First to Fire: The Georgia National Guard's 230th Field Artillery in Normandy" http://www.georgiaguardhistory.com/20... U.S. Naval Institute, "Tiny Miracle: The Proximity Fuze" https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-... Lone Sentry, "Von Rundstedt Explains the German Defeat" (U.S. Intelligence Bulletin, March 1946) https://www.lonesentry.com/articles/r... Hugh M. Cole, "The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge," U.S. Army Center of Military History, Official History Series George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It," Houghton Mifflin, 1947 Ernie Pyle, "Brave Men," Henry Holt and Company, 1944 Martin King, Michael Collins, and David Hilborn, "The Fighting 30th Division: They Called Them Roosevelt's SS," Casemate Publishers, 2015 Boyd Dastrup, "Cedat Fortuna Peritis: A History of the Field Artillery School," U.S. Army Press https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Porta...