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Potato_Muncher t1_j1ian2m wrote

Reply to comment by TertiumNonHater in Where history has been fought by RedTomatoSauce

I'm fairly positive this was the battle where the Americans had to use a 155mm self-propelled gun to knock out German positions inside large, old buildings. The Sherman's 75/76mm guns couldn't penetrate the thick stone facades, so they resorted to open-sight artillery instead. The Germans were pretty pissed about it's use and wanted the practice to be outlawed.

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TertiumNonHater t1_j1ibwxx wrote

You are correct! Here is a M12 Gun Motor Carriage in action in Aachen.

I am having a hard time finding the quote (so take it with a grain of salt), but I recall a German commander in Aachen saying something along the lines of "when the Americans begin to use artillery as sniper fire— you have lost."

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PlayMp1 t1_j1iv75w wrote

The US was known for incredibly rapid, widespread, and accurate use of artillery in WW2. The Soviets might have taken a half hour to line up artillery after it's been requested for defensive support fire (to their credit, the Eastern Front was vastly larger than the Western, and they had less industrial capacity than the US), and the Germans maybe 15 minutes. Because of extensive planning work and the most incredible feats of logistics work in history, the US could do it in 2 minutes, sometimes as low as 30 seconds.

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zegg t1_j1ji97r wrote

Well, guess it's true what they say - men win battles, but logistics win wars.

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Amedais t1_j1in4a3 wrote

That really is just like the old COD campaign haha.

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Duckboy_Flaccidpus t1_j1ityfl wrote

When you get pissed enough and just want to end the battle yet make a statement.

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