Accompanying Artillery

artillery subunits (individual guns) assigned to directly accompany tank and motorized rifle subunits on the battlefield.

Accompanying artillery functions within the battle formations of troops moves with them, and provides fire support for them. The basic missions of accompanying artillery are to destroy enemy personnel and means of fire which retard the advance of the troops, to repulse the counterattacks of enemy tanks, and to consolidate lines which have been seized by one’s own troops. Methods of combat application of artillery for actions within the battle formations of troops first began to be developed in the Russian and German armies on the eve of World War I, and during its course such methods were adopted by other armies. Accompanying artillery was especially widely used during World War II. At the present time highly mobile battalion and regimental artillery, self-propelled gun mounts, recoilless guns, and antitank guided missiles are employed in order to directly accompany tank and motorized rifle subunits on the battlefield.