Artillery: The God of War

Artillery dominated the Western Front, causing 70% of casualties. French artillery doctrine, favoring light field guns prewar, underwent complete transformation. The famous 75mm gun, revolutionary in 1897, proved inadequate against entrenchments. France desperately needed heavy artillery.

The transformation was remarkable. In 1914, France possessed 300 heavy guns. By 1918, she fielded 5,700. The 155mm Schneider howitzer became the workhorse of trench warfare. The massive 400mm railway guns could destroy concrete fortifications 30 kilometers away. French artillery parks resembled industrial cities, with thousands of guns served by narrow-gauge railways.

Ammunition development paralleled gun production. Shrapnel shells, designed for troops in the open, gave way to high explosives for destroying entrenchments. Gas shells delivered chemical weapons more effectively than cloud attacks. Smoke shells concealed advancing infantry. By 1917, French artillery fired specialized shells for every tactical situation.

Fire control revolutionized through technology. Sound ranging, using microphones to locate enemy batteries, was pioneered by French scientists. Flash spotting, coordinated from multiple observation posts, pinpointed muzzle flashes. Aerial photography revealed targets invisible from ground. By 1918, French artillery could deliver devastating fire on map coordinates without direct observation.

Colonel Henri Peyre, commanding artillery at Verdun, described the transformation: "We began believing in Napoleon's tactics—massed batteries firing at visible targets. We learned to become scientists, using mathematics, physics, and chemistry to destroy enemies we never saw. Artillery became less art than industrial process."