Field Artillery in Winter War

Soviet artillery

In the Winter War, the Soviet Union had plenty of modern artillery. During the height, the number of guns was 5,600. The use of fire was very extensive. It reached its peak at Summa, where Soviet artillery fired 150,000 rounds on the breakthrough day of 11th of February. There were as many as 78 guns per kilometre of front line. Fire was also directed at Finnish positions from observation balloons and aircrafts.

The effectiveness of Soviet artillery fire was undermined by it's methods of firing which dated back to the World War 1. The artillery was not capable of rapid fire transfers. The firing method used was a volley of fire, with fire being moved forward in stages. Its simplicity made it suitable for massed artillery, whose fire could no longer be directed effectively due to the overloading of communications. The effectiveness of the fire was based on the large number of shells fired. There was no need to save ammunition, as Soviet industry was able to produce huge quantities of shells. Although ammunition consumption averaged 230,000 rounds per day, the Red Army commanders were reprimanded after the war for saving ammunition.