What is an 'UNCLE' in Artillery terms?

Can anyone tell me what an 'UNCLE' is with regard to Artillery?

Context is as follows from the 2/4 KOYLI war diaries during operations at Salerno.

'....enemy was engaging DLI positions to the left and rear and more mortar fire was brought down from that direction. An UNCLE from our artillery on the enemy positions improved the situation, and under its cover 'D' Coy remnants moved off to attack.....'

Thanks in Advance

Scott

 

An Uncle target is one fired on by all the guns of the division. Any Forward Observation Officer could call for an Uncle target by simply calling 'Uncle Target', followed by the grid reference, over his wireless or phone line. The usual rule was to shoot first and then discuss it afterwards. Something to be used sparingly.

Mike

 

Hi Mike

So essentially a huge artillery bombardment

When i first read it i thought it was some special weapon or shell, i'd never heard of before.

Thanks

Scott

 

Concentration Artillery-fire from a number of guns planned to come down upon a particular area.
From a site called "Eureka".



And if you are really serious in wanting to know more:
Royal Artillery Methods in World War 2

 

Thanks Ron

Found the site & page you are referring to Category:Guns In Action - Eurêka

Although according to that page Uncle & Yoke targets seem to refer to the same thing?

Cheers

 

Scott

Congratulations !

I do like it when people are prepared to follow-up suggestions

Ron

Ps
And yes......that also threw me !

 

Something to be used sparingly.

Mike

The 2/4 KOYLI must have been in a pretty dire situation at the time because it was repeated 3 times followed by one minute 'intense'.

 

It's what the enemy cried when they were on the receiving end...!

 

I suppose my own personal participation in an "Uncle" was on the 3rd of September 1943 when my unit took part in a monster barrage of the Italian coast prior to the landings in Italy.

First the Rgtl diary and then a piece I posted on the BBC People's War Rchives


On 3 Sep supported the movement over the Straits of the Op BAYTOWN units, the invasion of Italy.

BBC - WW2 People's War - A postcard from Sicily, 3rd September 1943

 

My understanding as an infantry officer calling for artillery support to then be informed by the Battery Commander in support of the Battalion that my target was now an 'Uncle Target' meant that all the available guns of the Division's three Field Regiments not already laid on fixed lines of fire would engage the target.

25-pounders already committed to agree lines of fixed fire remained ready to respond to that target.

Joe Brown.

 

My understanding as an infantry officer is that any guns not actually engaged in a fire mission are laid on the DF/SOS, so all guns are always laid on a target (except during the process of re-laying). Anyway, it is machine guns that are laid on fixed lines, not artillery. My guess is that an Uncle target would bring down fire from all the guns of the division that were not already engaged in a fire mission.

Chris

 

Although according to that page Uncle & Yoke targets seem to refer to the same thing?

A Yoke Target is fired by all guns of an AGRA - Army Group Royal Artillery, essentially a brigade-sized artillery formation at Corps level.

 

Nothing is simple.

I think that what distinguishes an 'Uncle' target is that it is an emergency call as opposed to being preplanned one. The words 'Uncle Target' give the observer priority over all other signal traffic.

Mike

 

I remember when as duty officer at Battalion Headquarters calling for artillery fire on a Nebelwerfer and advised it would be regarded as an Uncle Target and that all guns not already committed to a fixed fire programme would engage it. And they did . . . the next morning went in the Division Lysander early morning 'milk run' and flew over that target area and saw it was pulverised!

Joe Brown.

 

...

 

After being pointed in the right direction, i did a bit more digging on the net and found this
British Commonwealth Artillery - Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

British and Commonwealth Artillery Doctrine in World War 2

British doctrine and tactics used in World War 2 was based on their experience in the Boer War, World War 1 and early experience in World War 2. By 1943 a superior British doctrine had evolved. One of the biggest differences compared to American was responsibilities and authority of the Forward Observation Officer (FOO). FOOs were provide by an artillery regiment to front line infantry brigade it is assigned. Two FOO are provided to each of three battalions in that brigade. The FOOs normally were posted well forward with an infantry company. A lowly FOO Lieut. or Capt. in the commonwealth can actually issue fire orders to all the artillery regiments in an army. The fire order would be for a Mike, Uncle, Victor or William target. The FOO would give an order like “Uncle Scale 10”. Each field regiment in the division would fire 10 rounds from each gun. When the order is issued the artillery regiments would response unless they already had a fire ordered.

Mike – eight 25 pounders of the field battery
Uncle -24 guns of the field regiment (division level)
Victor - 216 guns of nine field regiments (corp. level)
Williams - 216 guns of nine field regiments, 2 regiments of 16 medium guns 4.5 inch and 2 regiments of 16 heavy guns 7.2 inch and any other attached artillery regiment in the army.

William fire orders were rare; Mike and Uniform were the most common. The only record instance of a Canadian issuing a William fire order was May 23rd, 1944. In a matter of minutes 19 field regiments, nine medium regiments and two heavy regiments unloaded 74 tons of explosives on the all ready battered town of Aquino Italy.

The British artillery doctrine for 25 pounder the gun of the field regiments attached to each division stated 3 rounds per minute were normal and 5 rounds per minute were intense. In combat experienced gunners attached higher rates. Canadians in Normandy most who had trained for years in England had rates of fire 10 to 12 rounds per minute. Sgt G. “Lefty” Phillip’s crew on No. 4 gun, able troop, 2nd battery south of Caen in August 1944, timed with a stop watch by Lieut. Bob Grout got off 17 rounds in one minute.

The forward observers in the US Army can only report target and correct ranging fire. For Americans decisions concerning importance of the target, the number of guns to fire and scale of fire remained with the fire control centre far to the rear. An American senior officer made the decisions on events he could not actual see. Meanwhile a Commonwealth FOO could adjust fire, pick a target and all the regiments would follow.
Germans in experiencing this rapid adjustable concentrated fire believe the Allies had automatic 25 pounders. Americans in Korea loved have the fire support of Commonwealth 25 pounders.

Although the target names a slightly different, the gist seems to be the same.

 

A typical Uncle shoot would be 72 (3 regts x 3 btys x 8) field guns. Victor (Corps) shoots would normally include medium guns whose shells stood a greater chance of disrupting armoured targets. (This logic is largely why 'field' guns grew from 25pr > 105mm > 155mm during the Cold War.)

 

I think that I am obliged to mention here that my unit was a Light Ack Ack one, not a conventional Field Artilery mob and that it was used in this instance just to add to the fire power that was being showered on the Italian mainland.

I do remember, however, the bloody racket that ensued !

Ron

 

Uncle Tgts could only be Ordered by a 'Commanders Representative', a designated artillery troop, battery or regt commander, or an AOP if authorised as a comds rep and on the divsional arty comd radio net. No doubt sometimes the commander (ie the divisional commander RA) was his own representative. Artillery observers who were not Comd's Reps could request an Uncle Target through their regt HQ to HQRA and it was authorised by HQRA at Div HQ.

These massed fire tgts could be by map shooting, but were usually ranged and 'Fire by Order', having competant and effective comms RA didn't generally use ToT for such tgts.

If batteries or regts were engaging another target then they continued on that task, but the guns available would usually fire more ammo. This would also apply if some btys were on the move.

The first AOP controlled Uncle Tgt was in early 1943 in Tunisia, and it was in this campaign that massed fire against opportunity tgts first became normal practice, with the BRA 1st Army paying close attention because he had invented the system when CRA 38 (IIRC) Div. It's useful to note that this massed fire against opportunity tgts had nothing to do with barrages (a widely misused term) or other planned fire with the possible exception of DFs.

The system was basically the same for Mike Targets (regimental), Victor (corps tgt) and Yoke tgts, note that an AGRA could easily be 6 regts or more, most of them medium, so this was a heck of a lot more firepower than a division. Of course depending on the command arrangements at the time btys or regts of an AGRA might be allocated to div HQRA and would therefore be included in an Uncle tgt. A Victor tgt would include all divisonal and AGRA regts.

 

The Eureka site is a hodge podge of terms in use by various armies at various times, its very confusing if you don't know the subject.

For a bit of detail about Uncle etc see Royal Artillery Methods in World War 2 Targets

This page gives a comprehensive overview of Brit/Cwth arty, other pages on the site add detail. Another page gives the history BRITISH ARTILLERY - PIECES

Re the quote from Armchair General, the number of guns for each type of tgt is at best indicative. It all depended on the number of guns under comd of the RA HQ at the time, and whether or not the were busy elsewhere.