XPost: rec.arts.comics.strips   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 09:55:12 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott   
   Dorsey) wrote:   
      
   >Paul S Person   wrote:   
   >>Modern indirect fire, which does indeed require some form of spotting.   
   >>   
   >>But the ancients shot arrows up and over the enemy, not because they   
   >>could not see them, but because they wanted to wound/kill /all/ of   
   >>them, not just those in the front line. The ones behind the front line   
   >>were, not hidden, but covered.   
   >   
   >You know, I never thought about the longbow as being a case of indirect   
   >fire, but I suppose it is.  Interestingly, though, the plan is to spread   
   >the fire out rather than concentrate it (which is where so much of the   
   >effort in modern artillery work comes from).   
      
    While the longbow was no doubt used for this once   
   it was developed, I'm fairly certain that the ancients used short   
   bows.     
      
   >>Siege engines could reduce the walls of a fortress/city (if they   
   >>actually hit them instead of falling before them) but could also go   
   >>over the walls and fall inside. This did not requre a spotter:   
   >>anywhere they fell, they would cause damage to someone and/or   
   >>something.   
   >>   
   >>In modern war, is of course, things are somewhat different.   
   >   
   >Maybe, although the whole "saturate the area with low-precision    
   >projectiles" thing worked pretty well with the V-1.  I had not   
   >thought about that either.   
      
   Well, if "strengthening civilian resolve to kick Nazi butt" was the   
   goal, then, yes, they did work pretty well. But fire-bombing Coventry   
   was even /more/ effective at this, managing to enrage the country and   
   ensure it would keep on fighting.   
      
   That's the problem with the fly-boys: they think they can win the war   
   all by themselves. That their actions stiffen the enemy's resolve   
   always comes as a surprise to them.   
      
   This is true to this day. But nobody learns from history, even if they   
   bother to learn it.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)