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either the theatre of war or the particular formation they are attached to.
Parties are fully trained as paratroops, commandos or glider-borne troops, so that they can work with all types of units. An FOB remains normally at or near battalion headquarters, and carries out any tasks at the request of the battalion commander. He will be allocated to a ship if he is with one of the assaulting battalions, and may have LCGs, destroyers, cruisers or battleships at his disposal. He may request any type of ship to be attached to him through the SBLO according to the type of target. He advises the battalion commander on the suitability of targets for naval bombardment, pointing out the likely results of any shoot. This will not be quite the same as the infantry are used to, with their normal support of field artillery.
All naval guns are high velocity guns and consequently have larger 100% zones, this means that they are not suitable for destruction shoots on small targets. However should this type of shoot be particularly requested, the FOB may be able to get an LCG(M) fitted with 25 pounders to carry out the task. Smoke shoots cannot be carried out as suitable smoke shells are not carried by ships, but they can carry out shoots at night if necessary using one turret to fire star shells for illumination. Ships in the bombarding force carry at lot of HEDA for bombardment, they also carry a percentage of armour piercing shells and HE shells with time or V/T fuses. The latter types are primarily intended for actions against ships and aircraft, but if the captain considers the likelihood of these to be small, or if he is able to re-ammunition at the beach head, he may consent to the use of these types of ammunition for a limited number of shoots. In this case the FOB can engage targets well dug in with AP shell or use the time or V/T fuses for airburst shoots.
As a rough guide to the firepower at his disposal, it may be interesting to see the equivalent weights of metal the navy can put down in any specified time, judged by our standards. A destroyer is approximately equivalent to one field regiment with a range of 17,000 to 23,000 yards. The armament differs with various classes of course, here I take the example of the Tribal class with eight 4” QF guns. A cruiser is equivalent to one medium regiment with a range of 21,000 to 25,000 yards; Colony class crusier with twelve 6inch guns, or County class cruiser with eight 8 inch guns. A battleship is almost impossible to compare with our heavy regiments as they can put down nine tons a minute at ranges of over 30,000 yards with their main armament, and also have a considerable secondary armament, in some cases sixteen 5.25 inch guns. Shooting is at present carried out normally by a “clock code” method of observation, but there is secondary “line of fire” method of observation should it be necessary. The shoots are normally controlled by the ship as far as possible, but the FOB can ask to take over
control if he has a large target area and wishes to spread his fire for effect. In normal circumstances it will take from five to ten minutes to get the first round on the ground after a call for fire has been initiated. Bombardments are carried out with the ship stopped or at anchor wherever possible, but should there be opposition to our naval forces, cruisers and above can carry out shoots under way. However destroyers, with their slightly inferior fire control equipment, lose a certain amount of accuracy, and would only be used for area shoots where there is no danger to our own troops in these circumstances.
The FOB is an important source of information as his reports go direct to divisional headquarters(SOB) and the LSH(SBLO) which is an advantage over many other channels. He can be used as a wireless link pure and simple, and an Air OP and fast fighter observation can be quickly obtained through LSH to direct the naval bombardment on to targets he cannot see. The BLOs duties are far more difficult to define, since his job is liaison almost entirely. He is in fact a military adviser to the captain of the ship, and the smaller the ship, the greater his value becomes. His duties fall into 3 fairly distinct stages. Before the Operation. Training and briefing The BLO can help a great deal in the working up process of a bombarding ship. He can help train the W/T operators in the bombardment code and procedure. He must put before all concerned the point of view of the infantryman, and urge the necessity for a quick and accurate response to any call for fire. Each separate class of ship produces an individual problem of the position from which the bombardment is best directed. The captain, navigating officer, gunnery officer and signals officer are all connected with any shoot, so that the allocation of duties and the position of officers is a problem best solved by trial and error. The BLO receives the orders of all formations in his sector, he also gets maps and gridded charts of the area he may be called upon to support, and where possible he will get air photographs of the coast line. During the run in. Engagement of pre- arranged targets. There will be pre-arranged targets for engagement by direct fire before H-Hour and the BLO can identify and point out these targets to the gunnery officer. Some of these targets may be inland and invisible to the director control tower, in which case it will be necessary to use an aiming point and measure the switch and range from the ship’s position. His observation may be used during direct shoots, and if a fixed scale of ammunition has not been laid down, he can advise the captain on the best rates of fire. He may also be able to locate previously unknown points of resistance and obtain position to open fire on them.
The only observed fire during this stage will be carried out by fast fighter aircraft, usually in a counter battery role. In this case the BLO will probably man the VHF set, as R/T procedure is used, making the necessary corrections and deciding when to go to fire for effect. Should the pilot have difficulty there is an alternative procedure which allows
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