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rounds fired at random intervals throughout the night, and sometimes during the day, seeking to deny enemy freedom of movement and to destroy enemy morale. The bulk of H&I fire was aimed at river crossings, paths and trails, junctures, gullies, ridgelines, or where river valleys left the highlands and entered the coastal plain. American, Australian, and New
Zealand artillery batteries also regularly shelled the likely approaches to bases, fire support bases, and night defensive positions.
248:, assisted by the static, inflexible nature of the defensive positions faced. Whole batteries on all sides of the conflict were dedicated to harassing fire (especially prior to a planned infantry attack) and the concept was refined to a science, complete with formulae for shells-per-hour and pattern density to ensure sleep and resupply were statistically impossible for the targeted force. In most cases, resupply and relief was already nearly impossible during the day due to
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The term "Harassment and
Interdiction" (H&I) was used in the Vietnam War to describe artillery missions where artillery batteries fired on suspected enemy areas and movements based on intelligence reports concerning enemy activity. These missions engaged suspected targets with no more than a few
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as a form of harassing fire, since they were random and frightening attacks (usually at night) designed to damage
English civilian morale rather than directly disable members of the British military. A tired, frightened worker would produce less war material at their daily factory jobs, they opined.
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without a major effort to produce significant casualties or to support a larger attack. The intent is to merely ensure the enemy can never fully rest or attend to non-combat related tasks and must always be alert and in cover from incoming fire. For this reason, harassing fire is often conducted at
345:"), it proved unexpectedly effective at night harassment attacks on rear areas of the German lines, flying so low and slow the German fighters were unable to locate or engage them. The otherwise obsolescent-for-combat wood-and-fabric plane also proved both highly resistant to standard
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of a city or castle. Since such a siege could drag on for months or years if the attackers were unable to forcibly breach the walls, an alternative plan called for patience coupled with regular harassing fire in an effort to induce the defenders to
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night (or around the clock if resources allow) and by a small number of guns or artillery pieces rather than the whole contingent. The denial of sleep and constant alert state it induces is physically and psychologically unsustainable by
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forces for any length of time, and eventually causes severe degenerative stress and degradation of the force's combat abilities. For this reason, it has been a standard and efficacious tactic used since the introduction of the
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due to low morale, disease, and starvation. Aside from lethal projectiles such as stones and iron balls, the artillery of the time would also throw harassment projectiles: rotting bodies (both men and animals),
310:. Although very slow, poorly armed and virtually defenseless during the day, the nearly all-wood structure Po-2 was exceptionally cheap and reliable, could carry six small, 50 kg (110 lb),
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against the UN forces defending South Korea – successful raids by the KPAF on UN air bases even managed to destroy small numbers of F-51 Mustang and F-86 Sabre fighters early in the war.
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aero-engines of a then-modern fighter/bomber. As a result, it was much harder to pinpoint the plane's exact bearing or distance and gave the target very little warning of their arrival.
361:, neither of which were particularly successful and helped further ensure nobody in an encampment could get any restful sleep. Soon the Germans frustratedly dubbed the women pilots
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if they managed to shoot down even a single Po-2. The
Germans themselves began using their own obsolescent aircraft for similar raids against the Soviets, first with the
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During the Korean War, the Po-2 was once again used for "Bedcheck
Charlie" night harassment attacks, this time by the North
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fire over an extended period of time (usually at night and times of low conflict intensity) in an effort to undermine
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The concept continues to be relevant in modern warfare and remains in the artillery curriculum of the
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forces famously formed three all-female military aviation regiments in 1942 (the 586th, 587th and
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produced only a muted rattling for a sound signature, far quieter and less identifiable than the
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Harassing fire entered a new phase following the widespread mass-production of cheap, long-range
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artillery map used for planning harassing fire in the Lens sector of France, May 1917.
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The costs of artillery: harassment and interdiction fire in the
Vietnam War URL=
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in which an enemy force is subjected to random, unpredictable and intermittent
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of cities became the norm. In a 1944 report on the recent introduction of the
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psychological reaction to months of unending explosions, fear, hunger and
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https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2004-THESIS-H285
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As the name suggests, harassing fire is undertaken as an extreme form of
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Harassing fire continued to be an effective and widespread practice in
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a small number of
Japanese military aircraft on night harassment raids
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Although initially sneered at by the
Germans, who called the Po-2
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bombs and was nearly silent when flown by an expert at night;
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Harassing fire became commonplace after the invention of the
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587:(Texas A&M University Libraries) accessed 22-Jan-2024
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anti-aircraft ammunition, as well as invisible to modern
515:"World Battlefronts: Battle of Europe: Harassing Fire".
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Early in the
Pacific Theater of World War II during the
256:this eventually induced in the enemy was usually a
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
559:. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. p.
392:from the Japanese were periodically harassed by
532:O'Conner, Mike (1985). "Coping With Charlie".
620:"Harassing Fire: Implementation and Response"
8:
534:American Aviation Historical Society Journal
555:B-29 Superfortress units of the Korean War
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
228:and the severed heads of captured enemy
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450:and the US Army's War Plans Division.
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417:magazine referred to the attacks on
47:adding citations to reliable sources
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399:Harassing fire also expanded to
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34:needs additional citations for
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624:U.S. Army War Plans Division
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220:-infected corpses, piles of
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606:Government Printing Office
381:units for this purpose.
427:Korean People's Air Force
164:for the harassing force.
551:Dorr, Robert F. (2003).
626:. 1918. pp. 19–21.
475:Washing Machine Charlie
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602:U.S. Army War College
498:Department of Defense
318:five-cylinder radial
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138:psychological warfare
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386:Guadalcanal campaign
43:improve this article
608:. 1917. p. 36.
448:US Army War College
379:Nachtschlachtgruppe
250:artillery observers
316:its small, low-RPM
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598:"Artillery Notes"
504:on March 4, 2016.
367:The Night Witches
262:sleep deprivation
179:projectile weapon
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99:January 2013
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41:Please help
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433:Vietnam War
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246:World War I
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127:World War I
540:(1): 2–11.
481:References
442:Modern day
371:Iron Cross
333:("Russian
142:small-arms
69:newspapers
401:civilians
213:surrender
200:trebuchet
190:Antiquity
146:artillery
637:Category
454:See also
290:missiles
226:beehives
196:catapult
174:infantry
169:nuisance
158:resupply
125:British
335:plywood
305:biplane
185:History
83:scholar
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419:London
341:("the
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294:Soviet
218:plague
150:morale
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351:radar
298:588th
208:siege
154:sleep
90:JSTOR
76:books
565:ISBN
518:TIME
414:Time
357:and
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198:and
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403:as
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