Artillery of World War I The artillery of World War I was used to counter the trench warfare that set in shortly after the conflict commenced , and was an important factor in the war , influencing its tactics , operations and incorporated into strategies that were used by the belligerents to break the stalemate at the front . World War I raised artillery to a new level of importance on the battlefield . The years of the First World War had provided several developments in artillery warfare . Artillery could now shoot farther and more explosively than ever before . Because of this , enemies in trenches would no longer always be safe , and would constantly be fired upon . In some areas , artillery concentration would be common , several artillery firing onto an area – such as a line of trenches , each firing several rounds per minute lasting for hours . Artillery barrages would also be used before an infantry battle , to create a distraction away from the place of attack , so that the enemy ' s numbers would be fewer , or they would fire at the paths going from the area that would be attacked so that the enemy reinforcements would not be able to reach the area without getting hit . Mortar s were revived by the Germans because of their ability to shoot at an angle above 45 degrees , and therefore could theoretically ( although not often ) land directly in an enemy ' s trench before exploding for maximum damage . Artillery shells were used for gas release by the German troops in 1915 , and the Allies followed their example after the First Battle of Ypres where the chlorine gas thrown by the British changed direction and hit their own men . United States Army artillery . When the United States entered the war in 1917 , the condition , the equipment , the training , and the discipline of the American field artillery were nothing short of chaotic . Unprecedented American production and ample Allied support provided the weapons with which the American artillery had to fight . Materiel used by the Americans was mostly French , and during the war only 100 American weapons saw action . The French alone contributed 3 , 834 field pieces and mortars , as well as 10 million rounds of ammunition . The old 3 - inch gun — the Army possessed only 600 at the beginning of the war was replaced by the French 75 - mm gun . The French 75 - mm gun was the best of its type . Its recoil system worked on glycerin and air , it was easy to aim , and it could be fired more rapidly that other artillery pieces . It was able to shred infantry columns to pieces but was unable to penetrate reinforced earthworks . Germany had about 3 , 500 105 - mm and 155 - mm howitzers ; France , about 300 . In late 1917 , American troops moved into quiet sectors of the Western Front . The honor of firing the first American artillery round in World War I went to Battery C , 6th FA Battalion ( later the 2d Battalion , 6th Artillery , 3d Armored Division ) , on October 23 , 1917 . Although the war seemed to have settled down to stabilized trench fighting , General John J . Pershing insisted that American troops be trained in open warfare ; in the end , Pershing ' s instincts had served him well . By the time American troops began to appear on the battlefield in significant numbers , the war had indeed become more mobile , with Ludendorff ' s last push towards Paris . In the spring of 1918 , American troops were thrown in at Chateau - Thierry to halt General Erich Ludendorff ' s massive offensive . Counterattacking under a heavy artillery barrage , they cleared the Germans out of Belleau Wood in 2 weeks of hard fighting . The capture of plans for a reopening of the German attack in the Champagne region on the eve of July 4 enabled Allied artillery to lay down a devastating barrage 1 hour before the enemy ' s guns were scheduled to commence their preparation for the attack . The 75mm guns of the 42d Division , standing hub to hub , joined the artillery of the Allies in shredding the German assault . The 38th and 3d Divisions stood firm on the Marne despite the ferocity of Germany ' s last desperate gamble for victory . Finally , the enemy fell back and a massive Allied attack was launched in the direction of Soissons , while the Saint Mihiel salient , which the Germans had held for years , was sealed off by Pershing ' s First Army . Again , artillery played a key role . About 3 , 010 guns of 26 calibers and 46 models poured 74 types of ammunition into the salient in the 4 hours and 45 minutes prior to the attack . Altogether , 838 , 019 rounds of ammunition — high explosive , smoke , and nonpersistent gas — were expended in a single battle . The careful preparation of the attack and the air superiority that had been achieved paid off in terms of 16 , 000 German prisoners and 443 artillery weapons captured . In the final Allied offensive of the war , the First and Second US Armies , operating between the Meuse and the Argonne , were thrown forward against the Hindenburg line . An unprecedented artillery bombardment supported the advancing infantry . French and American artillery averaged one gun per 8 yards of front , whereas the enemy could muster only one gun per 25 yards . In the American sector over a quarter of a million rounds rained down on the enemy in the first day of the attack , alone . Stunned , but taking a heavy toll of American troops , the enemy pulled back . By the end of October , the last German defensive stronghold , the Kriemhilde Stellung , had been reached . Blasted by the massed firepower of divisional , corps , and army artillery directed by careful aerial observation , the enemy offered little resistance to the infantry attack that followed the 2 - hour barrage of October 31 , 1918 . The Allied forces rushed for Sedan and the German border . On November 11 , 1918 , the German Government capitulated . Soon after the armistice of November 1918 , the War Department urged Congress to authorize the establishment of a permanent regular army of nearly 600 , 000 and a 3 - month universal training program , which would facilitate a quick expansion of this force to meet the requirements of a new major war . The Congress and the American public rejected these proposals . They believed that the defeat of Germany and the exhaustion of the other European powers guaranteed that there would be no major land war for years to come . The possibility of war with Japan was recognized , but the American powers assumed that such a war would be primarily a naval conflict . Therefore , the fundamental factor in the military policy of the United States during the next two decades was reliance on the US Navy as the first line of national defense . Usage of artillery . The artillery Arm developed several new methods and tactics of combat during the war , including :