Although indirect fire has been called newly discovered it is interesting to consider an account of the siege of Therouenne by the Burgundians in 1543 (not to be confused with Henry VIII's siege of 1513). The artillerists of Therouenne observed that the enemy made use of a valley which was screened by a crest from the guns of the town. By the aid of bushes judiciously placed on the crest, the guns were trained on vulnerable portions of the valley. Flank observers were placed on the crest and by signals indicated to the gunners which bush to fire over. It is recorded that the Burgundians were taken completely by surprise and suffered heavy casualties. This is perhaps the first use of indirect fire but of course it was employed merely to overcome a local difficulty and not as a regular practice. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 120 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com