Page "Artillery" Paragraph 75

Logistic services, supply of artillery ammunition has always been a major component of military logistics.

Up until World War I some armies made artillery responsible for all forward ammunition supply because the load of small arms ammunition was trivial compared to artillery.

Different armies use different approaches to ammunition supply, which can vary with the nature of operations.

Differences include where the logistic service transfers artillery ammunition to artillery, the amount of ammunition carried in units and extent to which stocks are held at unit or battery level.

A key difference is whether supply is ' push ' or ' pull '.

In the former the ' pipeline ' keeps pushing ammunition into formations or units at a defined rate.

In the latter units fire as tactically necessary and replenish to maintain or reach their authorised holding ( which can vary ), so the logistic system has to be able to cope with surge and slack.