artillery barrages
Massed gun fire
Artillery barrages are sustained, concentrated bombardments from large-caliber guns—cannons, howitzers, mortars—typically directed at enemy positions before or during an assault.
The term evokes the massive bombardments of World War I, where barrages could last hours or days: The artillery barrage churned the battlefield into mud.
Figuratively, any overwhelming volley—of questions, criticism, or information—may be called a barrage.
- field gunsTowable battlefield artillery pieces
- howitzersHigh-angle artillery weapons
- big gunsInfluential, powerful people
- mortarsBowls for grinding
- rolling thunderProlonged atmospheric reverberation
sustained fire · shockwaves · fire support · bombardment · saturation bombing · smoke · shell · Western Front · blast · craters · killing fields · defensive lines · shrapnel · salvo · softening up · fortifications · trench warfare · shell shock
- WWI Western Fronttrenches, front lines, frontline, poison gas, no man's land
- warfarebattle, combat, attack, war, armed conflict
- historic momentsturning points, heroic act, triumphs, sacrifice, victories
- ANZACANZAC, ANZAC Day, Gallipoli, Gallipoli campaign, dawn service
- Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge, Bastogne, Patton, McAuliffe, 101st Airborne
- WWI BattlesVerdun, the Somme, Battle of the Somme, Ypres, Marne
artillery barragesprecision strikes
Targeted attacks minimizing collateral
surgical strikes · sniper fire · smart bombs · drone strikes · guided munitions
artillery barragesbunkers
Fortified underground chambers
shelters · bomb shelters · entrenchment · shielding · hunkering down