Concentration of ammunition on a designated target
Battle of Raszyn re-enactment, 2006
Volley fire, as a military tactic, is (in its simplest form) the concept of having soldiers shoot in the same direction en masse.[1] In practice, it often consists of having a line of soldiers all discharge their weapons simultaneously at the enemy forces on command, known as "firing a volley", followed by more lines of soldiers repeating the same manoeuvre in turns. This is usually to compensate for the inaccuracy, slow rate of fire (as many early ranged weapons took a long time and much effort to reload), limited effective range and stopping power of individual weapons, which often requires a massed saturation attack to be effective. The volley fire, specifically the musketry volley technique (also known as the countermarch), requires lines of soldiers to step to the front, fire on command and then march back into a column to reload, while the next row repeats the same process.
The term "volley" came from Middle French volée, substantivation of the verb voler, which in turns came from Latin volare, both meaning "to fly", referring to the pre-firearm practice of archers mass-shooting into the air to shower their enemy with arrows. While the tactic of volley fire is usually associated with Dutch military thinkers in the late 16th century, its principles have been applied to crossbow infantry since at least the Chinese Tang dynasty.[2]
^Andrade 2016, p. 144. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAndrade2016 (help)
Volleyfire, as a military tactic, is (in its simplest form) the concept of having soldiers shoot in the same direction en masse. In practice, it often...
reloading in a systematic fashion. Volleyfire was implemented with cannons as early as 1388 by Ming artillerists, but volleyfire with matchlocks was not implemented...
A volley gun is a gun with multiple single-shot barrels that volleyfired simultaneously or sequentially in quick succession. Although capable of unleashing...
reloading in a systematic fashion. Volleyfire was implemented with cannons as early as 1388 by Ming artillerists, but volleyfire with matchlocks was not implemented...
Quan (李筌), contains the oldest known depiction and description of the volleyfire technique. The illustration shows a rectangular crossbow formation with...
based in Bergamo, Italy Volley Treviso, a professional volleyball team based in Treviso, Italy Volleyfire, the simultaneous firing of a number of projectiles...
warships maneuvering to volleyfire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides...
the troops providing cover fire above. The covering company would have moved towards a reunion, delivering heavy volleyfire and leaving the trail of expended...
mines, naval mines and rocket launchers. Earliest recorded instance of volleyfire with gunpowder weaponry, by the Ming dynasty. The rest of the world catches...
became one of the first armies in Europe to implement rotating lines of volleyfire in battle. The corps was organized into ortas (literally, "centers")...
barrage of several missiles even if the system is effective, so that volleyfire of interceptors continues to be required. There is also the possibility...
European or Chinese firearms at the time. Qi Jiguang applied the concept of volleyfire to matchlock firearms and deployed teams of 10 musketeers. The optimal...
by a short interval for reloading. The command to fire is re-issued before each individual volley to preserve organization. This was commonly used during...
Additionally he introduced the practice of volleyfire, where all of the gunners in the ranks would fire at the same time. This was intended to bring...
one of the most innovative forces in Europe, introducing the tactic of volleyfire alongside and perhaps even earlier than most European armies. Even greater...
deliver significant kinetic effects. The development of disciplined volleyfire, delivered at close range, began to improve the hitting power of infantry...
mentions in his memoirs that his unit of 13 cavalrymen was ambushed by a volley of fire from 30-40 rifles from the Tuzakoğlu factory after being saluted and...
Battle of Nagashino, defeated by one of the earliest recorded uses of volleyfire (by Oda Nobunaga's 3,000 guns), and losing a large part of his forces...
of fire on the enemy by lining troops into ranks, allowing one rank to fire a salvo, or volley, while the other ranks prepared their guns for firing. The...
Mason and Dixon's Line that any mob of this sort had actually met the volleyfire of soldiers." When the mob, now numbering 10,000, returned, they were...
Royal Navy during the early stages of the Napoleonic Wars. It is a type of volley gun adapted for ship-to-ship fighting, but was limited in its use because...
while 1,000 crossbowmen divided into four sections to provide continuous volleyfire. When Shi's cavalry engaged Li's Shuofang army they were completely unable...
long-range 'volley sights' for massed firing at ranges of up to 1.6 km (1 mi). Individual shots were unlikely to hit, but a platoon firing repeatedly could...
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