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FM 3-50: Smoke Operations

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FM 3-50: Smoke Operations *FM 3-50 Field Manual Headquarters No. 3-50 Department of the Army Washington, DC, 4 December 1990 Smoke Operations DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. * This publication supersedes FM 3-50, 25 July 1984. FM 3-50 Change Headquarters No. 1 Department of the Army Washington, DC, 11 September 1996 Smoke Operations 1. Change FM 3-50, 4 December 1990, as follows: Remove old pages: Insert new pages (attached) 3 through 4 3 through 4 97 through 98 97 through 98 54-A through 54-D 2. New or changed material is indicated by a 3. File this transmittal sheet in front of the publication. DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. By Order of the Secretary of the Army: DENNIS J. REIMER General, United States Army Official: Chief of Staff JOEL B. HUDSON Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army 02289 DISTRIBUTION: Active Army, Army National Guard, and U.S. Army Reserve: To be distributed in accordance with the initial distribution number 110743, requirements for FM 3-50. Preface Field Manual 3-50 provides US sustained as necessary to defeat the smoke correctly and is experienced Army units with doctrine, tactics, enemy’s electro-optical systems and in limited visibility operations will techniques, and procedures to use create a "one-way mirror" — one be more agile and respond faster to smoke and obscurants to attack and which our forces can both see and changing situations. defeat specific enemy targets, sen- shoot through to set the terms of Users of this publication are en- sors, target acquisition systems, battle. couraged to recommend additions, weapon guidance systems, and Smoke is a double-edged sword. changes, or comments to this other enemy electro-optical devices. Smoke conceals troop movements, manual. Key your comments to the Also, it describes techniques to slows attacking forces, disrupts com- pages, paragraphs, and line(s) of reduce friendly degradation in mand and control, and reduces the text in which you recommend the smoke. vulnerability of critical assets for changes. Provide reasons for each The scope of this manual is smoke both friendly and Threat forces. comment to ensure understanding operations at the operational and Combat operations in World War II and complete evaluation. Prepare tactical levels of war. The target and the Korean War demonstrated your comments on DA Form 2028 audience is maneuver unit com- that the proper use of smoke enhan- (Recommended Changes to Publica- manders and staff officers, par- ces mission success and force sur- tions and Blank Forms) and for- ticularly the G2/S2, G3/S3, FSO, vivability. In recent times, US forces ward them directly to Commandant, and chemical officer at corps level have reinforced the positive benefits US Army Chemical School, ATTN: and below. Most of the examples of large-area smoke use at the com- ATZN-CM-NF, Fort McClellan, depict smoke support for brigade- bat training centers at Fort Irwin, AL 36205-5020. level operations. California; Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Unless this publication states The focus is on synchronized and Hohenfels, Federal Republic of otherwise, masculine nouns and smoke planning — smoke integrated Germany. pronouns do not refer exclusively to into the commander’s tactical plan, In battle, the side that employs men. 2 FM 3-50 FM 3-50, Cl 11 September 1996 3 FM 3-50, Cl 4 Chapter 1 Introduction Common sense tells us what can and target acquisition (RSTA) ef- protect your force and deny the be seen can be hit and killed on the forts. It also uses smoke to protect Threat the ability to acquire and battlefield. The US Army uses the force and to support tactical engage it. smoke and obscurants to attack deception operations. By combining Threat reconnaissance, surveillance, obscuration with maneuver you can Historical Perspective Armies have used smoke to con- resulted in over 3,000 bombs falling aircraft. Elements of the 133rd Pan- fuse and deceive their enemies harmlessly in and around the area. zer Brigade penetrated CCA's throughout history. We can find in- The use of smoke and other man- defenses. Two tank destroyer dications of smoke operations from made obscurants can give a com- platoons and a medium tank com- as early as 2000 B.C. when the burn- mander an edge if applied properly. pany engaged the 133rd Panzer ing of damp straw was a common Natural obscurants can also be used Brigade. The fog worked to the way to smoke enemy positions. to friendly advantage. The actions defender’s (Allied forces) ad- The War Department proposed of Combat Command A (CCA), 4th vantage, as the limited visibility the use of smoke to President Lin- Armored Division, during the Lor- negated the superior range of the coln during the War Between the raine Campaign, in September 1944, German tank guns. As the fighting States. The idea was not taken demonstrated the use of fog as a surged back and forth through the seriously at the time and smoke was combat multiplier. fog, CCA’s tanks and tank used sparingly. Documentation of On 13 September 1944, CCA destroyers used their mobility to out- the period reflected in the Cavalry forced a crossing of the Moselle maneuver and ambush the larger Journal historical archives suggests River north of the heavily defended Panzers. that " ...a little smoke, judiciously city of Nancy. On 14 September, From 20 to 25 September, the laid down, could have changed the CCA was ordered to bypass Fifth Panzer Army directed the entire course of history. Had the Chateau-Salins and exploit the weak- lllth Panzer Brigade and the llth South used smoke, Federal forces ness to the south. By 1900 hours, Panzer Division into a series of at- may not have been able to stop CCA began to draw into a tacks against the Arracourt posi- Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg even perimeter defense around the town tion. Each assault followed the though the Federal force was great- of Arracourt. This allowed the Ger- pattern set on 19 September. The ly superior...." mans to strengthen their position Panzers attacked under the cover of The use of large-area smoke in- around Chateau-Salins and as- morning fog, only to be thwarted by creased drastically during World semble forces for a major counterat- CCA’s mobile defense and driven War II. The British used smoke to tack against the XII Corps right off by armored counterattacks of effectively screen harbors, factories, flank. The Fifth Panzer Army company or battalion strength. and large cities in the United moved north, striking at CCA’s ex- The defensive actions fought Kingdom from the Luftwaffe’s posed position around Arracourt. around Arracourt stalled the Ger- relentless bombing. In 1943, US for- The ensuing battle was one of the man offensive. The 4th Armored ces used smoke to protect the sup- largest armored engagements fought Division claimed 281 German tanks ply facilities and invasion fleet at on the Western Front. destroyed, 3,000 Germans killed, Bizerte Harbor in North Africa On the morning of 19 September, and another 3,000 taken prisoner in from attacking German aircraft. a heavy fog concealed the German the fighting. For the German offen- The smoke blanket placed over this movement, giving them tactical sive, the ground fog represented a area by smoke generator units surprise and protection from Allied double-edged sword. It provided FM 3-50 5 them concealment but ultimately it proved to be a significant combat led to their demise. For US forces, multiplier. Description of Smoke and Obscurants Obscurants are man-made or burning or vaporizing some defeat the visible through far IR; naturally occurring particles product. An example is the vaporiza- multispectral obscurants defeat the suspended in the air that block or tion of fog oil to produce smoke visible through millimeter wave; and weaken (attenuate) the transmission from a mechanical smoke gener- special purpose obscurants defeat of a particular part or parts of the ator. We classify US and Threat specifically targeted portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as smoke and obscurants, both current- electromagnetic spectrum. visible light, infrared (IR), or ly fielded and developmental, as Appendix G describes the charac- microwaves. Fog, mist, dust, smoke, visual, bispectral, multispectral, or teristics of smokes and obscurants, and chaff are examples of special-purpose obscurants. Visual how they work, and what obscurants. obscurants defeat the visible obscurants are in the US inventory. Smoke is an artificially created through near IR portion of the obscurant normally produced by spectrum; bispectral obscurants Uses of Smoke and Obscurants We can render some electro-opti- What can be seen can be hit and defeat the enemy’s battlefield cal (EO) target acquisition and killed. viewers; weapon guidance systems; sighting devices ineffective; others We use visual obscurants to defeat radar systems; and high-energy, we can degrade significantly; some the enemy’s battlefield viewers, such microwave-directed energy weapons. we cannot affect at all. As a result as binoculars, weapon sights, night Table 1, on the next page, is a tac- of the development of IR and radar observation sights, and laser range tical decision aid for selecting the devices during World War II and finders. We use bispectral type of smoke to defeat a particular subsequent technological advances, obscurants to defeat the enemy’s EO system. Detailed information EO devices have supplemented con- battlefield viewers and weapon concerning the types of smokes and ventional visual methods of target guidance systems such as command obscurants and their effects on EO acquisition and aiming weapons. line-of-sight or terminal homing sys- systems are in Appendixes G and Precision-guided munitions and tems on antitank and air defense B, respectively.
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