The General Romualdas Giedraitis Artillery Battalion, equipped with 105mm howitzers, was founded in December 2000, under a joint Lithuanian-Danish project - LITART. The Danish Army provided material and methodical assistance in the founding of the artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 unit.

History

Implementation of the LITART project involved the following four stages:

• The first stage (January 2000 – January 2002) - planning, co-ordination and preparations for the training of personnel for the Artillery Battalion at artillery and logistic schools in Denmark
  Denmark
  Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
  
  . The Co-ordination Group was established. The Artillery Battalion received the required technical equipment and armaments.
• The second stage (January 2002 – January 2003)—training of control group officers, armament officers, logistic specialists at the Danish military artillery and logistic schools. 63 military personnel serving with the Artillery Battalion underwent training in Denmark. Establishment of fire posts at Central Training Area of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in Pabradė
  Pabrade
  Pabradė is a city in Lithuania, in Švenčionys district municipality, on Žeimena river, 38 km south-west of Švenčionys.Pabradė is a busy place as the Vilnius–Daugavpils railway is close to the city. It was quite a small settlement until the 19th century, when the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg...
  
  , Gaižiūnai Training Area in Rukla. The Artillery Battalion received the required artillery equipment, armaments, technical equipment, modern surveillance devices, navigation system
  Navigation system
  A navigation system is a system that aids is navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board a vehicle or vessel, or they may be located elsewhere and communicate via radio or other signals with a vehicle or vessel, or they may use a combination of these methods.Navigation systems may be...
  
  s, most advanced computer equipment, ammunition
  Ammunition
  Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
  
  , modern targeting systems like laser system, termovision, nightvision devices, GPS.
• The third stage (July 2003 – December 2003)—junior grade commander and specialist training course delivered at the Artillery Battalion in Lithuania. Over 90 junior grade officers (gun commanders, anti-tank observers, signal officers, fire control
  Fire control
  control of fire 'control of fire' is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, or reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving a fire of fuel, oxygen or heat ....
  
   non-commissioned officers, weather specialist etc.) received training. In 2003 the artillery battalion was attached to the Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade
  Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade
  Motorised Infantry Brigade "Iron Wolf" is the core unit of the Lithuanian Army and forms the country's contribution to NATO collective defence...
  
  .
• The fourth stage (May 2004 – February 2005)—training of servicemen of the initial mandatory military service at the Artillery Battalion in Lithuania. During the stage, all troops serving with the Artillery Battalion will receive training, artillery simulator was set up at the Artillery Battalion. In 2004 the artillery battalion was granted with a name in honor of General Romualdas Giedraitis.

Tasks

Main role of the battalion's is to support infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

. Other units may have mortars

Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

, but the artillery battalion uses only heavier weapons.
Artillery may provide support in all types of a battle at any time of a day under any weather conditions. Artillery fire may be move from one shooting area to another and to define the course of the battle.

Sources

• Lithuanian Ministry of Defence site