During World War Two, battleships served as artillery for many of the island invasions the US underwent against Japan.

Mortars are considered small artillery machines, since they could be carried by infantry and had a relatively small explosive payload.

The role of artillery is to bombard heavily defended positions so other forces can move in with less resistance.

In medieval times, catapults and ballista would have been considered artillery, even though they did not launch explosives.

With no chance of taking the enemy base with infantry alone, the commander called an artillery strike from the rocket platforms stationed outside of the battle area.