Ranges varied depending on the target. Heavy artillery ranges were out to 11,000 yards in general. The Paris Guns (3 were built) fired rounds into and about Paris at a range of 60 miles and some claim 80 miles. They were built by the German firm of Krupp. Each shell was slightly larger than the previous due to the wear to the barrel. After the war none of the guns were recovered, however their emplcements have been found.
The large naval artillery could fire a round 23 miles. The army and coastal artillery could fire about that far. Field Artillery were not as large and had a shorter range. Modern artillery has used rocket assisted artillery shells but I'm not sure of the range of those.
Timed and massed, artillary guns would fire on fixed targets in various and increasingly complex patterns. The idea was that the overwhelming and concentrated fire was far more effect than individual guns firing on their own.
German rail guns could fire a shell about 20 miles.
A "click" is the same for artillery as it is for infantry. In actuality it is a "Klick" in reference to a Kilometer or 1,000 meters
it will throw me far
it will throw me far
"Fire World" by Chris d'Lacey has 560 pages.
They were nicknamed Anzio Annie and were capable of firing a 562 pound artillery shell as far as 31 miles.
The artillery pieces appeared to be patterned after the famous 280mm (eleven inch in caliber- on the nose!) Railroad guns popularily called Big Berthas. These were made by Krupp and had an accurate tactical range of over 2l miles- and inaccurate plunging fire far beyond that. That is why they used Radar fire-control in the film. The Big Berthas were used in both RR and in this case turret mounts, in both World Wars.
50 feet
at the least 10 feet...... maybe
By far and away, artillery soldiers had an extremely low rate of casualties. The numbers of such casualties are so low its difficult to imagine they can be real. But there were. For example, in the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville historians note how heavy Lee's casualties were, even in victory, with the exception of artillery soldiers. In that battle only 46 artillery men were lost.