TargamaT team Sep 26, 2010:

From the memoirs of Dr. James D. Allan From our viewpoint, we watched many hundreds of German infantry personnel streaming up the easy slope of the distant mountainside, presumably to find a refuge at the top. Suddenly, we heard dozens of artillery shells whizzing over our heads and watched the shells burst among them. Then, all would be silent. Then, after a period of five or ten minutes, the artillery would begin again. The infantry guys, with me, explained that our artillery usually fired what they called “TOT”, meaning “time on target”. In other words, our artillery units fired a certain number of rounds at the same time and at a certain target and then took a break for five or ten minutes before firing again. This explained something to me that had occurred when I was retreating with Greyhound (Windhund) division. They would signal the unit when to move or not to move across a certain area that was under artillery attack. I had wondered how the Germans knew when it was safe for us to cross a certain area and this “TOT” business explained it.

http://www.stalag-via.de/stal19.htm