Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-30
DEATH DEALING GUNS
A Prussian Commander Recounts the
Results of Experiments With
IMPROVED MODERN ARTILLERY.
How His Country Astonished Europe and
Made Its Military Force
THE MOST PERFECT IN TIE WORLD

| lone as COMMANDER Oh arIllleIy III tne uclu
is probably unrivaled among living officers.
In 1864, 1866 and 1870 he was in command
of Prussian artillery force. In 1870 he
was chief of the Corps Artillery of the
Guard. He has acquired in three cam
paigns knowledge of his profession which
coniers the highest possible value upon his
recently published letters, viewed merely
in the light Of technical manual for the
use of gunners. During the years which
have passed since the battle of jena, says
the London Spectator, the problem before
the General Staff in Berlin has been to
create a machine on purely scientific plan,
theoretically complete in all its parts, but
capable at the same time of bearing the
rough test of actual war, and of adapting
itself to every emergency of campaign.
The work has been done with characteristic
| thoroughness. The perfection of the ma
terial, the completeness of the system, the
accuracy of the methods of instruction, all
bear testimony to scientific spirit, and a
persevering adaptation of means to ends. to
which we have no parallel whatever in the
military arrangements of this country.
But though rigid and searching scien-
tifc test has been applied to every detail,
the Prussian Staff has never for a moment
forgotten that whatever may be the perfec-
ton of appliances and the completeness of
a system, the personal element in all cases
where life and death are concerned must
ever remain paramount. Every rule, there
fore, every instruction. is based not onty
upon material, but upon a moral founda-
tion. The true secret of German military
organization consists in laying every source
OF strength under contribution so as to OBJ
tain the highest possible value from the in
struments employed.
HOW PRUSSIA AsToNIsHED EUROPE.
The circumstances under which Prince
Kraits correspondence was commenced are
in themselves typical of the spirit in which
military problems are approached in Berlin.
In 1866 Prussia astonished the world by an
nihilating in six weeks the military power
of Austria. The rest of Europe, amazed at
the result, hastened to do practical homage
to the victor in course of servile but not
always successful limitations of as much as
it could understand of the system which had
produced such results. The Prussian Gen
eral staff, however, looked upon their own
achievements in quite different light. The
Austrians had been defeated, it is true, but
by the needle gun. The Austrian artillery
had everywhere been as we'll handled and
more effective than the Prussian. Success
on such terms could hardly be called success
There could be no rest until the Prussian
artillery had learned to understand its faults,
and to remedy them. The four years of
peace which followed Koniggratz were de-
voted to an unremitting study of the sclen-
tifc development of artillery. The result
showed the value of the study, and the per-
fectlon of the method. When 1870 came,
the Prussian gunners had not only learned
Al Al 49,
theoretical instrdction into practice. The
following terrible account will give some
idea of the value of peace practice when
rightly conducted. The author is describ-
ing an action in the Franco-German War:
l could never have believed that the in
struction given in time of peace would have
borne such excellent fruit in spite of the ex.
citement of action. How much the more agreea-
BILE was my surprise when standing behind the
captain of a battery in action, I heard him
quietly give the order: Against infantry in
front, 1900 PAGES, from the right flank, ready
Fire one gunr' Then he waited holding his
feldglass to his eye, until the enemy ap-
preached the point on which the guns were
laid, and gave the order, Rapid firing from
the right 1ankr'
AN IRRESISTIBLE ATTACK.
Then there was an awful sight, for the ad-
vancing enemy disappeared from view in the
clouds of smoke which the shells threw up as
they burst and tore their way through the
ranks. After one or two minutes the attack
ing enemy came out on one side of the smoke.
1t had passed the point on which the guns were
laid, and in spite of terrible loss, approached
with undeniable bravery. Then the Captain
gave the command: ''Cease firingl /, 900 PAGES
one gun-cease tiringr' And when the guns
the right flank, rapid fring!' The effect was
brilliant horrible. overwhelming. No attack |
could have resisted it.
1t is still believed by some military au-
thorities, whose experience of war stops
short of 1870, that the effect of artillery is |!
chiefly moral; that as a man-killing weapon |
the field gun is not to be feared. Prince |
Kraft does not accept this view. Here is |
his account of tbs effect of the German guns |
at st. Privat:
When the head of the French column be- |
came visible over the hill, our trial shots |
reached 1t at a range of 1,900 PAGES, and my 30 /
was enveloped in the thick smoke which the |
shells made as they burst. But after very |
short time we saw the red trousers of the |
through the cloud. stopped the fire. A trial |
shot was fired at l. 700 PAGES range; this was to |
show us the point up to which we would let |
We did the same for the ranges of I,500, 1900, |
J, 100 and 800 PAGES. In spite of the horrible |
devastationwhich the shells caused in their |
ranks. these brave troops continued to advance: |
but at 900 PAGES the effect of our fire was too |
deadly for them; they turned round and fed; |
we hurled shells after them as long as we could |
see them. Here was an infantry attack which |
was repulsed purely and simply by the fire of |
artillery.
1t is supposed by some that the fire of in I
fantry armed with breechloaders is more |
than a match for artillery. Prince Kraft |
absolutely denies this. Over and over again |
he lays down the proposition that "a line of |
artillery cannot be broken by a frontal
attack"
PRINCE KRAFT's RULE.
But Prince Kraft certainly means what |
he says; nay, he goes farther, and lays down |
as an absolute rule, that, save in obedience |
to positive orders from the General COM
manding, battery should never be retired |
in action. The men and horses may be shot |
down, but as long as there are two men to
serve the gun, that is sufficient. Ammu-
milton may run short. It.js true that at |
such time battery Is deienseless until |.
fresh supply arrives; but gunners without
ammunition, and exposed to fire, will as
rule find ammunition; if they do not, they
will be killed, no doubt; but then the re-
mainder of the troops will not be discouraged
by the withdrawal of the guns.
Apropos of this Spartan instruction.
Prince Kraft gives an example of the spirit
which animates and informs that iron ma
chine, the German army, and which dou-
bles its force. 1t is a fine story, worth re-
membering. At the battle of Chateaudun,
a battery found itself without ammunition
under heavy fire. What was to be done
The officer commanding solved the question.
He ordered the gunners TO take their places
on the limbers and sing the "Wacht am
Rhair % Gin order - as the uritar With a