The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-20
HORRORS OF M.D-RA WAR.
Made More Horrible by the Improve
ments IN Arms.


In a recent article concerning the next
great European war, Prof. Emil de Lave
lee prophesies that the number Of killed
and wounded will in one day surpass that
Of an entire war Of former times. Human
blood will never have soaked the earth
IN such streams. On the continent
Prof. Lsvelsye has long been
regarded as a professional alarm
ist, and most Of his published opinions
Of the approach aud magnitude Of the com
ing war have been taken with a grain OF
salt. OF late, however, the ms lority OF men
on the continent who write for the maya
zines on military subjects have been grad
ually swinging around 70 his extreme posi-
ton, which they formerly ridlculed. This
| partial change of front is largely due to the
impression made by the energy Of the great
/ powers in furnishing their armies with the
newest and deadiest weapons which money
J VIII GUY.
! The vast superiority Of these weapons
/ over all weapons of former times is the
| basis Of recent estimates Of experts that in
/ the next war the losses of the combatants
/ VIII he 30 or 40 Per cent. Of the men in
active service-that is. far more than
| double the losses Of the war of lS10-'7l. The
| famous needle gun, with which Germany
I won her battles nearly twenty years ago.
| IS to-day considered a pretty Anticipated
weapon. With weight of So Kilograms
and caliber OF 10 millimeters, it had a
range Of but 500 meters, hardly one
third Of mile. To-day the French con-
slider a gun with four kilograms weight,
eight millimeters caliber, and 1000 meters
range somewhat behind the times. The
| German gun, new twenty years ago, de-
! lIversd eight shots in the minute. The
French gun, already passing out of date,
delivers eight shots in twenty seconds.
DuriDr the nars the C.ar-f1 army vii
be provided with new magazine guns, and
he guns which were deadly enough for it
five years ago will be laid on the shelf or
used as old iron. Three years ago Austro-
Hungary began to INTRODUCES modern maya
zine guns of big caliber among its infantry.
During the last year, however, the intro
duction of the big caliber guns has been
given up and guns of small caliber have
taken their place Italy, too, has given her
army guns of the latest pattern. Russia
alone, with her colossus of nearly 100000
men, sticks to the weapons of former days.
A good many speculative heads on the con
tlnent just now are trying to calculate the
effect of all these Improvements upon the
conduct OF the next war. In a recent issue
of Die Nation, a German weekly, Hugo
Hintze makes the following prophecy:
The various zones in which modern
infantry may act are as follows: COOL, 900
meters lone mile to three-hfths of mie)
zone of evolution; 1.000-501 meters, first
fighting zone; 500-250 meters. zone of
increased and hot firing; 10000 meters,
zone of the last firing, whence the decisive
volley is fired and the attempt to take by
storm is made. The only cover possible for
attacking infantry is to be gotten merely
by lying flet on the ground during the
firing. Cover, while advancing from posi-
ton to position, does not exist. The losses
of the advancing infantry will be
enormous. Only the uninterrupted crowd
ing forward Of Immensely superior forces
at particular points will render its attacks
successful. To cross field of 500 meters
breadth, swept by constantly increasing
! vclleys, requires of soldiers degree of
moral courage and persistence that in past
vars has never been dreamed of. Nor will
| the losses of the infantry be confined to its
| operations within the zones described, for,
| save in most Instantaneous country
the artillery will be able to sweep the ad-
vancing columns with destructive fire.
The battle of the field artillery will not
| be less murderous. Aside from small varia-
| tons among the different kinds of artillery,
! the extreme range of grenades may be
| stated as z 900 meters well over four miles,,
and tho range of shrapnel 5000 meters
| The real dueling distance is between 1000
and 2,50C meters. prominent German
| officer of artillery describes a modern artll-
| lery battle thus:
d" 1t is a battle of life or death, duel at
| the end of which one of the principals lies
dead on the field. 1t would be criminal
and inconceivable piece of recklessness to
enter into such a struggle without utilizing
| every possible means to victory
81 would apply a similar remark TO the
whole struggle on the battlefield, and say:
| One principal lies dead on the field, the
| other leaves tho field cripple
ARTILLERY will do its deadlieSt work dur
| ing battle of the infantry, at q distance of
| 1900 meters; nearer than 100 meters it dare
not venture. Artillery need not open fire
| upon attacking cavalry beyond an 1900
meter limit Ia an open field 1t will then win
without difficulty. What will become of the
! cavalry in such combatg 1t will be an
initiated. Already, in lS70-7l, the infantry,
merely in line, repulsed repeatedly attack
| ing cavalry. And to-day? The infantry
pays no attention at all to the advancing
cavalry till it has approached to within 100
meters Then it overwhelms the helpless
horsemen, unprotected, in these days of
smokeless powder, even by a veil of smoke,
| with twenty volleyS to the minute, aud the
slaughter is over.
The effectiveness of the siege and fortif1
| cation guns has been brought TO frightful
| degree Of perfection. The big siege can
mons have range Of 10000 meters. The
weight of the proiectiles of siege cannons of
shorter range runs as high as us Kilograms.
Naval guns and guns of the coast defense
carry shot weighing 1000 kilograms. No
armor, no earthworks can long withstand
the explosive power of these shot
Formerly 15-centimeter grenade
was exploded into forty or forty
five pieces; to-day it Is torn into 800 to
$50 pieces of over ten grains weight, and in
800 pieces of one-benth grain weight, while
the smallest pieces of less than one grain
| weight are thrown with sufficient force to
penetrate plank of two centimeters thick
ness. No Qualifications can be constructed
which can long Withstand a bombardment
with such grenades.
Herr Hintze also speaks briefly of the
Zalinsly dynamite gun, although he con-
slders its formidabiity to be largely cur
tailed in these times of enormous guns by