The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-07-05
NEW WEAPON OF WAR
CAPTAIN zALlNskl AT WORK ON A
FIELD MoRTAR-HOwiTzER.

- T.
fsrs to DriIi the Men---Ciaims His How
itssr VIII Have Range of Mile ss Low
Strength Of the Regiment.
Captain e. L. zalinslxi. United States
army, retired, whose name is familiar
In connection with the dynamite gun,
is at work on field mortar -howitzer,
which he believes must become an i'm
portant weapon in military operations.
just at present he is interested not alone
in the turning out Of model of the
new piece, but he seeks to enlist suffi-
cient interest Of substantial character to
bring about the formation Of q regiment
armed with this mortar. howitzer, and
he will undertake personally to drill thu
men. Discussing his present project, he
said recently:
The arm most difficult to raise, equip
and train is the field artillery. We are
lacking In guns and equipments for an
adequate proportion Of this arm, and
they could not be manufactured in a
short time. Even having these, IL re-
quires considerable time to train both
horses and men to fair degree Of pro-
ficiency. It 10 proposed to raise provi-
sionally regiment of light artillery,
but to be armed with field mortar-how2
itxers instead Of guns. The especial ad-
vantages of these field mortar howitzers
are as follows:
They can deliver a vertical FIRE which
cannot be guarded against by field in
trenchments. They could be used most
effectively in siege operations, such as
are about to be undertaken at Havana,
San Juan, etc., in keeping down the
fire Of the defense. They cannot support
an attack by their vertical fire over the
heads of our advancing troops until
they approach the enemy's line, thus
assisting TO keep down the cnemy's fire
and increase chances Of success of the
attacking forces They can be concen-
trated within smaller space than is
possible for ordinary field artillery.
They are very light and can be trans
ported ON narrow one horse cart
They thus have degree of mobility
which will enable them to be moved
wherever infantry can be moved. They
require smaller number of horses and
men per piece, and the horses need not
be 30 highly trained as for field artil-
lery. For the defense Of line they
would be of great value throughout the
course Of an attack, using finally canis-
ter in direct fire at short range. Such
an arm would be Of very great value to
rs, because Of our deficiency in field
artillery and because of it's own pccul-
lar military possibilities. Concentrat-
ing their fire in large numbers at the
critical time Of battle they can deliver
''feu d'enfer" of shrapnel, which
would be demoralizing to the enemy.
The weapon have in view places
in the hands Of commanding general
. very sledge hammer with which to
crush the enemy's line, however we'll
intrenched. The -howitzer and
equipment will be lighter than the 8.6
field mortar heretofore adopted by the
United States 1t will throw shrapnel
weighing IL pounds to q range of about
two miles. A departure from this is ad-
visable because II is too heavy and re-
quires the laying of a platform and
other obstacles to the rapid use, essen
tial in field mortar. have designed
o mortar r-howitzcr, and mechanical
craftsmen are now ut work. ! pro-
pose to have model constructed to test
the correctness Of some details, which,
while not now In themselves, are new
in this special application. Once q
model mortar Is made the entire num-
ber needed for regiment can be made
very much more quickly than would be
possible for similar number Of field
guns, as they can DO made In the aver
age machine shop
The regiment it is proposed to raise
is to be composed Of ~ batteries. man
ming l2 mortar -howitzers each, making
thus 144 pieces. The strength Of each
battery will be about 100 men, making
the regimental strength between /, 500
and I, 900. About 450 horses or mules
will be required. Tho cost Of arming
the regiment will be about $500. 900.
Captain Zalinski says the regiment
would be an organization Of potential
ity greater than il would be possible to
obtain In any other way. Describing his
new mortar-howitzer, he says: lit Is
mounted ON wheels, very much like or
dinary fieldpieces, except that the car
riags will be 40 constructed as To permit
giving an angle of elevation Of 10 de-
grees. While able TO give this high ele-
vation, IL will also be available for hori.
zontal fire. which would be used In
cases where the batteries are ON the de-
fensiye ina position that Is being AS
saulted The wheelsare to be only three
feet high and tho tread only two feet,
the idea being TO enable them to be TAX
en- wherever single horse or mule
can GO The r-nmvnition, consisting Of