The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-07
NEW WEAPON OF WAR
.,o1AlN zALINsKi AT WORK ON A
w. FIELD MoRTAR-HoWlTzER.

. mill the nIen-Claims His How
,yu, Have a Range OF Mile at Low
,.,ation-strength Of the Regiment
.,,ntain E. L. Zalinski. United States
~ retired, whose name Is ramiilar
H. Connection with the dynamite gun,
,orlr on a field mortar howitzer,
- be believes must become an I'M
wortant weapon in military operations.
gUst At present he is interested not alone
- tbe turning out OF model OF the
- r;ece. but he seeks to enlist suffi-
NC. ;pterest of substantial character to
e .N;,o obout the formation of regiment
ed with this mortar howitzer, and
~ w;ll undertake personally to drill the
nen Discussing his present project, he
'" Tho arm most difficult to raise, equip
"a train is the field artillery. We are
licking in guns and equipments for an
adncpate proportion of this arm, and
.hoy could not be manufactured in a
hort time. Even having these, it re-
oriros a considerable time to train both
horses and men TO fair degree OF pro-
fciencv. 1t is proposed to raise provi-
s;onoliv regiment of light artillery,
hrt m he armed with field mortar how
tiers instead of guns. The especial adj
yontapes of these field mortar
are as follows
They can deliver vertical fire which
cannot be guarded against by field in
trenchments. They could be used most
effectively in siege operations, such as
ore about to be undertaken at Havana,
San Juan, etc.. in keeping down the
ere of the defense. They cannot support
an attack by their vertical fire over the
heads of our advancing troops until
thew approach the enemy's line, thus
assisting to keep down the enemy's fire
and increase chances Of success of the
attacking forces. They can be concen-
trated within a smaller space than is
nossible 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 so 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 CAMS.
ter in direct fire at short range. Such
an arm would be of very great value tc
us, because of our deficiency in field
artillery and because of it's own pecul
lar military possibilities. Concentrate
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 genera
a very sledge hammer with which Il
crush the enemy's line, however wei
intrenched. The mortar-howitzer an(
equipment will be lighter than the 81
field mortar heretofore adopted by thu
United States 1t will throw shrapne
weighing IL pounds to a range of abou
two miles. A departure from this is ad
visable because it is too heavy and re
quires the laying of platform ant
other obstacles to the rapid use, essen
tial in field mortar. l have designed
a mortar-howitZer. and mechanical
craftsmen are now at work. / pro
pose to have model constructed to ties
while not new in themselves. are new
in this special application. Once
model mortar is made the entire mum
Der needed for regiment can be mad
very much more quickly than would b
possible for similar number of fiel
guns, as they can be made in the aver
age machine shop.
The regiment it is proposed to rails
is to be composed of l2 batteries, man
ming IL mortar-howitzers each, maxim
thus "A pieces. The strength of eac
battery will be about $50 men, maxim
the regimental strength between l,S0
and 300 About $50 horses or mule
will be required. The cost of armin
the regiment will be about $500, 00C
Captain Zalinski says the regimen
would be an organization of a potential
ity greater than it would be possible
obtain In any other way Describing hi
new mortar howitzer, he says: 1T
mounted on wheels. very much like OF
binary fieldpieces except that the cal
rage will be so constructed as TO PERM
giving an angle of elevation of 40 d.
grees While able to give this high ell
walton, 1t will also be available for nor
zontal fire, which would be used !
cases where the batteries are OH the d,
iensive in position that is being a
saulted. The wheels are to be only thre
leet high and the tread only two fee
the idea being to enable them TO be tai
en- wherever single horse or mu
can 60. The ammunition, consisting {
three inch shrapnel, weighing 2 pound
VIII be carried in ammunition wagons
The mortars will have range of 4, 0C
yards at high elevation. which at To-
angle or direct range would carry L
toa mile.
In military parlance direct fire"
"a 10 - 81