The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-21
MODERN FIELD ARTILLERY.
Guns Nowadays Capable of Firing is
and 20 Shots a Minute.


From the Courier des Etats-U
Field artillery has passed through a COM
pete evolution during the last few years.
Increase in rapidity of firing has become
an essential condition of the existence of
the modern field-piece. All military au-
thorities agree upon the necessity of be-
ing able TO produce at given moment ter
rible effects in the shortest possible time
The difficulty in the problem consisted in
avoiding waste Of munitions.
Upon this subject Lieut.. Poncet has pub
lished In the Revue d'Artillerie an inter
esting article which has been partially in
spired by the works Of Gen. Langlois upon
field artillery. Up to the end of the six
teenth century little attention had been
paid to rapid firing The artillery, more
over, was heavy and clumsy. At the battle
of Granson, in 1915, according TO Meyer
in his Technology Of Firearms" the
pieces of Charles the Bold were charged
and pointed against the Swiss at the be-
ginning of the combat. The firing began in
volleys, but the aim was too high and this
caused the loss of the battle, because there
was no time to recharge the pieces. At that
period the average artillery fire was about
thirty shots a day for each piece. The
heating of the pieces also proved TO be an
obstacle
Attempts at increasing the rapidlty of
artillery fire go back as far as the seven
teenth century. when the Germans en-
ployed the first breech-loading cannon.
More serious results were obtained in the
time Of Frederick H., when the field ar
tillery was made very much lighter Up
to the end of the eighteenth century, with
the return of the heavy pieces of artillery
of GrebeauYal as well as in the wars
of the revolution and of the empire, the
maximum rapidity of The fire in battle was
from one 10 two shots minute for each
piece,
Moreover, IN the time of smooth-bore
guns, the cannonade which preceded the
battle was never intended to crush the
enemy. II covered the deploying of the
troops and presented a chance to gain time
without serious loss 10 the enemy. During
the greater portion of the action the ar
tilery fire was almost continuous, but al
ways extremely slow. At the decisive mo-
ment, marked by the employment of shrap-
mel or grapeshot, the artillery discharges
were carried on with extraordinary vio-
lence, and reached rapidly of 2I6 and
even shots a minute for each piece, as,
for instance at Wagram and Friedland,
when the batteries opened the breach for
the infantry by their grape and canister
Ere.
With ri1ed cannon the action was rare
ly decisive at long range. At an ordinary
distance the effect produced was salts
factory, but Ii was never crushing. For
example, at Sadowa two lines of artillery
fought for five hours without either being
knocked out. During the Franco German
war the rapdity of fire of the French
guns reached one shot minute with the
12-pound pieces and two shots a minute
with the and 4-pound pieces, and the
same for shrapnel fire. The rapidity of
the German breechloading guns was very
little superior to that of the French.
Since 1871 the progress of field artillery
has been considerably increased. In the
first advance the range was increased
In the second the destructive power of the
proiectile was developed by a methodlcal
augmentation, and in the third and last
step this same power has been augmented
still more by the general use OF the tir
fusant. which extends by 800 to 5000 me-
tres, and even more, the crushing effects
of the old shrapnel fire.
II is undeniabie that to crush an enemy
il is only necessary to increase the Of
fensive power of artillery fire, and 70 do
that the maximum OF rapidity is requir-
ed Artillery says Gen. Langlois, "by
its fire ought to be just like an old-time
charge of cavalry with this difference.
that 1t is a charge that nothing can stop
and which smashes down everything be-
fore It." The means employed to that end
consist in diminishing the recoil, In ac-
celebrating the return of the piece in bat
terry and in facilitating the pointing. the
charging and the firing of the gun. Thanks
to the combination of these different adj
vantages, the guns recently made show
an increase in rapidity of firing.
The field piece of 1896 adopted by the
German government is made TO fire reeu-
larry Ave shots a minute; but that Is a
limited speed to avoid waste In reality
the piece is capable Of firing double and