The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-02-13

E>HJNSA%7 A. Ia val. Guns and
:: =: s.: !: s: :: 5:
point of perfec-
ton which makes war impossible be
cause armies can be annihilated at
will
1t goes without saying that the mo-
ment an army can be annihilated to a
certainty men will cease to think
war an interesting game for any OBJ
ject whatsoever. War is q struggle of
two physical forces in the shape of
armed men for the supremacy Elm
mate one of the forces and the struggle
ends. This was done last September
by the British at Omdurman when up
to date Maxim machine guns wiped
out nearly 10000 dervishes, killing H.
600 of them outright. On smaller
scale the humiliation of an army at
Omdurman has been repeated Oh the
Nile in the region of INhartum within
a few weeks by General Wingate In
this affair the British harassed the der
wishes until stirred into retaliating.
With all their old dash and gallantry
they charged the hill where the British
stood arrayed and We're not stopped
until they had reached within 60 yards
of the MaNims. The khalifa, his pre-
mier or chief adviser. his war leader
together.
TO say that the dervishes We're an
initiated is quite the truth, but horde
of fanatical barbarians is not typical
army. The armies which it would be
desirable to have refrain from war are
provided with up to date devices for
putting the other side hors de combat.
Since both parties to the conflict have
had the one end in view-namely, to
adopt the most effective man kill
ing devices-it Gurns out in practice
that both are conservative in risks, and
it is largely matter of accident which
will be found to have the best of the
combat. so far as weapons go.
A year before the Franco-Prussian
war broke out was in Germany and
heard on all sides laudation of the new
breechloading army rifle which was to
give the German army the mastery, SO
her people said. This was the needle
gun, of which the invention and manu-
facture was under German control.
Being familiar with the old Spring
field and also with the breechloading
carbine which some of our cavalry
used at Petersburg, l took an interest
in the new weapon and saw several
tests. There seemed no doubt as to it's
utility and that troops armed with it
could NOW down enemies at an appall-
ing rate.
But when war broke out in 1870
France brought out her chassepot to
offset the needle guns and the mitrail-
leuse against the krupps of her foe.
Germany won the day in the end, and
perhaps it was her superior weapons
which led to the result. But the French
made some scores with their devices
too. General Phil Sheridan witnessed
the battle of Gravelotte and left
record of his observations of the re-
suits of new weapons. He says that
in the opening artillery duel the French
mitrailleuses responded to the German
Krupps with deadly effect at first, but
finally slackened, and the Germans
supposed the enemy's guns had been
silenced. Sheridan himself thought
the French would be heard from again,
and the result showed his perspicacity.
The Germans charged with their usual
intrepidity, but when they got within
short range the guns, mitrailleusess and
chassepots along the ridge opened,
and the German column was destroy
ed. A German official report states
that French mitrailleuse battery eff
fectively commanded the Gravelotte
highroad in the face of the German
troops.
The right wing of the French army
lost the battle for its side, and that
wing had no mitrailleuses. On one
part of the field German battery was
silenced by mitrailleuse fire which cut
down all the horses, several officers
and 40 men.
At Mars lie Tour a Prussian infantry
brigade was forced to fall back before
mitrailleuse fire and was almost ami
A4''.N'Ns'' NDAN'tiJ NdS lOEMdFu
to recover the ground, but the charge
was repulsed by violent mitrailleuse
fire. The mitrailleuse of 1870 was not
perfect weapon. but combined with
the breechloading chassepot it produc-
ed "a per cent of the casualties in the
German army at Gravelotte So great
was the fear of the German soldiers of
the French machine guns that the
standing order for German artillerists
was no matter what else you do, so
long as you see the mitrailleuse battery
devote your attention to it,
The proportion of field guns to field
pieces in the French army was as one
to three. In the Russo Turkish war
the machine guns played an insignif-
cant part At FL Obeid. in the Sudan.
where Hicks Pasha's force was annihi-
Jared, the Mahdists failed to shake the