Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-30


foctlvcly commanded the Gravelottc
| hlghrond In tic face OF the German
troops.
The right wing OF the French army
lost the battle for its side. and that
| wing had no initraiilcuses. On one
part of the ieid u German battery was
| silcnced by Irtrnillcuse Are which cut
down all the horses. several officers
aud 40 men.
| At Mars le Tour n Prus3lan infantry
brigade was forced 10 fall bacS before
i1!tralllcusc fire and was almost ami.
!iilatcd. Cavalry was pushed forward
TO recover the ground, but the charge
wa3 rcpulscd by violent mitrailleuse
Are. The mitralleuse OF 1870 was not
n perfect weapon. but combined with
the brcechlondllg cliassepot 1t produc-
rd 81 per cent of the casualties in the
| German army at Grayelotte. So great
was the fear Of the German soldiers OF
the French machine gums that the
Standing order for German artlllerists
was, NO matter what else you do. so
long as you see the miirailleuse battery
devote your attention TO It,"
The proportion Of field guns to field
pieces IN she French army was as one
TO three. In the Russo-Turkish war
the machine guns played an insignlf-
cant part. At III Obeld. in the Sudan,
where Hicks pasha's force was nnnlhl-
lated, the Mnbdisis failed TO shake the
line protected by the mItrailleUsc
They broke through the square in front
| OF n muzze loader. and that ended the
/ fight.
Every instance Of the effective use Of
machine guns M to the battle OF San
hn.p was In uercnsc. At thar battle
Captain Parker used his Gatlings to
s,Hke the Spuniards in their trenches
In front of the American infantry as
sault and succeeded in doing what the
field batteries had failed in. But 1t
takes II deal of 1ying metal 20 destroy
line of battle, to say nothing of ami
hllatlng Its personnel.
| At Gettysburg the Confederates rain
ed shots upon Cemetery hill until they
lIpposcd the Fcdcrals were silenced,
hut when Plckctt's columns got within
been dcludcd. The batteries cut down
the Vlrgnlans with canister, and n few
machine guns would have annihilatcd
them, but had there been machine
guns ON Cemetery ridge picketts
charge would not have taken place.
' And 1t will never come to 1t that men
Of highly trained armies will walk up
To the slaughter as the dcrvshes did
nt Omdurman
Theory ilgurcs out what a weapon
/ can do against given target. One
4 enthusiast, writing of the Crcusot gun
now heard of In South Africa. says.
/ with such pieces one Cea In seven
minutes put hors dc combat three.
quarters Of the effective. OF the
y troops of n covered campaign battery
ut 4 distance Of more than two miles" :"
lie means that II would hr possible
hut every experienced soldier knows
ihnt II would no, occur one time In
100, Hundreds Of thousands OF pro.
! Jectilcs have hccg ra.ncd upon iHclosed
towns with only tri1iug carualtlcs. 1t
Is saih that II takes mans weight
IN lead to XIII him, and II can no shown
by statistics TINT fer every man hit in
battle there are from 800 TO 200 mis-
sllcs trcd, All of this Is taken into ac.
count in the study OF uancuycrs, aud,
whilc leaders aud soli'crs expect TO
take chances, there ls Jus, as much In
Scnulty put upon dcYlccs for covering
the troops In battles MS there Is upon
means to hit them. II * only In cases
Of accidental characterization or rare
foolhardlncss that u mass OF troops IN
exposed to the murdcrou5 fire of
brccchiondcrs or Of quick firing can.
non.
The war In South Africa Is a surnrise
TO those whose views of the subject arc
based upon theory. II has been deadly
FOR the British, who were supposed to
he provided with the newest forms of
weapons, Their machine gun ia the
Maxim -Nordenrcldt, which ilrcs ut n
high rntc of speed an ordinary rife bul-
let. But it seems that the Rocrs hnyc
these same guns and In fact, are sup.
piled with. MP TO date materials Tor
either defensive or Offensive warfare.
Being upon the defensive. they have
the advantage, for the long range qu!cls
shooting gun destroys the assailns col.
umn before It can bring its powers into
play. At Tugela river Colonel Longs
guns were outclassed, compelling him
TO push dangerously close 10 the Boer
position.
Since the Franco Prussun war there
has not been prolonged conflict be.
tween armies equally equipped until
the present When tho Turi,a fongbt