The light., 1900-01-18
ADVANTAGES OF FIELD HOWITzERS.
lost Effective In DisIodging an Enemy from
Behind Rocks.

Several batteries of field-nowltzers
Sill be added soon, it Is eXpecteu' "
he artillery equipment of the Onlteu
States Army. The advantages clalh-
ID for the howitzers are based NANNY
IN the superior advantages afforded IN
,hrapnel fire. Only recently three Iuil
lowitzer batteries were despatched
rom England to South Africa, and
ordnance officials here are keenly
awaiting news of the performance or
.he guns.
The English weapons have callDre
If about five inches. In many respects
he English howitzer resembles the
l20-millimetre field-gun of the Frencn
lrmy. 1t was the rapid-fire mechanism
If the latter gun which Dreyfus was
charged with having disclosed to
foreign Power. Both the English and
French howitzers possess the Snort
stumpy barrels peculiar to weapons or
This type. The carriages are con-
structed with a view to rapid fire, and
are provided with mechanism for aD-
;orbing the recoil. Elevation and
train are effected by the usual me-
,hanical gear worked under the breech
Of the gun. The British are operating
The hOwitzers in full batteries, and In
dependent of the longcalibred Held
guns. The French follow the practice
IF distributing the howitzers among
he field-batteries. The recent order
reducing the French field-batterles
from six to four guns will result, 1T Is
thought, in combining the howitZers In
to Independent organizations.
In dislodging an enemy from behind
rocks and light breastwOrks, the most
effective form of prOjectile known to-
lay is the shrapnel. The shrapnel shell
is burst into the air over the enemys
position, and the small balls contained
within are projected onward and
downward. The general trend or
shrapnel balls assumes the shape Of
1 cone inverted. The ordinary field-gun
Of three-inch calibre has an effective
shrapnel range of about $500 yOrds.
At this range the energy of shrapnel
balls in order to inf1ict dangerous
wounds upon horses should be about
282 foot-pounds. This requires for the
smallest-sized bullets, fOrty-two to the
pound. a remaining velocity of about
S74 feet per second, and which CORE
spends to a muZzle velocity Of about
1,6OO foot-seconds. This latter is the
4
rapid-fire field-guns Of the United
States.
The howitzers, owing to their great
er calibre, admit Of using an enormous
number Of small balls. The gun is
primarily a sharpnel weapon. In point
of range and penetrating power it is
not the equal of the smaller-calibred
but longer barrelled field-gun. The
hOwitzer, ordnance officials in Wash
ingtOn say, has specific part to play,
the same as the siege-gun, and for
work such as the British have cut out
for their troops In South Africa, dis
lodging an enemy from behind rocks,
the howitZer has no superior. 1t is
noteworthy that for several years past
the Germans have been assigning one
or more howitzers to positions on a
number of their war-ships, it being
recognized that the high-angled how
itzer fire cannot be equalled by the fire
of kigh-velocity, lOwer-calibred guns.
The German war-ship hOwitzers are
designed especially for service in clear
ing out coast pits containing disappear
ing guns.-New York Post.