Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-09-11
THE MODERN SOLDIER.
Discovery of a Frenchman Suggests
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very sensational discovery is re-
ported from France. In a recent num-
ber of La France Militaire, under the
heading of New Cavalry Cuirasses,"
il i announced that the movement in
favor of aboliShing the lingering rem
nant of armor still in use in modern
armies has received a sudden check by
the discovery of an unnamed inven-
tor, whose ingenuity promises to re-
store armor to the place which 1t for
merly occupied in warfare.
Every school boy knows that the
practice of arraying fighting men In
coats of armor, which had culminat-
ed in the fifteenth century by covering
both horse and rider with armor, re-
ceived what was believed to be it's
deathblow by the general introduction
of gunpowder, beginning with the
siege of Harheur.
At present the showy cuirass which
fingers in European armies, is purely
spectacular, a showy ingredient of the
circus side of warfare. Soldiers con-
stantly assert that cuirasses will new
er be used again in actual fighting.
They weigh seventy or eighty pounds,
they cost $40 or SIS, and they are not
even proof against a revolver bullet,
while as against modern rifles, they
might as we'll be made of brown pa
per. Hence, as La France Militaire
l. I. CT
in the French army in favor of abol-
ishing cuirasses, both for cuirassers
and dragons. But General de CALI
fet offered strong resistance to this
revolutionary reform, and the cuirass
was saved. 1t is doubtful whether
ever General de Gallifet would have
been able to arrest the abolition of
the cuirass had it not been for the
discovery referred to above.
This was a discovery rather than an
invention. Although its precise nature
is still buried in mystery, enough is
known to give rise to very interesting
speculations as to whether, instead of
getting rid of armor altogether, we
are not destined in the next few years
to see the temperance OF mail-clad
men in the ranks of war. The French
government has for some months past
been making an exhaustive series OF
experiments as to the value of the
new composition. and it is interesting
to hear they have practically decided
hnc rDoo1a pnO1 his
claims, and that in the warfare of the
future the new kind of armor is des-
tined to play a very important part
This is not surprising if the claims
of the inventor are really substantial
ed. It is asserted that the new mate
rial possesses four or five times as
much resistance as chilled steel; that
it is practically invulnerable to rifle
bullets; that it does not weigh any
more than the existing cuirass; that II
can be manufactured at half the price,
and even if it should be pierced it can
be made as good as new almost with
out any considerable expenditure Of
time or material.
Experiments have been conducted
which go to prove that the soldier
provided with this new armor can eX-
pose himself to the fire of modern RI
fles, at a distance of 100 yards, and
suffer as little from their fire as If he
were being assaled by pea-shooters.
This is true, not merely of the bullets
which are at present used by The ar
mics of the world, but even of the
new bullet with which all govern
ments are furnishing themselves in
hot haste.
The new bullet that has not yet been
issued for use in actual warfare is
largely composed of steel, and it's
sharp point tears its way through iron
and steel, against which the ordinary
surface bullet beats in vain. The reg
iment arrayed in this armor of proof,
and marching up to within 100 yards
of the enemy, suffers no more damage
from a mitraille of steel bullets than
if it were marching through an ordi-
nary hailstorm.
Of course, everything that adds to
the weight carried by a soldier de-
creases the mobility of the army, and
it will be argued that the gain in in
vulnerability will be purchased at too
dear a price if it were to retard the
movements of the troops. But on the
other hand, the experience of man
kind in ages when war was the orGi-
nary occupation of able-bodied men,
shows that the temptation to cover
the body is irresistible. Soldiers are
always disposed to purchase invulner-
ability at the expense of mobility. 1t
is obvious that a thousand men whom
no bullets could hurt who could only
march two miles an hour, could give
points to vulnerable antagonists even
if they could march at twice their
speed.
THE CRITICS