The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-12-03
INVENTION BY
U. S. ARMY man
New Gun Promises to Revolution.
lie Warfare

London. Dee. 3.-That the general
adoption of the Lewis automatic ma
chine gun would revolutionize warfare,
sending the present day rifles and
Maxims to the junk heap and render
ing current military tactics antiquated
ut one stroke. is the opinion of a high
army officer who was present at the
trials this week ut Bisley of Il new
gun invented by Cot. l. " Lewis, for
merly of the United States
The army officer, who stipulated
that his name should not be mentioned
for fear of a reprimand by his GOV
eminent, drew IA vivid picture of the
war Of the future. if that one desire
Of all war offices-a portable auto
matte machine gun, not dependent on
water for cooling-should prove no
mere 10Y. but able to stand up under
actual service conditions.
Squardons of cavalry going into ac-
ton armed with machine guns instead
of the lance. sabre. or carbine, regi-
ments If infantry carrying machine
guns, each soldier having a potential
deadliness of two or more companies
armed with mere rifles; flocks of swift
light armored aeroplanes, each mount
ing one or two machine guns, swoop-
ing down on the enemy with deadly
hail of fire. were soma Of the military
novelties that he prophesied for the
not distant future If the now Lewis
gun, which was highly successful in
the preliminary tests, could stand the
gruelling of actual service. He said:
For The first time n machine gun.
capable of firing 500 To 500 rounds a
minute is to be carried by an infan-
tryman. No horses or mules are need
ed, as with the Maxim. This gun
weighs only twenty-siX and Il half
pounds, less than half soldiers nor
NAL equipment. Think what that
meansl one infantryman can carry
a gun and his comrad1 can carry the
Every company of $50
men could carry seventy-five guns. A
single company would have a destruc-
tive power equal to a whole regiment
at present.
Lightness a Feature.
MY opinion is that the new gun is
bound to displace MaXim's for it takes
five mules and ten men for every Max
i'm. as against no mules and two men
for the Lewis gun. Another thing
is that it will do away with the ne.
cessity of having cavalry escort for
wagon trains. A machine gun could
he mounted on every wagon"
The scene which the New York
Times correspondent witnessed at the
Bisley tests was a tremendously inn
pressive one. The new weapon, which
to a laynan looked more like an over
grown rifle than a machine sun. was
mounted On small iron tripod on
the 200-yard range. The inventor. Col.
Lewis. was visibly nervous as he gave
final instructions to the civilian oper-
ntor. while grouped behind IN an in
terested and silent semi-circle stood
Major General Nondonoph. Master
General of Ordnance: Major General
Inspector of Cavalry ana
manv other high English army officers,
Of the admiralty, mill
iary men from South Africa, New
Zealand and Australia: the Bulgarian
minister. Squier: the American mill
larry attache. the Belgian, Austrian an |
Japanese attaches and representatives
If nearly all the other foreign govern
ments.
Some idea Of the interest aroused
may be gained from the fact that q
Russian colonel. who was present. had
been ordered from Sevastopol to Eng
land on two hours notice by the Rus
sian minister of war.
After several thousand rounds had
heen fired i'm what seemed only a fcv
the whole company Of a hun
dred went 10 inspect the riddlcd tar
get. other tests were made at the
ZOO yard range. then the officers pres
Ont had an opportunity to fire the gun
themselves from the 200 yard range.
The American attache was one or
those who eagerly availed themselves
Of the chance.
New Gun Popular Abroad
Then the word passed THAI an aero
plane was coming. Tho company hast
tened to the watch tower IN time to
see heavy numbering ark of a BIZ
plane climb slowly into the cold gray
sky against the brisk and treacherous
head wind. In special seat fastened
under the pilot seat sat an officer
with "a machine gun mounted before
him.
AS the biplanc swung toward the
target at an altitude Of GOO feet he
fired the whole magazine Of forty-
seven rounds in less than five min
utes, scoring high percentage " hits.
Even to the layman the demonstra-
ton was impressive.
Col. Lewis beamed all over with