The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1914-11-12
A FORT -REDUCER
krupp's and the New Siege Gun.-Evo-
luton Of Destructive Implement

in the horde Of workers al krupp'
which has been faithfully kept b
!. them, many Of the successes OF III
German army are ndoubtedly du,
Consider the new siege gun
This ponderous weapon has been tn
one big surprise of the war in Europe
Its action and effect have startle
every ordnance expert on the face 0
: the earth. II has completely revolu
: tionized the science of making war.
Nations have expended billions o
: dollars in construction Of fortifca
tons. The most expensive material
have been used. Cost was not consid
cred Men have made ii their life.
work to construct fortresses that were
in their time considered impregnable
And as long ago as 1885, when the
ma jority Of the so-called modern forti.
fications before such cities as Liege
and Namur were completed, they be-
lieved that that end had been attained
The best of the Notifications scat
tered throughout Europe are con-
structed along similar lines. As an
example, one of the Turkish forts on
the Bosporus was built from the iden-
tical plans used in the construction Of
one of the forts before Liege. Now
money spent in erecting such forts is
considered as good as lost The day
of the fortress has passed; the new
siege gun is responsible for the pass
ing.
Making the Destroyer in Secret.
1t has been repeatedly asserted
that no nation has any military sec
rets that are not in the possession of
other important nations, but events
have proved that this terrible weapon
was most certainly an exception. Only
few high German army officials had
heard of it. There are members of
the Reichstag who voted the money to
construct the first gun who until this
day are ignorant of its nature. The
first one was built five years ago at
Krupp's. 1t was tested on the prov
ing grounds attached to the plant.
These grounds cover an area of
four kilometres in length and two
kilometres in width. They are used
in testing and experimental firing of
all kinds of guns built at the Krupr
plant, for tests on armor plates, deck
plates, steel plates for the shields on
the carriages of field guns, powder
and various varieties of high-powered
explosives, and for bursting trials of
gun barrels and projectiles. In 1909
$4,000 rounds were fired at the Krupp
proving grounds. Thousands of men
were working there every day. And
every day they saw the new siege
gun being tested
When, after a period of experiment
tation, it was determined that the gun
was a success, other similar weapons
were made and brought out for their |
tests. On some days as many as three
of these gigantic weapons were being
fired. Every employee Of the plant
knew something about the guns, and
$4,000 men at least have seen one or
more of them in operation during the
last five years. Each man, apparent
ly, has held the secret in his breast as
though it were his own.
A member of the Reichstag, in
Berlin newspaper of recent date, dis
cussed the secrecy that surrounded the
making of the siege gun as follows:
"The fact that the German army
possessed such gun was as much a
surprise to the Germans as to for
eigners, for its construction and ma
ture were kept secret, as the situation
demanded, SO that even in the empire
only limited number knew about it.
When the trials were finished and all
was ready to begin the construction
of the new gun, the problem presented
itself Of making this wonderful work
Of war without attracting attention.
"More than forty officials participat-
ed in the preliminary discussion over
the preparation of the military buoget
for the consideration of the Budget :
Committee of the Reichstag. When
the subject Of arms was reached, the
head of that department requested ,
that this part of the budget be not ,
debated at that time. At the close OF ,
The session he told me confidentially /,
that new siege gun was in construc-
ion. The General Staff, he said, had
requested that not word be /
said about the matter in the Budget :
Commission. Not even the officers,
hey declared, knew what was being
lone Z
The Evolution Of the Siege Gun. .
In view Of the important part this I
'iege gun has been and is playing in a
his war and will play in all wars in t
he future, description Of il and its
.volution is valuable. The first Of q
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