Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-08-30

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important part in the stu
peudous military operations IN
Europe which students of that branch
of the service prophesied il would. said
an American artillery officer. And he
continued there is a tendency in the
dispatches from unprofessional. or at
least from non military. sources of au-
thorship to compare the relative eff
cheney of the field artillery of France
and Germany. Whether Justly or not
there has been a disposition among
American military observers. and es-
pecially among American artillery Off
GERS, to regard the French field artillery
as the more progressive and enterpris-
ing and likely to prove of the higher
efficiency.
French artillery material and tech
nique have had an important influence
on the development of American field
artillery. and French held artillery ma
terial has kept several strides ahead of
American material and the presumption
is that 1t has kept ahead IF the Ger
man. But this is "A presumption when
may or may not he substantlated by the
facts when they shall become accessl-
bic. If one may judge from the profess
sionaf papers iii the United States Field
Artillery journal. the Infantry journal.
the Cavalry journal and the Artillery
Journal more is known about French
guns than about German guns. but the
necessary inference is that the Germans
know at least as much about French
artillery as Americans know.
Americans fell out of step with ar
tillery progress and We're backward in
adopting the rapid-fre and fixed am
munition gun on the long-recoll car
riage. In the Spanish-American war, and
for few years after. the American ar
observation-disclosures gun, general
ly called the a. 1t was a fine gun in
range and accuracy. But it fell behind
the times That gun was a breech load
er. When the breech block was rotated
a cannoneer would insert the shell or
shrapnel and with short rammer-
staff would push it home. Behind 1t the
gunner would lay bag of powder
Then he closed and locked the breech
Another cannoneer would insert a fric-
ton primer in the aXial vent. running
the lanyard inside the bronze handle
Everybody would step outside the
primer by means of the lanyard and a
sliding block and the shot was fired In
recoil the gun and carriage. though
the brakes were set would rush back
ward for distances varying with the
slope and character of the ground. The
brakes would be released and the gun
rolled to the front by hand The smoke
ing breech would be opened and a can
end of the rammer-staff would sponge
out the gun.
THE gunner with a wet sponge would
clean out the powder chamber. keeping
wary eye for bits of the burning bag
that had held the powder. and would
sponge with great care the char of
the mushroom or the nose of the obdu-
rator all of which took time. The gun
loaded the gunner would take from his
pouch tangent sight set it in the
sight-socket on the gun. elevate or de-
press the gun by means of a 'lazy-tongs'
elevating gear and signal to the man at
the trail handspike right or left to give
the gun the direction. This was often a
time taking procedure. This gun was
rechambered for smokeless powder.
There was about as much opposition TO
the replacement of this gun with gun
of revolutionary pattern as there was to