Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-08-30

in army artillery q few years ago with
the establishment of the Coast Ar
tillery al a separate service, and the
newspapers have indicated often
enough the difference between the big
guns Of the navy and the big guns
Of the coast forts. Neither Of these
kinds of big guns is, Of. course, to
count for anything in the present !Eu.
ropelain1 conflict. It Ii the cannons
that are in the field that may spell
defeat Or victory In every engage
ment of the war and that may turn
the tide Of even the expected great
est battle. Of the world"
Modsrn Field Artillery an Unknown
Quantity.
The form OF artillery becomes,
therefore, Of especial interest at this
time, not only to war students, but to
laymen as well, for modern field ar
tillsry ID q brand new institution and
there are few people, except those
whose duty 1t is to understand such
things. who know that It is no longer
necessary for field batteries to be up
on the firing line In battle. and who
understand how a battle may be won
by field artillery stationed two. three
or, four miles In the rear Of the sol.
diers engaged In the conflict.
For students Of war there has come
opportunity at just this time q small
volume on the elements Of Modern
Field Artillery" which makes clear.
much Of It's mystery. Written by
Major Harry G. Bishop, u. s. A., it
is, he says, intended to be, non.
technical explanation Of the powers
and limitations Of field artillery and
Intended not % y textbook, but solely
as q reference for the layman. Major
Bishop has written an excellent
work, and not the least valuable afea-
TURF Of 1t just now ,is that what he
writes applies almost equally we'll to
the German filed artillery, the French
field. artillery. the Belgian. the Eng
lish. the Russian, and all the other
warning powers, although 1t is writ
ten to describe the iUnfted States SCI.
vice. Why this il a ~ shown by the
following: /
France introduced tie Field Gun II
1898.
I'm 1892 General Langlois Of the
French army gave to the world his
now classic work, entitled Field Ar
tillery in Combination With Other
Arms I fhis book, from q thorough
study Of modern and ancient battles
and all their attendant circunstahces
and exhaustive scientific discussion
Of the development Of munitions Of
war and .otf aths developments in other
fields Of. modern ,endeayor. he duct.
ed the field gun q the future aud its
method 81 employment.
From having been looked upon as
q chimerical dream, this gun became
q reality in France shout 1895. The
principal changes, lomparing Tito The
then ssxistink skhna,,s.were In the meth
DDS, 31tf laying the piece rid III cdhs.
trolling It's recoil that the gun would
not Kick or the target. The sight
Ing or laying apparatus, while more
speedy th4h former eontrivanceS, was
such, ,thht the sesuln could be- laid Upon
the target By Directing the laying ap:
paratus on an auxiliary target, OF
aiming point Thts Improvement en-.
abied the gun TO belpostad. ft ! con:
cealed. masked 81 dsfiaded POSITION
with respect to its target, the only
limitation 10 this .ltaeAiaae bsi1g snetsn
rally, that, the Trajectory. should .cleal
the mask. This pftncibfe of 1iidireGct
fire. wss not i new one; but The new
apparatus and the methods, for ,usin,
it were d vast Improvement over u
existing 0Hea,s fxrtichlafly ID the mt
ter Of speed and .aecpgasy:
..The second Improvement, contro
OF the tecoil, held me Gun aftsf e86l
shot &t6 ito previous latipS md thds
with improvements In the breaHk
mechanism and In the ammunition
made the piece : true rapid:Afe gun
French Equtpsneft First Alaieut66
Then Adopted.
.othsr fdxticns bsgxn4by rUohspSol
ing the gun-14GerrnznHa ~ the 4sa4G--:
then passed to the :sst4ts ~ inpdlflyahnl
their existing equipment, ana eide!
by throwing II all ia the scrap heAl
and building an artillery eqnipmen
on the aAtae geAeral linSS D IA
French. Tits Is thu bisssinit
gun. which the entire Nofids, iMSl11a
ing the United States, hss.b ybeenI for
edaatos adopt. against,s Its xENl. lh1dIS
an expense u. tnlilionS 81 aolllrs. 81
'Thkss, GGUhs ID; use during sike Russo
Japanese sWar iby both sioe1s thong
often spoken VI, as ''rapidadfe guns.
were not the guns SSHQve referred Il
They were what kstschnically know
as accelerated fire guns" a elias
failing between our SO guns Of 1s9