Evening star., 1914-08-09

Ine piece.
Though this standard field piece will be
the mainstay of the armies in the field.
there are other types of gun, notably
the large ealiber disappearing gun and
the mortar, which will play their part
in defensive action. The latter gun, so
the army experts say. is especially ef-
fective against battleships. Fired high
into the air. II descends from distance
of five miles, and in addition to its own
force has this tremendous aid from the
law Of gravity.
In connection with the battles OF mod
ern artillery It Is worthy to note the
fact that the automobile will not. in the
opinion Of experts. supplant the horse.
A few years ago the nations of Europe
enthusiastically accepted the theory that
the day of the horse-drawn battery was
nearing its end. Evidently, theory and
practice have not coincided.
An authority explained recently the
reasons for the failure of the automobile
battery. His statement follows:
The mobile artillery throughout Eu-
rope is being drawn by horses Theo-
reticallv the gasoline motors should have
been adopted and applied to field guns.
and experiments and efforts to this end
have been made without number. but
the horse is still throwing his bulk
against the zinc-faced steel collar. and in
some armies against the breast strap.
OF the artillery harness and tugging at
the leather bound steel cable traces of
field guns and caissons.
THE limitations of the traction power
of the horse have limited the power Of
field artillery. but it has not been found
possible to move field guns without him.
Field artillery has been given the great
est power consistent with the weight
that wheel, swing and lead teams can
draw. and this weight is small compared
with the loads that motor trucks carry
through the streets and over roads. but
mobility has been accommodated to the
horse travelling at a walk about two and
three-quarter miles an hour and at
trot when the need arises at the rate Of
about five miles an hour.
Horse artillery, in which the cannon
eers ride single mounts is supposed to
90 with the cavalry. but II is a question
whether It is much more mobile than
light artillery In which the cannoneers
are mounted on the carriages or march
beside them, and which Is the companion
Of infantry. In horse artillery there are
more animals for the replacement of
horse casualties.
But the horse-drawn gun is light and
slow compared with what q motor-driven
gun or caisson might be, yet all the
theories Of automobile artillery have
failed In practice. The motor-driven gun
has not met, and probably never will
meet, the requirements OF neld artillery
sudden strains over rough or muddy fields
bitches. fallen trees and rocks that In
uaneuvers and In war sometimes over
turn the carriages.
The motor-driven gun works well on
hard roads, but artillery must naneuver
and so into position and come out OF posi-
ticn on the roads.
During the recent maneuvers of the
territorial forces Of Great Britains north
ern command. the guns of the West Rid
ing Royal Horse Artillery were drawn
eighty miles in three and a half hours by
tractors. This was over good roads, and
is of limited significance. 1t was no new
experiment. Automobile artillery has not
worked in the fields and woods and rocky,
muddy and steep hillsides In all weathers.
About three years ago an automobile
gun was devised. Plans and drawings
were considered by the ordnance depart
ment Of the United States Army. or by
officers of that department. 1t was all
right In theory and on paper. 1t was not
tried out practically because Of discour-
agement by the ordnance officers who
had had experience with engines of a
similar character. One of the objections
pointed out was that the weight Of the
vehicle would break down almost any
bridge along the country roads of the
United States.
The claims made for this gun were
that IL could travel twenty-five miles an
hour twenty-four hours a day; that there
was no loss Of time in unlimbering and
limbering; that power was consumed
only on the march, thus saving the for-
age Of idle horses; that II could go INTO
action wherever a horse-drawn gun couio
go: that 1t could fire to the front, rear
or either flank quicker than the present
field gun could be unlimbered: that IL
could be fired at any angle between the
horizontal and the vertical, and thus be
used against aeroplanes; that Its ninety
horsepower engine in slow gear would
lift the weight OF the gun and carriage:
that the speed could be reduced from p
miles an hour to ID, from 10 to ~, from
10 to 5 and from to without siowine
down the engine: that in backing the
engine could be slowed down so that the
speed of the car would be reduced 10
half mile an hour, and thar IN aooi-
ton to the three-inch field piece, WIFE
300 rounds of ammunition, 1t would carry
twelve automatic Colts, 10000 ROUNDS Q.
small-arms ammunition, nine men, anu
would weight 5000 pounds.
THE field gun mounted on an automo-
bile makes a pretty picture, but when
the battery commander sends back word
to bring the battery up at a trot, post II
in flash defilade, that the position OF the
right and LEFT pieces are marked oy ols,
mounted men, that the combat train viii
be posted on the right of the road wnere
Poiiick run crosses. and that the lin
bers will be posted under cover along .ne
timbered stream at the left rear OF tne
guns, it is the stocky. slnort-coupled, big,
barreIed, wide-breasted. nimbled-leggeo
artillery horses that will bring those
gums across the fields.
There is good deal of artinciai snoot-
ing in the flag matter, but II makes
for training. Some rifemen throw up
handful OF dry grass to try the
wind, some watch a pun OF smoke. ana
Others wet one finger with their tongue
and hold 1t up to test the direction ano
force OF the wind.