The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-10-29
Il TRIUMPH OF TRACTION

Before the beginning Of war in Eu-
rope there had been a great deal of
prophesy concerning the prominence
the automobile would assume as a fac
tor In the warfare, but It seems that
nobody foresaw that TO motor traction
would be due the greatest change in
the fundamentals of war that has ever
occurred. AS far back as history goes
here have been forts and sieges. For
ihcations have always been relied
lpon to Withstand attack, and have
neen changed in form as changes I'm
armament have suggested the neces-
'ity OF improvement. The blockhouse
u pioneer days in America was i'm
'regnable to the attacks of savages
armed with aboriginal instruments O.
'ar or with firearms other than can.
ION, which the Indians rarely succeed
q In acquiring. The walls which still
urround some Of the Asian and Euro
pean cities were in their day safe
against all attacks save those of SOL
1fers who contrived to scale them. The
ugh, thin masonry walls of the "Red
Fort" of the Mughul Emperors of In
liza were impregnable to arms that
could be turned against them, al
though they would be no protection
'gainst light field pieces nowadays.
The modern Notifications, such as
those OF Liege, Namur and Antwerp.
we're regarded as impregnable upon
he supposition that there was limit
above which the weight of cannon for
held use could not go. But the mill
tary engineers did not take into ac-
S~~..s Inc possibilities ui motor rrac-
tion. 1t was for a long time stub-
oorniy believed that mule power would
always be the only practical form of
traction :Gr cannon across country.
Automobiles. it was held. would mire
OF their own weight where there were
no roads. and at first there were no
models built to cope with uneven sur
faces.
There, are now "four-wheel drive"
trucks which can climb over almost
any sort Of obstruction and scramble
In and out of bitches with amazing
adaptability to difficulties formerly re-
garded as insurmountable. There are
giant trucks which can cross COM
parettyely bcssy stretches drawing
sfter them siege guns larger than
were formerly regarded AZ nnaaihia
mobile arms.
When it was announced that the
Austrians would use a twelve-inch
held gun it was popularity believed
that 1t could not be doE.a. Now the
German Forty-two centimeter, or six-
teen-and-a-half inch gun is being
hauled about by tractors and used with
irresistible effectiveness against the
most modern Notifications. A sixty
centimeter gun for use against for
tresses is now reported to be in the
making. The rumor is more credible
now than the report OF Austria,s
twelve-inch field gun was when the
was began. 1t has been demonstrated
that the possibilities of motor traction
are such that 1t cannot be- longer said
that any gun designed for field usa
cannot be transported.
The German forty-two centimeter
gun weighs twenty-six tons, yet It ia
moved with certainty and does exc
'ution wholly impossible where light
n gums are used. The rixty-centimet-
er cannon tdll weigh. perhaps, forty
tons.
OF course. the Krupps can make
guns as large as they believe to be
practical. The answer, to the question
whether q gun OF given size and
weight is practical depends upon the
means OF moving It. It has already
been proved that the Germans can use
cannon much heavier than the Allies
have at the front. Their artillery has
been the surprise OF the war. There
may be- further developments OF its
superiority. If there are it viii be be-
cause OF traction facilities unknown
in previous wars.
viii historians have to credit motor
traction with having rendered fortifl-
cEtions obsolete and revolutionixed
the theory OF defenses-Courier Jour
nal. 4
a modest mother In house drass
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