The Hawaiian gazette., 1914-10-23
FORTS AND GUNS in THE WAR.


and capture OF the forts Of antwerp and Of the
persistent holding oesses Of the Nerdun line
are pointed out by the mty critic the Nieuwe Rotedmsc
Couant who gives description Of the German Notifications
near Metz and Strassburg
@Thc German Qualifications Metz and sassbgrg he
writes consist Of small by the usual Obstacles
(uch redoub trenches noat and Sptang lements
These forts are grouped form units has its ar
ored batteries ong gunsl and also unken batteries OF
hghaceory The neryeppg infantry positions are
supported by small calber field pieces
These few hundred meters apart and connected
with ubeanean passages Which a also barracks beyond
the range Of artillery fire ang itpsbe to move troops into
the positions without exposing them tehc hostile artillery ire
this the Il such that would have to take
small work after another operation which would cost many
ives) ga 4sss
that forts 81 their order have entirely
lost their value but it is certain that the 42entme pieces
tsschen1nen Intervening military works. the fire from these
guns while terrible effect would not quickly accomplish the
results wanted An additional factor this IS that the transpor
aton Of these heavy pieces IS difficult undertaking which is also
of the necessary ammunition supply To these along
an extended fine Of small forts is heavy task
other has been learned that Notifications Of
type by Brianont would have served their
purpose we'll had the Germans failed TO provide themselves with
the 42centnetre pieces Ii has been Gve that the
35entmete batteries though smaller in caber
and Of lesser force Of penetration suffice amply to reduce unit
fort in little time General Bramon and the French military
engineers is said made the mistake Of taking for granted that
the 2cenuee Of the Germans and their armies were
the last work having accepted that the steel they
familiar with could stand greater chambepressure That
heavier piece would give more penetration than they calculated IN
plans they accepted that it
would be such In OF the fact
that thrtyx horses have difficulty in moving Of the
German 42s this conclusion reasonable enough explained
artillery officer neither General Bamont the French
could oresee that motor traction would make uc
mendous progress the forts they built were planned
That the Germans and Austrian have moved their AS and
35 respectively BY But this to have been
done where the roads permitted Of other In
varaby they by powerful traction engines which in adj
don to the piece itself pull from Recently
type engine the Caterpillar has been OBJ
served for bad roads and owed fields In addition
both the German and Austrian heavy pieces mounted
railroads Whether this latter device has been suggested
the be said but few days ago several heavy Ger
batteries taken in this the Belgian rail
roads the road running the rails also Ordinary rail
road cars trailing behind the caissons carried the personnel OF tho
batteries
What sort Of explosives the Germans use 42cenue
shells still mystery French officers of forts bombarded by thu
Germans that charge Of the proecc meinte blu
Others have expressed the opinion that the explosive something
entirely and that the formed by it have even create
than those Of ntrogcene the strongest high expos
i've known There doubt that the Of The explosive a
violent toxic effect and nothing but strong application oil oge
will revive those succumbing to them
The German AZ is made with two barrea long one Tor fla
range fire. and short for hgangc fire In the former tn
bistc charge necessarily much stronger and with ProIec
weighing from 1000 to 1900 pounds the exerted by tn
explosion upon the chamber walls cannot be less than $50 tons to tn
square inch said The hgapgle mortar A. requires slight
y smaller propeing charge The ongbareled gun Is usee
against offered by orfcaons while the mortar drop
its shells from high elevation into the fort or redouDt Incl
sight ranges respectively eight and hive kilometres
while according Koesche Zetung the flight OF the she
exceeds twelve and kilometres The flight of both shells
aendd BY number of interesting aerial phenomena which
lar have been merely limited at by German experts One OF then
however that gases of the chamber explosion travel ahea
of proece for long distance but that IN the end they ar
left behind by the she'll first the and then the other having tn
greater speed indication it is seriously maintained that tn
vacuum created by the tend to not only support the
1.-The huge mass charge that they actually accelerate
AT about 2OOo meters the the company Of the
Odd the Photographic experiments demonsatn
this made by German ordnance expert during the pomparc
Such least the claim Of the German pres
4 which treats results obtained very guardedy ,r
that the German AZ and the Austria
IS are sighted OF what known the Mor
tube an American invention used instruction practice in I'll
United States navy The tube in question lies along the barr
and fires one pound shewegh and charge being
portions to the weight the poiecte and capacity Of charge
the barrel trail Of smoke shows the patho the one-poun
establishes less accurately what the tractor
is