The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1914-09-08
France Relies Largely
Upon Her Artillery

The French. army today claims the
most deadly rapid field gun yet de-
vised and the fate of her arms III
this war depends largely on her gray
guns and her artillerymen in panta-
looms Of blue. just as Germany has
staked oil on the msssing of over
whelming forces Of men, SO has
France elected to trust to her fort
and field artillery. Germany has wit
tingly shut her eyes to the awful
carnage OF which the French guns
are capable, hoping to rush and cap
ture them by infantry. France is
gambling that her guns will be able
to annihilate any force that comes
within their range. And she Is ready
to sacrifice any number Of her own
infantry merely to protect her guns
from capture to keep them in action.
Which system will win? This Ia
the question that military experts
the world over are asking as they
watch the mighty forces hurled at
each other along the Franco German
frontiers. Both systems really date
back to the time Of the great Napo
leon after having been tried out with
carrying success in our own Civil
war. in the Franco-Prussian war Of
1870 and in the Russio Japanese war
in 1906. While the Germans have
powerful cannon and the French have
wonderful infantry, each army has
been built up on directly diverging
and highly specialized lines. The
Germans have admittedly the best
massed troops as the French have
admittedly the best artillery.
The quick firing Of massed cannon
at close range into large bodies of
troops and particularly the firing Of
these cannon at unexpected points,
made Napoleon master OF Europe. In
our own civil war this methos save
its feature OF missed firing on tao
teal point. was rendered useless by
the invention Of long distance rifles
placed in the hands Of infantry and
the consequent inability to handle,
cannon at close quarters. Witness
Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
BY curious twist Of circumstance
it was the partial use Of the Napo-
leonic method, that enabled the Ger
mans to hasten their victory over
the French in 1870. At St. .Privat
they abandoned their cannon before
effectually using them on the French
to come to hand to hand fighting. and
suffered terrible losses. This lesson
they remembered all during the war.
A little later, ut Sedan, they kept
the brilliant French troops enveloped
in fire from 900 big guns-and won.
Yet today the Germans hope to win
by the method which SO cruelty hurt
them at st. Privat. The carnage IN
this method was more lately illus
trated by the terrible losses OF the
Japanese in assailing the apparently
impregnable guns at Port Arthur.
Thousands upon thousands Of their
soldiers were moved down, but they
finally were victorious. I.
The return Of the French to the old
method Of Napoleon has been made
possible by the invention Of light rap
i'd FIRE field guns and the working out
Of methods for their quick use in as
saultins infantry. suppression of the
latter's IRE by . rain Of shrapnel,
and escape before capture. The ap-
palling power Of artillery. which has
increased out Of all proportion to
rife fire is responsible for the French
theory Of war. They have profited by
the lesson OF Port Arthur-an Incl
dent that may be repealed many
times in this war--and know how to
protect their larger guns with the
flanking fire Of smaller short range
ones, and not only repel. but actual
ly annihilate, any number of men
which may assail any of their forts
Or important stategetic positions.
French military authorities claim
to have the light field guns far sup
erior to any like guns possessed by
any other nation. These guns are
the long barrelled rs nm. (S.2
inches) repeater, weight La tons,
and the .155 MN. q inches) long
and short Rimailho. The superior
ity of these guns lies in that they can
be fred at rate II emergency re-
quires. of virtually o shot every two
seconds. In practice tests the small
er gun has been fred as many as
forty three times q minute. The