Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-10-16
GERMANYS BIG GUNS
They Have Been of Remarkable Effect
AGAINST Allies.

One of the surprises of the war has
been the extraordinary mobility and
effectiveness of the German siege
artillery. The advance of the Ger
man forces into France has been
described as a succession Of sieges,
and the speedy capture of one fort
ress after another was owing to the
tremendous power and accuracy of
the attacking gunfire.
Siege operations, writes a contri-
butor to the Scientific American, are
usually long drawn out, because Of
the time it takes to change the solid
firing platforms, as the lines round
an inv sted city, or fort, are drawn
closer. To overcome this difficulty,
the Krupps designed a new type Of
howitZer, mounted on a carriage
that can be readily moved from point
to point, and can even accompany
the ordinary field artillery into the
battle line.
The great gun is reinforced with a
heavy jacket of hardened steel that
measures eleven feet in length, and
1t has to be carried on specially
designed bed. The gun is moved in
two separate pieces to the firing line,
where the carriage that contains the
firing platform and compressed air
recol brake is first put In position.
The truck that carries the gun itself
is then moved up from the rear. The
gun is pulled from that truck to the
firing platform, and adjusted to the
recoil brake. The spare wheels are
then drawn back, and the arm is ready
to fire.
The two sections are much too
heavy to be drawn by horses, and so
the Germans haul them with gaso-
line tractors, and use the Diplock
wheel construction to support the eX-
cessive weight of the gun. The Dip
lock wheel, or pedhail is not a new
invention. 1t has been used to carry
great loads over soft ground for
many years, and resembles the cat
erpillar" form of traction that Is
often used on excavators and engines
that must move across open fields.
The pedrail has a series Of platforms
hinged to the usual wheel tire. to Of
fer a large supporting surface on
yielding ground. These feet" are
clumsy in appearance, but on soft
and light soil. where the ordinary
wheel would not move an inch, they
will travel about as well as they
would on a hard road.
The rapid advance Of the kaiser's
army was owing to the support OF
this wonderful artillery. The allies
could withstand the assault OF Ger
man infantry, but they had no guns
that could vie in range and power
with these great howitZers, and they
had scarcely fallen back to one posi-
ton before the heavy guns of the
Germans were again within range,
and making their position untenable.
1t was the gasoline motor and the
pedrail that enabled the invaders to
move long-range cannon over ordi-
nary farm lands at the rate of thirty
five miles a day, and lombard each
intrenchment of the French and En-
glish line as fast as they were thrown
up.
The Germans have also some still
heavier siege guns with which they
reduced the strong fortresses of Liege,
Namur and Maubeuge, to heaps OF
ruins. These mighty cannon are said
to throw projectile that weighs over
a ton. Whenever the gun is to be
discharged, the firing party has to re-
tire hundred yards or more, and
explode the piece by electricity. The
strain on the gun is so tremendous
that it can hardly be fired more than
twenty times before it becomes use
less. That is, therefore. limit TO
the number of fortresses that can be
taken by such means.