The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-23
By Frederic j. Hashin.

IS By Frederi
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Prior to the commencement of the
war In Europe there was a number
OF fortresses considered to be I'M
lpervious to the attacks of siege-ar-
ltllry 1t IS the opinion OF NIL.
tary experts lhey were ranked
anime tht forts very carefully ana
way than by siege and starvation.
Among them were Antwerp, Laons
The history OF the first few
months of the war shows how mis-
taken was this idea that these forts
lcould Withstand the concentrated
fire of modern artillery when the
big guns were wheeled into COM
manding position. It was this sur
United States government to In
struct its military observers to ex-
anime the forts every carefully and
to report fully concerning their de-
molition in such short space OF
time
New Motive Force.
The observers looked beyond the
gun itself to the new force back OF 1t
THAT made its operation possible. A
IRuA OF dkIuUSL any S1z6 COAA0 nav
been made long ago but the weight
Of such pieces of large ca1iber is SOL
lereat that they might not be trans
ported from one place to another.
but there has come into being 81
lnew motive force, the auto truck, and
upon 1t as means Of moving big
gums, has been built modern artil-
1lery.
| So, the observers report back, I'll
4 lis necessary that the United States
should awake to the existence of au-
tom obile artillery If It is to keep
abreast of the times So. tShen the
this fall seriously taken up. it isl
likely that much will be said Of
the necessity of appropriations for
1.-THE purchase OF auto trucks to sup
plant the teams of horses upon which
Uncle Sam has always depended TO-
haul his big guns into action, and
1.-THE purchase Of new artillery made
possible by the use of these same
trucks.
Automobile Artillery.
1 The reports OF the experts agreed
THAT they might be placed before
i tons at Liege, LaSn. Antwerp and
other places in the eastern part Of
france and Belgium would not have
Ibeen possible had it not been for
the automobile artillery,
4 Ten years ago there were no forty
4 two-centfmeter guns, but had they
existed then they would have been
useless for offensive work because
motors were not sufficiently perfected
at that time to permit of hauling
Them over the intervening territory
THAT they might be emplaced before
1.-THE enemy's forts. The "Brummers"
4 would have had to have been placed
Il in steel forts. to bs used only for
Il purposes of defense and the 'impreg-
nable" fortifcations of Laon, Liege
end Antwerp probably would have
/ been in the hands of their defenders
4 a. year after the outbreak OF the
/ war
Such. is the influence of modern
4 inventions upon warfare. The les
son of the motor tractor and Its
first cousin, the armored automobile
| the experts say, is one which no
| progressive nation can afford TO over
| look and so Uncle Sam took the
! trouble to get as much Information
az possible concerning this new
weapon of war.
Great influence
Like the nylng lnacntne, Wh1cn
has conquered the air for the hrst
time in this war and the submarine,
which has carried naval warfare into
the deptns OF the ocean, previously
safe from the invasions Of Mars. the
motor artillery has added a new ter
ror to hosilities on land. This is the
first war in which the automobile
has figured extensively, but Its inn
portance as an asset for land forces
can hardly be overestimated, whether
one considers it merely as a
vehicle for transporting troops at
high rate of speed or as locomo-
tive for dragging the hundred-ton
guns, against which no fortress can
stand.
Motor Traction Saves.
Under former conditions, it would
take a team Of fifty horses to pull
a forty-two centimeter piece over the
country which lies along the Euro
pean battle front. Relays would be