The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-07-23

After Vimeiro little is recorded OF
the use Of shrapnel until the battle
of Waterloo, following which histor.
ic engagement Wellington said to
Shrapnel, then a colonel of artillery,
that the shell that bore his name had
played most important part in the
| battle.
Napoleon, after the battle of Vim
eiro, issued orders that all unexploded
British shells found on the field
should be carefully examined, but in
some way, never fully explained, tha
order was apparently not carried oud
and Napoleon lost a secret that might
| have prolonged his power for years,
The secret of the shell was abso
lutely unsolyable by the French.
In the Crimean war British artillery
declined to use shrapnel, despite the
fact that II had turned the day at
Waterloo. The French made a spar.
ing use Of it, while the Russians who
had never then heard of It, naturally
trusted to the effectiveness of the old.
time missiles. In the Civil war both
the Union and Confederate armies
used shrapnel, but it was not until
1866 that the development of the mis-.
sile to its present deadly effectiveness
may be said to have got definitely un.
der way.
1t was the Prussians who started it,
and they continued to improve the
missile until by the time the Franco
Prussian war began it was one of the
Prussian army's most effective weap-
ons. The Prussian shrapnel did tre-
mendous execution against the French,
especially at Sedan.
In the Russo-Japanese war both of
the contending armies used shrapnel
with great effect, and again in the
Balkan wars of 1912, the striking sue
cesses of the Serbans, Bulgarians and
Greeks were largely due to their splen.
did French shTapnel-fring field pieces.
There are several types of shrapnel
shells, among them the percussion
shrapnel," used for defense at short
range and in fire for adjustment It's
effect depends upon the range and
the nature of the ground 1t is
effective against troops lodged in tall
timber Masks, branches of trees,
etc, frequently cause the premature
bursting of these projectiles. On
striking, the proiecttle cuts a furrow
in the ground and bursts two or three
meters beyond -- .--~
Percussion shrapnel to be effective |
must burst Immediately in front Of the |
target. Its most effective employment |
is against standing targets. They are |
also more effective at long range than
is the time-shrapneI Soft ground
newly plowed fields, terrain covered /
with snow or underbrush or a rising |
slope diminish the fire effect. When
the angle of fall is ten degrees or
more, half of the bullets penetrate the
ground, and the remainder ricochet
and pass on at a greatly reduced ve-
.ocity.
On the other hand, time-shrapnel is
'airly independent of the terrain The
JullcIH Ill Lul6 ~ pc al lInDCuuGu AZ O
smoke producing substance, making 1t
easy to observe the
lurst for purposes of adjustment. The
extreme range at which this projectile
AN be employed is fixed by the IA
fifty of observing the fire and by the
velocity of the shrapnel bull
cts, both of which diminish as the
ange increases.
Shrapnel is most effective against
,rone shrmishers at ranges from l :
100 to 1900 meters, when burst %
0 % meters short of the target, and
gainst standing skirmishers at the
anne ranges when burst 56 to as me-
ers short of the target. Black also
oints out that single shrapnel from
light field howitzer produces great
r number of hits when the point of
urst is favorably situated than one
red from field gun.
Shrapnel Is also playing a most i'm
ortant part in aerial warfare, and OF
lese antiaircraft shrapnel all of
rhIch embody the same general es-
entails, there is perhaps none more
fective than that known as "Ehr-
ardt antiaircraft shrapnel."