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

& By hreder1
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Prior to the commencement Of the
war In Europe there was q number
OF Gortresses considered to be I'M
psrvicus to the attacks Of siege-aIT--
ltillry 1t Is the opinion OF MIL
tary experts lney were RANKED
anime tlt forts very carefully ana
which could be captured IN no other
way than by siege and starvation.
Among them were Antwerp. Laon
/ and Liege.
The history OF the first few
months of the war shows how mis-
taken was this idea that these forts
could Withstand the concentrated
fire OF modern artillery when the
big guns were wheeled into COM
manding position. It was this sur
prisfng information which led the
United States government to in
struct its military observers to ex.
anime the forts every carefully and
to report fully concerning their. de.
molitfon in such short space OF
time.
New Motive Force.
The observers looked beyond the
gun itself to the new force back OF It
that made its operation possible
gun of almost any size could have
been made long ago but the weight
Of such pieces of large caliber is SO
great that they might not be trans
ported from one place to another.
But there has come into being a
new motive force, the auto truck, and
upon it as means OF moving big
guns, has been built modern artil-
lery.
SO, the observers report back. it
is necessary that the United States
should awake to the existence of au-
tomobile artillery If it is to keep
abreast of the times. So, t1hen the
study OF the needs of the army are
this fall seriously taken, up. it is
likely that much will be said OF
the necessity of appropriations for
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
the purchase of new artillery made
possible by the use of these same
trucks.
Automobile Artillery.
The reports of the experts agreed
that they might be placed before
lions at Liege, LaOn, Antwerp and
other places in the eastern part OF
France and Belgium would not have
the automobile artillery.
Ten years ago there were no forty
two-centimeter 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
the enemy's forts. The "Brummers
would have had to have been placed
in steel forts. to BIZ used only for
purposes of defense and the fmpres-
nable" fortff1cations of Laon, Ltege
and Antwerp probably would have
been In the hands of their defenders
a wear after the outbreak of the
war.
Such is the influence of modern
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
as possible concerning this new
weapon of war.
Great Influence.
Like the nYng machine. which
has conquered the air for the hrst
which has carried naval warfare into
the depths OF the ocean, previously
safe from the invasions of Mars. the
motor artillery has added new ter
ror to hosilities on land. This is the
first war in which the automobile
has figured extensively. but it's i'm
portance as an asset for land forces
can hardly be overestimated, whether
one considers it merely as
vehicle for transporting troops AT
a 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