The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-26
National Defense Problems
VIII-.Lessons of the War--New Weapons.
By Frederic j. Haskin.

lie j. Haskin. B
II similar to that of a sunken mine and
the damage Is far greater than that
: Eof the old type contact bomb.
Each Of these bombs weights about
eighteen pounds and is 1tted with
steering vanes TO insure Its steady
!, course through space ami make cor
tain that 1t strikes head-one. They
i are dropped from a specially con-
lstructed apparatus which enables the
!. marksman to sight" his target and
drop the bomb with reasonable
i. chance of hitting the target.
u The Terrible ..Sky-Daxt."
II The "sky-darts'' are another wea-
Il pom Of aerial warfare, first introduced
Il by the French and later adopted by
I>all the fighting forces in Europe.
lThey consist Of pieces Of steel. about
the size of fountain pen and quite
lsharp. At the blunt end they are
Iquartered, like the feathers upon an,
harrow, to insure their direct fight
downward. One of the American
officers detailed as military observer
aboard dug up dart Of. this nature
which had struck the helmet of al
mounted soldier. passed completely
Through his body and rnat of his
4 horse and buried itself foot in the
4 frozen ground!
Hand in hand with the develop
ment of the submarine torpedo-the
l only means of defense possessed by
| the wasps of war. The torpedo used
lin the Russo-Japanese war in 1904
| is little more than toy compared
]. with its counterpart of a decade later.
| The modern torpedo has a fair chance
| of hitting target at six miles, after
covering the intervening space at
rate of forty knots an hour, and 1t
is confidently pre- dicted that torpedoes
will soon be made that will be capa-
I BILE of a range of twelve or fourteen
miles.
tinted States navy. has recommended
| the experimento OF launching torpedoes
from hydro-planes or sea-planes at
night because OF the TACT that the
submarine ts partically powerless az
ter dark. This may give rise TO an
other form of naval warfare-of
"aerial-su bmarine'' work, comDIna-
ton of these two twentieth century
faNast1c fighting machines.
4 The Wireless in war.
what the submarin is to the sea
/ and the aeroplane Is to the air. the
wireless is to the land forces OF ma
A tion at war, and many have be1n the
/ inproyeme nts devised upon the for
/ merly known systems of land scout
4 ing by means OF lN,rtaole wireless
4 stations, partially invisible from
4 distance and easily concealed In a
/ hay-stack or chimney. There 10
/ story of the discovery by the Ger
mans of a field wireless station In
the chimney of a chateau which had
A for several weeks been occupied as
HEADQUARTERS of the invading army.
4 The operator had been sealed UP with
Il his instruments and a considerable
4 supply of food. A small opening into
the room used by the German Held
Il officers gave him his information ana
it is practically certain that many I'M
! portant messages we've hasneo OUT or
/ the chimney before the station was
1 finally discovered and destroyed. This
operator escaped under cover of dark
mess and upon his sending 1nstru-
ment was found the single French
phrase, .eN'importe''-'. Never mind.
The knapsack wireless-the small
est Of the progeny of the big towers
with their 3,000-mtle radiuses-
weighs but eighty pounds and can De
divided so as to be easily transport
ad by four soldiers. It can De erecs-
ed in very short time and mas q
radius of five to seven miles. MANI
festIy great Improvement upon the
1old method of using mounted order
lies to relay news OF the enemy's adj
vances.
The cavalary wireless, or the
| .swhiskers of the army" as It Is
known to the British Tommies, Is the
big brother of the knapsack wireless.
# Weighs $40 pounds and can be
carried by four horses. The radius
of communication is about thirty
! miles and the time to unpack and
erect the station is only ten minutes;
The automobile wireless is a stllA
larger form of portable apparatus for
air communication. having radius
of 200 miles and an endurance OF nVe
hours on single charge.
Much Easier Position.
! What with air scouts to watch all
the movements of the enemy and
wireless to transmit their reports In
stantIy to headquarters. portable
wireIess stations to keep headquarters
| In close touch with everything That
occurs along the battle front. SUD
marines to harrass the shipping ana
blow up the dreadnaughts OF the roe,
motor-driven artillery to move
nnfclxly from place to place and many
imnroyeme in the essential arts
Of sanitation and feeding, the posi-
tion of the modern nation at war IS
much easier than it was formerly.
ant IL must be remEnbered that
the enemy is also equipped with these
new side-arms of Mars and that new
weapons are being daily pertecteo no 10
further mans inhuman1ty 70 man. ~
tbs an and tl1at tie United States may
Sa rnIIy prepared In the event OF war,
the war department is keeping close
wstcI, over all the hghting abroad.
and CONGRESS VIII be Informed when
this Svinter. it takes up the matter of
an understanding Improvement OF the