The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-07-19
The SCHOOL OF FIRE
BY Frederic q. Haskin.
u-.Batteries II Action

I8 BY Frederic
sxsaosaressue1ene
Reyille at Tobyhanna sounds at
half past five in the morning. From
the long lines of khaki tents swarm
IkhnkI-ciad men. There is Q noise OF
shouting and splashing In tin basins.
and then the ranks form in front OF
the mess shack. each man armed with
cup and plate, eager for his morn
ling chew.
At the ofacers' mess things are q
| bit more leisurely, but no less bust
nesslike. Breakfast, which is very
good. as are all meals at the School
| OF Fire. is served In temporary
building. which is the dining hall Tor
! the regular militia officers and their
guests. The talk is all of problems
and ranges and height of burst; Tor
q good artillery officer is. above all,
a good technician. His profession IS
as Complicated and as exact as that
| ar q civil engineer. and he is wholly
tabsorbed In it.
BY z o'clock the batteries are un-
der way, led, by the colonel and his
| stan of militia officers and regular
INSTRUCTORS. FeBattery hill is the
destination. At hard trot the long
Hines OF guns and catsson rattle over
1 the rocky mountain roads, giving the
green recruits perched on the timber
seat such shaking up as he never
dreamed OF.
! The position chosen for defense is
Ia grassy hilltop, looking across a
| wide, timbered valley OF the Poconos.
Far away on the opposite mountain
side. diltgent search with a spy glass
Z
| barely visible among the second
| growth forest These are the canvas
targets and they represent infantry.
or batteries In position. as the case
may be. They are anywhere from
two to four miles distant, and tnyts-
ible to the naked eye.
Never Sees the Mark.
Within fifteen minutes F-Battery
hill has been converted into for
midable fortification. The batteries
are swung into line down on a shout
der OF it and below the crest. Linn
bers and horses are 200 yards away
to the rear. On the highest crest
the officers take their stand. Here
are set up the instruments not un-
like surveyors transits. by which the
range and direction are found. Five
minutes sufices to establish tele-
phone connection between the of1c-
ers on the hilltop-the brains of the
battery-and the guns themselves, a
hundred yards away. For the man
who fires never sees the mark; ne
merely sets an instrument in accord
ance with directions received by tel
ephone hundred yards back of
| the line detachment OF the signal
corps has erected field wireless sta
ton. by which Communication with
base of supplies thirty miles to the.
rear may be maintained. ALI OF these
communications are as perfect and as
up to date as anythat could be found
upon a European battlefield.
Back of the line>of guns ladder
forty feet high has been erected and
braced with guy wires. From the
top of this an officer is scanning the
horizon with glass. He has nothing
| to do with the military situation. how
ever He is merely making sure that
no wandering automobile or farm
wagon is on the line Of fire. When
all is safe, range officer in the vi
cinity of the targets will send up a
smoke bomb.
Meantime. the officers Of the staff
are eagerly scanning panoramic
photograph OF the supposed enemy's
position. This photograph was made
few hours before by the official
photographer of the signal corps,
and is one of the very newest devel-
opments In artillery work, being far
more exact and graphic than any map
that could possibly be drawn.
Purely Mechanical.
To describe to q 1ayman the exact
means of directing artillery fire would
take a small book. Suffice it to say
that one instrument finds the approx
innate range Of the target, while an
other one finds its direction with re-
lation to a fixed point in the rear.
Upon the gun itself is another instru-
ment which is lined upon this point,
| the distance between the range find
| ing instruments on the hilltop and
the battery itself being accurately al
lowed for. The gunner has merely
to set his instrument In accordance
with the telephone directions OF the
officer, and then see the reflected im-
age of the aiming point in his in
strument. His part in the game is
purely mechanical. To set the in
strument promptly and load and fire
with rapidly is the whole duty of
the crew that mans the gun.
It is on the hilltop that the real
instruction is going forward. An Of
ficer of the regular army is in charge
He selects one of the militia officers
hill Is battery in position, which
| is to be destroyed. The militia Of
1cer locates the target through his
glass. He then directs his non-com-
missioned officers to ind the range,
while he gets the direction the regu-
lar officers watching critically his ev-
cry move. If he gives "bone head"
order, whistle will be blown and he
will be sharply lectured. Otherwise,