The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-04-18
ARTILLERY HAS PROVED
IT WILL DECIDE THE WAR
Warsaw Correspondent Shows First Real Test Came
berg-Cavalry Has Become Practically Useless
by BYRON LoMAx

Warsaw. April 5.-(speoial Correspond
ence.)-War in Poland is becoming a
etruggle of guns. Artillery is the only
arm.left. In the past three months field
guns. howitzers and mortars have de-
cided the battles in the provinces of Petro-
kow, Plock, Raom Kelley and Warsaw.
Artillery decided the three weeks battle
for Lodz artillery decided the four weeks
Battle of Warsaw on the Bsura and Raw
ka banks. Victory is TO the side which
can pile up the most big guns, shoot the
straightest, and pound the earthworks
hardest. .
Infantry and cavalry, the arms which
played the biggest part in the first stages
of. the eastern war, have disappeared, or
nearly disappeared. The decay of cavalry
has been sudden. Horsemen played a
great part in Russia first raids on East
Prussia, and in the advance through
Galicia. Before the great LODI battle
they did good reconnaissance and screen
ing work. They played a smaller role
after Grand Duke Nicholas retired to the
Miazza. and in the Bsura- Rawka fighting
they were not used at all. Field Marshal
Hindenburg is in the same way. His cav
airy is not seen. Some say most of 1t has
10 the transport corps, because, fight
ing unit it takes up more space than it
Is worth.
Infantry fights still go on. But they
take subsidiary character. Russian in
fantrymen and the German infantrymen
no longer take" positions. The taking
is done by the guns The infantry merely
accept as a present the position which the
guns have conquered. The guns pound
trenches to bits and make them unten-
able. When they are untenable the in
fantry go ahead and occupy them. Some
times the infantry fails to occupy them.
This means that the artillery pounding
has not been as severe as was expected.
1T does not mean that the attackers in
fantry has been beaten by the defenders.
The best infantry is the infantry of the
side whose artillery pounds hardest In
fantry cannot even push farther the vic
tory OF artillery. Its advance Is limited
to the actual few hundred yards which
artillery has smashed and crushed. Be-
fore 1t can get further. 1t must wait till
Its artillery again opens the door.
Artillery war on the Bsura and Rawka
is much the same as 1t is on the Aisne.
The difference is that on the .Aisne neither
side resolutely attempts to effect a gen.
eral advance. The Individual fights are
local: mobility Is limited to few yards.
the general position is static. Here in
war: each hopes to send the other flying.
Hindenburg has been. trying to push us
over the Vistula and gain all Central Po-
land. Our aim is to repulse all attacks
and also to expel Hindenburg. For three
weeks past neither has had much success.
This is because artillery war means de-
lays. As Hindenburg gets forward his
artillery difficulties increase. Guns have
to be dragged greater distances over worse
roads. and the shell supply Is hard to keep
up. Outside LODI, which is nearer to
Prussias frontier. Hindenburg was able
to concentrate more guns. and to keep an
unfailing ammunition supply. He was
able to waste shells as other armies waste
rifle bullets. Before this can be done on
the Rawka and Bsura, roads must be
made and railroads restored. Grand
Duke Nicholas troubles are smaller. The
nearer he gets to Warsaw, the more effec-
tive Is his artillery hail.
Guns in Field
Nobody can say how many guns we
have in the field. Fled Marshal linden
burg has 100 field guns and 400 mortars,
howitzers and siege guns. Austria Hun
gary has in South Poland and Galcia 500
guns of all kinds. Among them are T.
inch howitzers. Hindenburg has not got
any of the krupp 42-eentimetre Thick
Berthas." He has not yet managed to
besiese any OF our fortresses, and his
''Thck Berthas' are too heavy and costly