The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-05
MACHINE GUNS BASIS
OF PREPAREDNESS

Yes" said Mr.. Maxim. ut has al
ways been done in n way or an
other. The cave man defended him
self from wild beasts with frebrands.
Not far from the very place where the
Germans are said to have used blazing
petroleum to repel the bayonet
charges OF the Russians II the Car
pathians The same liquid fire was used
by the ancient As!atic tribes in fight
ing one another around the eau
casian oil region. In the siege of
Tyre by Alexander the Great the
Tyrians poured blazing oil and red
hot sand on the b%esiegers. In ell ages
fire has beer a favorite weapon And
a similar use OF poisonous gases is
almost certain to obtain from now on,
modern science having perfected vari-
Gus mean and methods by which they
may be utilized.
But among the many lessons
taught in the science Of warfare by
the great European conflict none is
more important than the lesson Of the
machine gun.
Following the invention of the
Maxim automatic machine gun In the
sos the nations OF the world reor-
ganized their military equipment to
provide such a place for the machine
gun as II seemed to deserve. Eng
land. France, Italy and the United
States planned to employ about six
machine guns to every thousand men.
II was presumed that the Germans
were following this same plan and
were equipping their troops with
about the same number of automatic
guns.
But when the present war broke
out II developed that the Germans
had n vastly larger number of machine
guns than had h Allies. As n matter
of fact one machine gun to every ten
men has been found to be q moderate
German equipment. while they actually
have some regiments with every man
armed with a lightweight machine
gun. and other regiments with every
second man provided with a machine
gun. one nan bearing the gun strapped
upon his back and the other, who
fires h gun. bearing the ammunition.
his comrade acting as "A tripod.
Just as the Germans were the first
fully to recognize the advantage Of the
big field howitzer, so they were the
first fully to appreciate the tre-
mendous advantage OF the machine
gun.
II well remember witnessing n trial
OF h automatic machine gun at
Aldershot during the early expert
ments with that weapon by the British
Government. I heard a British
general remark that the machine gun
never could replace the shoulder rifle
that 1t might be a valuable auxiliary
to the infantry. but that the main
infantry arm would still remain the
shoulder rife, for the reason that
with a machine gun the gunner would
inevitably be too wasteful OF ammuni-
ton; that the gun being fired with
such enormous rapidity many more
cartridges would be wasted than would
be wasted by the troops firing aimed
shots from the shoulder rifle.
II ventured the suggestion that the
machine u had the advantage over
the shoulder rife In that the gunner
could observe by his initial shots where
to aim succeeding shots: that he was
better able to get his range and to
place his shots to advantage than with
the shoulder rifle; that with the Shout
der gun the soldier was obliged 10
operate the bolt and distract his aim
at every shot: in short, 70 take new
aim for every shot, and that. no one
shot being n guide for future shots.
he might continually shoot wild with
out knowing II. II was my opinion
that the machine gun. instead of being
wasteful of ammunition, would prove
greatly to conserve ammunition.
THE results Of the present war
have proved hat my prediction was
right. The Germans, much to their
credit, evidently made this discovery
n awaited themselves OF II n ron
siderable time before the breaking out
OF the present war.
Let us, for the sake OF making
n clear presentation Of the case. con-
ceive n regiment armed, as some OF
the German regiments are armed, with
n light weight machine gun to every
second man.
"A regiment of a thousand men
thus armed would be able 10 deliver
a fire OF 200, 900 rounds per minute
making due allowance for the time
necessary 10 change cartridge belts
and to change the barrels as the bar
rels get hot.
zone man with nm ordinary Dol,
shoulder u is able to FIRE. under
average conditions, abou. sixteen
aimed shots n minute, while a mar
with n machine u Is able 10 average
4oo shots n minute. Therefore. one
man with a machine gun has the
hrlng potentia.ity OF about twenty-five
men armed with ordinary shou,de,
rines. But. as continuous rapid hr!nc
seldom lasts even n whole minute. and
as the machine u fires al the rate Of
ooo a minute, we may, with wisdom
compare not what can be done CON.
tinnously for several minutes, hu,
what may be done for onc-half minute
During half IA minute an operator
or n machine ~ can fire 500 rounds
"hlie the soldier with a shoulder rifle
can nre but eight aimed shots. This
raises the potentiality ~ the opcrator
OF the machine gun to from th,rty,
seven to forty times that " the nrdl.
nary soldier armed with n musket.
NOW, let us suppose that we LEI, ono
man he the II bearer and another h,
Inc ammunition bearer and operato,
ot the weapon, and We have s,t.l the
hring rotcntiality per man practically
twenty times as great as though armc,
with ordinary shoulder rifles.
"on regiment thus armed is able tt