The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-29
THE PART PLAYED BY HIGH
EXPLOSIVE SHELLS IN WAR
Victory NOW Likely to Rest On Side With Greatest Re-
sources in Heavy Ammunition -shrapnel Displaced
By Modern Death-Dealing Proiectiles

anu equally vital 10 a sustained |
defence.
Much has been said of late about
Great Britains need of munitions
troops in the field have called cease
iessly for shell; shell, more shell. In |
tne early months of the struggle the
Enslish authorities prepared for a |
supply of shapnel only, and in this
Lney erred. The Germans and the |
french depended most upon explosive
smell rather than shrapnel. and the
wisdom OF this soon became apparent
after the kaiser's soldiers settled
themselves in their trenches and as
sumed the defensive on the territory
lney mad previously Won by their
original drive.
Now the English factories. the
canadian plants and shops here in the
United States, not to mention estab-
llshmentS in Australia are working
1 hISnI ana day to make up the British
deficit and to turn out projectiles
charged with a high explosive capable
OIL snat1ering at1 the steel body of the.
| pro]ectlle into many hundreds of .frag-
| mentS, In this way producing more
/ DaneIu1 missiles than a single Shrapnel
OF the same weight and capable of
causing harm in other ways.
Eric Fisher Wood, in his work just
| from the press of the Century Com
pany, The Notebook of an Attache''
gives some interesting firsthand in
| formation regarding the effects of this
modern ordnance. He has fourd by
personal observation that quite SO per
cent. of the casualties are due to ar
tlllery wounds, and one need not Won
der at this when one learns some thing
Of the nature of thesa present day ia
strnments of destruction. Mr.. W -
was an attache of the American En-
bassy II Paris and was thus enabled
to study the conditions within Joffre' s
lines. He writes:
'At the beginning Of the wsa1 the
French carried shells and shrapnei in
about equal numbers. The shells ex-
plode with the time fuse, exactly as
do shrapnel. From several sources !
was told that they were loaded with
the new explosive which had been in
trOduced only about three months be-
fore the beginning of hostifties.
, AS the war progresses the French
tend to use more and more Of these
, explosive shells, which are use6
, against infantry in the same way az
are shrapnel. The only difference
seems to be that they are made t<
burst little lower. Their effect j:
, very terrible.
"A heavy bursting charge is EN-
, ployed, and although the fragment.
I are small, they fly with such force
+ that they make fatal wounds and ever
cut into the wood of rifle stocks.
r whose back had been pierced witt
: about forty small particles Of a shel
: which had burst close to him. TheS
: particles were as evenly spread as tn
: charge Of a shotgun. German wound
ed and captured Germans have toh
. me that this French shell fire wa
= lso hellish that no man escaped excep
i by a miracle
!. So much for the direct effect of tn
n seattle ring fragments Of projectifes o
4 this sort. But there is an indirec
Y ieonseauence tisat is no less ctemOraliZ
g ing PRO tenn, even # it fail to put tn
J. tsame numtel Of nnen permanently GU
sc OF action. Mr. Wood says,
a ''Shells bigger than 3 inch whe
used in field operations seld onl do an
,r damage but have 3 tremendous mora
s. effect even on veteran troops. tn
" disconcerting effect of heavy shell
Of exploding in the ground is very widel
D. recognized at the from. The fire {
&c big Howitzers is as rule very II
b. accurate.
+ when one Of these shells hits
ne building or a paved street its effect
IN considerable; when they burst in so
st lground they are not dangerous. M O.
lis l-of the battlefields of France are @
rs muddy fields in which s inch shell
an make crater about forty feet in CIR
lie lcumference and five or SIX feet dee
en- Their effect is chiefly upward ar
. casualties are SO rare as 10 De cOl
Is Isidered freaks
yn1 The explosion of a large shell pr
IT. luces zone of shock of wide radi1
which is capable of blowing over WE
&C. night every one within it's compa
ay land the after effects linger for da
is and weeks. of this pecuhar acuo
he lone of prime military value to the a
n ltacker. Mr. Wood gives this illumina
a ling instance:
ar- IAN officer Of the staff has given n
en- an interesting theory as to the dl
ny concerting effect produced Dy
;ed the morale of the troops-how d1
it's coneerting no one can imagine w
ZEN als at himself experienced it.
he lie was himself near such a sh
I'd when 1t exploded IT rendered nl
ra- unconscious. He was pima Tot sciH
not 1ti4ne. deaf for two weeks and suffer