Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-24

these are elevated or depressed un-
til the proper range is attained. Or
dinarily, this would require a large
aperture or slit in the rotunda, like
that which permits of the operation
on telescope in an observatory. But
this slit would also permit of the en-
trance of shrapnel or fragments of
other shells which would be ex-
tremely dangerous to the gun crews.
In order to obviate this danger, the
guns are mounted in close fitting en-
brasures and, instead of pointing the
rifles up or down as was formerly
done, their breeches are moved for
ward or backward and the desired
result is attained without danger to
those inside the turret.
The sighting and loading mechan-
ism of the big guns, together with the
machinery which rotates the barbette,
occupies the entire dome. The am
munition magazines and hoists, the
engines which supply the electrical
power and the quarters of the gun
crew are all situated in concrete
vaults beneath the surface of the
ground. In this manner space is
economical and the fort is there
fore made much smaller and cores
pondingly difficult to hit.
Why Lfege Forts CrumbIed
Despite the fact of the Notifications
at Liege, Antwerp, Laon and else
where, supposedly impregnable forts
falling into the hands of the enemy in
a comparatively short time, military
experts still claim that the honors in
the duel between the fort and the ar
tillery belong to the former. The
French and Belgian fortif1cations, they
argue, were built to withstand only
x.1T, e.t1 ax,I IAxx
as artillery of this caliber was used
against them, they gave an excellent
account of themselves. 1t was only
when the huge 30.2 and 42-centimeter
guns were emplaced against them that
they crumpled up and failed to with
stand a strain for which they were
never designed
The Real Test
This, according to military experts,
does not prove that fortifications are
obsolete or that. the great advance in
artillery manufacture has outstripped
the construction of forts. 1t mere
ly shows that fortresses should be
constructed to Withstand the attacks
of artillery even heavier than any in
existence at the time. When the pro-
tecting walls at Antwerp were built.
no one dreamed that they would ever
have to withstand the gatherings of
42-centimeter siege pieces, because
guns of that caliber had not been con-
ceived. The real test of the value
of modern fortifcations will come If
the Germans engage the really up-to-
date type of French or Italian forts
or If Lne allies attack the German
coast defenses.
In this connection it is interesting
to note that the only weapon which
is believed to be really effective against
the turret fort is the ordinary rifle in
the hands of experienced infantry.
1t SENS strange that a rife could
succeed where heavy artillery fails,
but men versed In military affairs de-
clare that this is the only method of
successfully attacking one of these big
tortoise forts.
The reason for this lies in tho fact
that all forts of this nature, in mod
ern warfare, are protected from the
enemy's advance by carefully prepared
series of trenches and barbed wire
entanglements, radiating for several
miles to prevent the employment of
heavy artillery! The big guns are
therefore powerless against the fort