Imperial Valley press., 1915-09-02

tempered steel skull cap-hke protec-
tor now worn by the French to mini
mize the danger Of shrapnel. The
ireastplate would be a thin leather
covered hardened plate Of steel curved
to fl over the chest and held by straps
that 90 over the shoulders and around
the waist The abdominal protector
! is suggested in the form Of another
curved sheet of steel fitting over the
lower ribs and extending down to the
bones Of the hips.
The British war office years ago
eNpel lmeuted with ullet-prooi
breastplate at Aldershot, where The de
vice shed all the rifle and machine gun
bullets that were fired against it at
ranges Of | foot to 500 yards. The
breastplate was rejected on the ground
that il added too much weight to the
equipment Of the soldier and reduced
his marching efficiency.
With a war of great proportions
that will probably last many more
months or perhaps years, and with
the thousands Of dead and The tens of
thousands Of wounded, the war office
is believed 10 he rcconsidering its OBJ
lection to armor.
The men of the trenches at least
probably will be thus equipped, ac-
cording to information today.
One Of Brtain's leading advocates
Of mmor is Sir Arthur Conan boyle
the noted author of "Shcrloek
Holmes"
in lengthy message from his home
mt Windlesbam, Crowborough, Sussex,
to a London daily, Sir Arthur cited an
action of the British in northern
France on May 9, when several bri-
gades we're decimated in an effort to
rush across 300 yards intervening be
tween. the British and German
trenches. He warned:
"You must either abandon such at
tacks or you must find artificial pro
lection for the men,
Sir Arthur suggests 3-pieee suits
cf steel plates for the soldiers, but
goes further in advocating a modern
'testudo'-a cover used by the Roman
soldiers in attacking wall, formed
by overlapping their oblong shields
above their heads. Sir Arthur's mod
ern tesludo he would put on wheels
to cover the men rs they charge the
German trenches. He says:
"Thesc numerous armor-plated bod
les could rush with small loss over a
space which had already been cleared
as far as possible of obstacles, and
so have some chance of reaching the
enemy's line, not as an exhausted Trag-
ment. but as a vigorous storming party
with numbers intact. Such appara
FMS would not neccssitate great ad
dition to the impedimenta of an army.
II would be a separate item, like the
pontoons or the siege train, only to
lie brought up on special occasions to
the point where it is needed for the
assault The vital body plates, how
ever, should be used in the everyday
equipment of a fighting soldier
Armored shields ON wheels such as
Conan Doyle suggests were used by
the United States infantry during the
last days of the SpanshAmerican war
in Cuba, according to an English au-
thority on armor. They were invent
ed by General Roy Stone Of the Brit
ish army. Each shield lay horizon
tally and carried the impedimenta Of
marching soldiers when not placed
vertically for sterner use.
Due to the rough character Of the
ground and the predominance of
mounted forces in the Cuban cam
paign, the American experiment was
Il failure, it was stated.
Whether the government will accept
the "testudo' is Uncertain, but 1t Is
strongly whispered that armor will
have to do with British armies of the
; coming year.