Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-23
NATIONAL DEFENSE PROBLEMS
IV.-Lessons of the War-Autonoble Artillery
By Frederic ]. Haskin

DRIoR to the commencement of
the war in Europe there were a
number of fortresses consider
ed to be impervious to the attacks of
siege artillery. In the opinions of
military experts they were ranked
which could be captured in no other
way than by siege and starvation.
Among them were Antwerp, Laon and
Liege.
The history of the first few months
of the war shows how mistaken was
this idea that these forts could with
stand the concentrated fire of modern
wheeled into a commanding position.
1t was this surprising information
which led the United States govern
ment to instruct its military observ-
ers to examine the forts very carefully
and to report fully concerning their
demolition in such a short space of
time.
What Auto Truck Has Done
The observers looked beyond the
gun itself to the new force back of it
that made it's operation possible. A
gun of almost any size could have
been made long ago but the weight of
such pieces of large caliber is so great
that they might not be transported
from one place to another. But there
has come into being q new motive
force, the auto truck, and upon it as
a means of moving big guns, has been
built modern artillery.
So. the observers report back, 1t is
necessary that the United States
should awake to the existence of auto
mobile artillery II it is to keep abreast
of the times. So, when the study of
the needs of the army are this Fall
seriously taken up, it is likely that
much will be said of the necessity of
appropriations for the purchase of
auto trucks to supplant the teams of
horses upon which Uncle Sam has al
into action. and the purchase of new
artillery made possible by the use of
these same trucks.
The reports of the experts agreed
that the destruction of the fortifica-
tions at Liege, Laon, Antwerp and
other places in the eastern part Sof
France and Belgium would not have
automobile artillery.
Couldn't Move 42-Centimeters
Ten years ago there were no 42-cen-
timeter guns, but had they existed
then they would have been useless for
offensive work because motors were
not sufficiently perfected at that time
to permit of hauling them over the
intervening territory that they might
be emplaced before the enemy's forts.
The "Brummers' would have had to
have been placed in steel forts, to be
used only for purposes of defense and
the 'impregnable" Notifications of
Laon, Liege and Antwerp probably
would have been in the hands Of their
defenders year after the outbreak of
the war.
Such is the influence of modern in
vention upon warfare. The lesson of
the motor tractor and its first cousin,
the armored automobile, the experts
say, is one which no progressive nation
can afford to overlook and so Uncle
Sam took the trouble to get as much
information as possible concerning
this new weapon of war.
Like the flying machine, which has
conquered the air for the first time
in this war, and the submarine, which
has carried naval warfare into the
depths of the ocean, previously safe
from the invasions of Mars, the motor
artillery has added new terror to
hostilities on land. This is the first
war in which the automobile has fig
ured extensively, but Its importance as
an asset for land forces can hardly
be estimated, whether one considers it
merely as vehicle for transporting
troops at high rate Of speed or as a
locomotive for dragging the hundred
ton guns, against which no fortress
can stand.
Equal to $50 Horses
Under former conditions, 1t would
take a team fifty horses to pull a
42-centimer piece over the country
whicr lies alcng the European battle
front Relays would be required every
few hourse in order to keep a big gun
moving apace with a marching army
This would require at least $50 horses
state the carrying of provisions for
the horses and the attention of al
number of men in handling them,
with very poor net result.
The motor tractor has done away
with all these separate units. A single
tractor is capable of hauling the
train of three cars which comprises
the entire equipment for the big gun
and its crew. 1t can so hasten the
transportation of the heavy artillery
that 1t can easily outstrip the fastest
moving infantry. In this manner the
big guns may, in advance of the COM
ing OF troops, concentrate their fire
upon a fertilization for a few hours
and then be separately hurried to
other points where their irresistible
bombardment Is necessary to prepare
for other assaults.
Throws Shells Seven Miles
Some idea of the tremendous force
of these big field pieces may be had
from the fact that a 30.2 centimeter
gun throws an explosive projectile
Weighing 500 pounds distance of
more than six miles The 42-centime-
ter gun hurls a 16-inch shell, weigh