Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1916-03-08
ARTILLERY IS FIRST
MANY FIELD GUNS WANTED BY
THE EXPERTS FOR THE
LARGER ARMY.
PLENTY OF AMMUNITION. TOO
Importance of This Branch, Foreseen
by General Sehofield, Has Been Alb
soiuteiy Established by the Great
Warfare In Europe.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.


Washington.-If preparedness legis-
lation goes through, as at present ii is
planned. it is probable the regular
army will be increased by the addi-
ton of between 10000 and $4,000 men.
1t seems likely that congress will pro-
vide that as large a part of the in
crease as possible shall be put into the
field artillery, for il is established
that field guns, that is light artillery.
are the all-in-all of the present war, a
fact that army men say was proved
before the conflict was a month old
Winfield Scott Hancock once said
that the tariff was a local issue, and
for saying it was laughed at and voted
into retirement. The developments of
the years, many men hold. have vindi-
Gated Hancock's words. John Nj.
Schofeld, major general of the United
States army. foresaw the coming OF
the sharp need of greatly increased
numbers of field guns If wars were TO
be won. He was abused and charged
with desire to help the artillery
branch of the service at the expense
of sister branches.
There are few regular army officers
today who are unwilling to give Cen
eral Schofield credit for hard sense
and keen foresight Field guns are
doing the work in Europe today, and
field guns, at the present time. mean
something more than three-inch rifles
and the smaller weapons by courtesy
called cannon. Siege guns have be-
come field guns Heavy artillery also
can be moved. laboriously it is true.
but nevertheless successfully, from
one point to another Artillery seems
to be the prime weapon of modern war
fare.
Artillery First Requisite.
Army officers in Washington are
alive to the situation. They want a
wellbalanced army. of course, and
they will resent any attempt to cut
down other branches to increase the
artillery, but rather than weaken the
force of artillery they probably will be
willing that sacrifices in other
branches shall be made. What they
want, however. is enough field guns,
and enough ammunition to serve them.
to make certain the efficiency of the
field artillery forccs.
When your correspondent was at
the front in France, near the Argonne
forest. ST. Mihiel and Verdun. and
later in the trenches in Lorraine. he
got some realizing sense of what ar
tillery means in this war, and, more
over, he learned definitely the neces-
sity of unlimited ammunition for the
guns in service.
The cannonading from both the
siege guns and the seventy-fives of the
French and the seventy-sevens of the
Germans was virtually incessant.
There was lull at night but all
through the day the cannon roared
along the forty or fifty miles of front,
for on still day it is possible TO hear
the gunf1re for many miles on either
side of the listener.
Every foreign officer who spoke on
the subject at all. dwelt upon the ne
cessity of field pieces, shells and still
more shells" Shrapnel for certain
uses is going out of date, and before
long it may take its place with the
arrow of the ancients. High explosives
are the proper projectiles for warfare
as IT is carried on today, and 1t is cred
table to the American service to be
able to say that Uncle Sans army Of
ficers realized this fact before General
French had succeeded in making his
chief, General Kitchener, yield his pref
erence for the well-nigh useless shrap.
mel
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