The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1916-04-13
HOW SOLDIERS
JUDGE DISTANCE
Must. Know How Far AWay
Enemy Is to Shoot Accurately.
GERMANS MOST efficient.

Workmanship Depends on sisht-one
Can See 100 Yards on a Moonlight
Night, While on a Dark Night the
Limit Is Twelve Yards-Our System
of Determining Distance.
Many military experts have given it
as their opinion that the training of
soldiers eyesight is the first and most
important feature Of musketry, and a
man who is a good judge Of distance is
| of much greater value on the battle
field than one who is a skilled shot
only
Not the least interesting are the les
SONS for training a soldier to see in the
dark. It is impressed upon him that
the ability to see in the dark increases
with practice.
1t is found that on open level ground
| standing man in khaki can 1t seen
on an ordinary dark night at about
twelve yards, on a starlight night
twenty-four yards and on a moonlight
night, with the moon behind the OBJ
server, fifty yards.
When the moon is behind the person
looked at the limit of vision is about
100 yards.
A column Of tours moving toward
the observer can be seen on an ordi-
nary dark night at about eighteen
yards distance, with the moon behind
the observer 120 yards and about 40
yards when the moon is behind the
men looked at.
Can Judge at 1000 Yards.
Soldiers are trained to Judge dis
tances up to 1000 yards. Eight hun
dred yards is fixed as the limit for the
rank and file, because it is found that
the most expert shots rarely hit a
small target, such as a prone figure,
at distance over 800 yards, even
when the range is known.
The British standard Of accuracy re-
quires that the mean error for trained
soldiers in judging distances within
800 yards range should not exceed 100
yards. In judging distance tests Off
| GERS, nOncommissioned officers and men
| regarded as inefficient.
In Germany, according to "Notes on
Visual Training" the best judges make
10 per cent of error; in Austria the
average error is ~ per cent.
In France Is per cent is laid down
as the normal error up to 1000 yards.
In America a very practical sliding
scale is in vogue, where the highest
skill in shooting must be accompanied
by high standard in Judging distance.
The following is rough guide for
Judging lateral distances running at
right angles to the observer at various
distances: With one eye shut and the
hand at arms length to the front with
the fingers perpendicular, the breadth
OF six fingers will cover 100 yards Of
lateral distance at distance of 500
yards from the observer.
Under the same conditions the
breadth Of three fingers will cover
lateral distance of 100 yards at a dis
lance Of 1000 yards.
The breadth of two fingers will COW
er lateral distance of 100 yards at
1900 yards.
The width of the thumb will roughly
cover 100 yards Of lateral distance
1000 yards away.
This method may be employed to in
dlcate roughly the approximate dis
lance Of an objective from a descrip-
ton point. Only one hand should be
used, even if more than one hands
breadth is required to indicate the dis
lance.
The arm must be held out perfectly
straight from the shoulder in front of
the face, with the fingers vertical
If, however, the object is Immediate
~ above or below the description point
the fingers should be horizontal.
In measuring distances one eve
should be closed and both the descrip-
ton point and the objective kept in
view.