American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-11-02

out We ali know from the recent Brit
ish offensives. The very thing that
the pill box" was intended to foil.
tremendous gun fire. has proved it's
undoing. For the British and French
have merely doubled, tripled and
quadrupled their gun fire, thus in
creasing the probability of hitting each
and every pill box" and machine gun
she'll hole position. And then the bar
rage fire has been greatly improved,
until II seems impossible for enemy
troops TO stand up and fight after It
has passed over them. But where the
allies have used the greatest sagacity
is In the fact that each offensive Is
planned beforehand; every detail is
carefully rehearsed; and the soldiers
are assigned definite detectives which
are well within the range OF the ar
tillery support. The aforementioned
fact answers the question so often
heard: Why do the allies only ad-
vance a mile or two al a timer
During the recent British ~offensives
the barrage fire consisted Of three dis
tinct walls OF shells and bullets: the
heavy artillery, working at long range;
the field artillery, working at short
range; and the machine guns laying
a curtain of bullets at a still shorter
range. II is reported hat the last
named barrage has proved most effec-
tive In practice; for when the British
troops get beyond the field artillery
barrage, as they do in some cases, the
machine gun barrage serves to good
stead in checking counter attacks by
German troops pouring out Of dugouts
in the rear.
II the development of artillery bar
RACES has been a most difficult under
taking, the machine gun barrage has
been all of that and more. We are
told that much patient practice has
been necessary to adapt the machine
gun to this work. II is more difficult
to control the flat trajectory of the
machine gun than that of the high
trajectory artillery piece. Therefore,
many experiments had to be per-
formed until it was decided how close
~ the bullet barrage might be safely
applied. Now, with the machine gun
barrage perfected, the gunners fol
lowing close on the heels Of the ad-
vaneing British infantry are able to
maintain a hail of bullets before them,
so hat Germans essaying a counter
attack are usually doomed to failure
at he very start.
"FerrO-concrete will yield to our ar
tillery just as the dugouts and trenches
on the Bapaume Ridge yielded" stated
Field Marshal Haig. recently. referring
to the boosted strength of the German
defenses in the so-called Won linden
burg line. And his recent victories
have borne out his prediction; for n
by one the German pill boxes" crater
posts, concrete dugouts, and other de-
vices have yielded before a hurricane
OF fire. German counter attacks have
been Of no avail. And such block
houses and defenses as have not been
wrecked by British shell fire have
fallen before the assaults of the en-
pire's men, delivering in most cases
big bags of prisoners. It is well to
mention, too, the terrible effects of
conclusion from nearby shell explo-
sious, on the occupants Of concrete
shelters, who. in many instances, have
been killed without even being
scratched. And then there are the
tanks" whose work is familiar.
The latest form OF German defense
has failed. Steel and concrete have
failed to withstand the British artil-
lery' We wonder what will be the
next answer to allied offensive ma
chinery, and what will be its success
Scientific American.