Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-08-23
NYR|lDS OF DEADLY
ROAD D TE RHINE
Uncle Sam Will Use Fieldpieces
In France Similar to French
IS, British 3.3 and the
"Fie!d Fritz"

. fen and women of America, meet
wi the Yankee "three!'

N n EN- and women of America, meet
lVl the Yankee 'three!'
He is blood brother to the
French "seventy-fve," a near relative
of the British 3.3 and a twin of the
German "three."
Sounds like higher mathematics or
Alice In Wonderland" or mere non
sense, doesn't it? Well, it's nothing of
the kind. 1t is a force that is to blast
the way to victory if the expectations
OF the war department are to be re-
allied, writes a Washington CORE
spondent Of the Philadelphia Press.
The Yankee 'three" is the standard
lied field gun Of the United States ar
tillery. 1t is being turned out in thou
sand lots for the biggest artillery drive
that the world has known.
l must walk warily and speak guard
edly In telling how the Yankee "three''
and the things that go with it figure
In the new artillery plans Of the war
department. There is SO much that is
dramatic that there is a temptation to
overstep the bounds Of prudence. A re-
porter has been urged to tell any one
OF a dozen things which are big news,
but which cannot be told without Civ
ing information to the enemy.
l have therefore carefully and con-
sc1enttously deleted everything that
should remain untold, and 1 find enough
remains Of news that is interesting,
exclusive and timely to warrant this
article.
First I will tell the story of the Yam
kee three" 1t is a beautiful and a
terlible weapon, racy in it's slim lines.
even more effective than the French
"seyenty-fve' in the efficiency of its
execution.
1t was born in 1904 and was conceiv-
ed wholly in the United States. The
bureau Of ordnance Of the war depart
ment after labored studies devised it's
essential mechanism, the spring de-
vices that take up the recoil and keep
the gun constantly ION the target"
"75" German Discard.
The French "seventy-fve," as almost
every II knows, is a German discard.
The French ordnance bureau took it
and after long study perfected it. The
French have turned out enormous
quantities Of the "sev~enty-iye' and
nave made it their most effective wal
arm. The caliber Of the seventy
five is 2.95 inches. The Yankee three
is three inches exactly. The British
standard field gun is 3.3. The "tield
Fritz" as the German gun has been
styled, Is, like the Yankee gun three
inches exactly.
While u allies look to us to furnish
food by the shipload for their peoples
and their armies, airplanes by the thou.
sand and other aids in the great war,
the greatest Of all their demands is for
artillery and for the munitions that GO
with it..
Artillery in its broadcast sense means
the Yankee three and the three
kinds Of shell that are it's food. These
are the high explosive, the shrapnel,
and the gas shell. or these three pref
erence is being given to the high ey.
plosive shell.
American productive genius is being
called upon to send as many of the
"threes" to the battle line as the out
put Of all the Teutonic allies combined.
This huge output is already within
sight, and it will soon be exceeded.
When the time for the great spring
drive to the Rhine has arrived, say the
middle Of next March, the United
States will have enough 'threes" at
the front to smother any artillery re-
sistance that the Germans may oppose
and to wipe out any system of trenches
that may stand in their path.
Output Is Enormous,
l am not permitted even to estimate
that enormous output. 1t is sufficient
to know it will be the greatest gun pro
duction record that has ever been
made.
AS l have said, the high explosive
shell will be the one produced in the
greatest number and used most extern
sively on the battle front. The rea-
son for this is that most of the shell
i9g will be directed against the
trenches. Kitchener made his monu-
mental mistake in heaping up shrap-
mel shells before the fiasco at Neuve
Chapelle. He reasoned that as shrap-
mel had won for him in Egypt it would
prove equally effective against the Ger
mans.
Shrapnel, as every soldier knows,
bursts in the air by the operation of
a time fuse and is effective against
troops moving over open ground. AS
Il. OF *. was to learn, it is Of little eff
feet against intrenched troops.
When the barrage Of shrapnel burst
above the German trenches the steel
helmets OF the German soldiers pro
tected their heads against the falling