The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-12-23
WEAPONS THAT ARE
FOUND VALUABLE
IN WINNING WAR

Washington, D. c., Dec. 22.-Amer-
lean army officers who have visited
the front tell of considerable rivalry
and argument among American and
British soldiers regarding the re-
spective merits Of the Lewis gun, IN
vented by Isaac Lewis of the United
States Army. and the Vickers-Maxlm
which the British claim as strictly
their own invention, forgetting that
Sir Hiram Maxim was born in Maine.
AS q matter of fact, the ordnance
experts do not consider the Lewis and
Maxim guns as rivals. Within the
past year the use of both the Maxim
and Lewis guns has undergone
great change. Each weapon is now
working strictly within its limita-
tions, and except by accident one
does not attempt to do the work of
the other.
The Lewis gun was not designed
to be a machine-gun. The machine
gun is now an artillery weapon. the
Lewis gun an infantry weapon. Like
the Vickers-Maxim it has an auto
matte recoil. But. apart from that.
the two guns have little in common.
The Lewis is fired like q rifle: the
Maxim is fired like a machine. The
Lewis is a mobile weapon, almost
equalling a rifle; the mobility of the
Maxim is limited. The Lewis gun
is operated by one man; the Maxim
by two. The Lewis goes "over the
top" in the first wave of an assault,
while the Maxim waits until positions
have been consolidated. The Lewis
fires from drum; the Maxim from
a belt. The Lewis is air cooler: the
Maxim has a water-jacket.
he ic
not as machine-g gun, but as a super
automatic rifle, it is recognized as a
perfect weapon. and as such is hon.
ored in France by having a school for
instruction in its use all to itself.
There, gunners are taught how to
mount the Lewis gun on parapet or
on an acceptance; to fire it from
horseback or from the back of an
other man; to use it against a too
daring, low-fying enemy aeroplane;
to cooperate with the machine-gun
or ia fight salone.
The Lewis is a rifle, q bit longer
that the familiar Lee-Enfeld, and
with a huge cylinder encasing the
inner barrel. It fires from trigger,
and so long as the operator keeps the
trogger pressed the Lewis will fire
until the forty-seven cartridges of
the drum ar exhausted. It is mat
ter Of some ten seconds to put on an
onther drum.
The run rests on little tripod. and
is fired from the shoulder. Germans
have been known to fire the same
type of gun from the hip, but the
preferred position is lying down
straight behind the the gun, thus
giving the enemy about one foot of
frontage to fire at in return.
The Lewis gun cannot be used like
the Maxim to form barrage when
the trops of the Allies are going ov-
er to precent relief coming up to the
enemy position under attack. The
range of the Lewis is changed by the
least shake Of the gunner's arm. and
its bullets might be DETECTED into our
own troops.
The rate at which the Lewis gun
fires is seven hundred rounds per
minute. That is to say, while the
drum Is on the bullets leave the rifle
at that rate. The actual top-notch
firing amount to five drums or so
per minute, with forty-seven shots
to the drum.
But both the Lewis and the Wicker
Maxim are indispensables. They are
comrades in arms, and not rivals. The
American and British troops on the
western front are trained to use
both, and frequently find room for
the use Of the Hotchkiss in addition.
The German army uses guns Of both
types. and so does practically every
other army in the field.