Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-10-04
BIG GUN "HOsPlTALSc
FOLLOW THE ARMY

Behind the British Lines in France
Press).-In war the question of vast
age OF material is second only to tina of
men. ArmamentS become rapidly UNI
serVlceable through old age and casual
ties, the big guns most of all. For gun
casualties 81 regular system of hospitals
exists.
The first aid station is in the battery
Itself, where, much as a medical order
" Keeps a supply of medicine and
pandaGes, a trained artificer keeps a
supply of tools spare parts. He can
deal with any triflin2 accident that
may occur, or replace any small part
that may be broken. The modern sun
or howitzer is Il complicated piece OF
mechanism, requiring constant skilled
attention if the best results are to be
obtained. This attention the artiiicer
supplies.
But should the eun develop a COM
plant beyond the powers of his tools TO
rectify. or should an unlucky splinter
OF Shell u it in some vulnerable
part, its removal to hospital becomes
necessary. Gun hospitals are work.
shops, wonderfully organized to dcal
with the work that falls TO their lot, and
started by skilled mel o! the ordnance
corps. These workshops are graded
according to mobility, and are all capa-
A4'N " a'''' - AVN
on point to another. They are styled
light. medium OF heavy. according to
their powers of movement and their
capacity for dealing with work requir-
ing light or heavy tools.
a light. ordnance mobile Workshop"
to give 1t its full title, is self contained
upon two or three motor trucks. in
~geniously arranged. The floor of the
lorries carries light lathes and drilling
machines, driven by electric transmits
sion from the engine of the automobile.
light being furnished from the sam
source. The trucks look like ordinary
closed motor cars when travelling, but
on duty the sides of the vans drop down
to form platforms around the machin-
cry, and the interiors are transformed
into buzZing hives of activity. Their
capacity is limited to the work that can
be handled on the comparatively light
tools that they carry.
The next stage is the medium mobile
worlSshop.' This is no longer self con-
tanned on motor trucks, ready to timber
up and he off at a moment 1t carries
machinery that must be unloaded and
installed in some convenient shed. The
whole is transported on motor trucks,
hut the work is not carried on in the
trucks. There is Il compact oil engine
n dynamo, to be boltcd down to a
hastily constructed foundation. There
are lathes. milling machines. every sort
of machine tool that is to bc found in a
general engineering shop. The whole
concern requires about two days to,set
up and put in running order. Nearly
everything Except certain intricate re-
pairs, can be performed here, and it is
rarely necessary for a wounded gun to
proceed any further.
, But, for the accommodation of really
bad cases, there are Il few heavy mo-
bile Workshops" where anything that
is susceptible of repair may be dealt
with. These are equipped not only with
heavier machinery han the medium
workshops, but with elaborate addi-
tional machinery for special work. In
addition to the big machine shop, there
are pattern making shops, Wheeler'S
shops, a foundry, air compressors, and
every sort of device to supply the needs
of an army that fights with highly sci
entific The whole outfit is
constructed so that it may be taken
dow and packed into trucks drawn
by great tractor engines.
The whole system is a miracle Of Or
ganiZation for q war which, although at
present mainly one of position, nay al
any momen develop into one of move
, mcnt, Everything, workshops included,
must be ready to follow up an advance
Provision of machine shops at fixed
points might meet the conditions OF
trench warfare, but they would become
useless as the line of battle left them
ehind SO the gun hospital, like the
field ambulance and casualty clearing
stations, are fashioned upon 4 plan that
I allows of ready movement.
There remains the case of the gun
that through long and honorable serv-
ice is worn out. 1t is remove from the
battery, to be replaced by one OF a mum
Der that lie in readiness at one Of the
gun parks behind the line, and is taken
back to AN arsenal to be rebuilt. The
inner tube, whose riflins in some cases
is worn nearly smooth, Is removed and
another inserted in it's stead, after
which the gun is ready to take it's place
once moro in the emplacements of al
active battery.