Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-17
American "keavles."

(By the ASSoc1ateQ PfeSS.) Not far behind the American field artillery, which has been in training in a rugged section of France for the | past two months have come the men of the "heavies." says a report from the American training camp in France. They are veteran gunners, many of whom are familiar with the big guns at home, and they greeted almost as comrades the monster French weapons which they are now grooming for use against the Germans.
 Some of the guns with which the American artillery men are training are wonderful and ponderous exam pies of the French gun makers skill and daring. They range from. the modest but marvelously effective "155" up to the staggering 400" that hurls a high explosive missile weighing just short of a ton. The 400's are more po- in their days of great destructiveness. The guns ranged from the short. squat mcrtars, which sit upon their launches like giant frogs. up through the various members of the howitzer family to the truly sinister naval ri- Hes with their long tapering barrels. The Americans are delighted with their French weapons and are busy studying every detail and adapting themselves to the use of French ma terial. Most of the heavy gunners are men of long experience and do not
 need much actual firing practice be-
 
 the enemy. They have been a little
 surprised to find that with the big land guns used here speed is not a great factor. These heavy weapons
 are used for destructive purposes. and there is no special need for haste
 when dealing with concrete dugouts
 and other enemy defenses that cannot
 run away. Accuracy is the great goal
 of all heavy gunners.
 Asked ii. his men would not find it | f h.
 servation. the general commanding
 the heavy artillery contingent replied:
 we will have direct observation
 here. The only difference will be that
 side the gun. will be sitting aloft on an airplane. You can depend upon it
 that each shot we fire at the enemy will be watched and recorded"
 The wireless branch of the heavy artillery service is one of great inn portance. At schools already estab- lished radio pupils are being trained in communication with airplanes and observation balloons.
 Scores of reserve officers from Plattsburgh and other training camps are completing their technical educa- tion in. the artillery schools here. These officers, individually selected for their artillery service because of their education in higher mathematics and engineering, are proving joy to their commanders and instructors. It is predicted that all VIII make splendid officers in active service.
 The American gunners have been much interested in the big 240's which are hauled by caterpillar tractors, but their real pets are those aristocrats among the heavies which command special railroad cars. Some of these rulers of the cannon world are as inn portant and so valuable that an entire artillery train is devoted to them These trains are strange looking af- fairs in their fantastic war paint, re- sembling at a distance . mammoth rattlesnake. Even the engines are in cluded in the camouhage and may re- semble anything from a brick house to a giant hedgehog.
 The French sense of humor cannot be suppressed by three years and more of war. French officers have named one of the largest guns turned eyer to the Americans "MoustiQue," which means mosquito.
 "It is compliment to any of your artillerymen who may have come from l New Jersey. said the French com mandant. who said he had spent ten years on the eastern coast of the United States.
 The French guns, although large and apparently unwieldy, are balanced easily. one man being able to elevate and defect a weapon weighing hfty tons or more.