Evening star., 1917-11-11
GUN MECHANISM
/ TAUGHT RECRUITS
Raw ArtIlIerymen First Learn
How to Take apart and
Repair Field Pieces.
REC0IL WAS ONCE SECRET
BY HERBERT COREY.

AN AMERICAN ARTILLERY CAMP
IN FRANCE, October 1e.-Firing stops
1t II o'clock every morning. BY that
time every gun captain has finished his
allotment Of shells for the day. 1t does
happen sometimes that gun breaks
down, and in that case It's shells are
distributed among it's neighbors There
in no record of a battery commander
who has been kept on bound boy al
lowance Of ammunition by his own gov
ernment falling to take advantage OF
the prodigal son privileges which war
has given him. He is right, or course.
The more shells he shoots the sooner
his battery will be fit for action
The better part Of an hour is used
In getting into camp for lunch Ihe
meal itself is over at 1 o'clock. Inen
business starts again. The afternoon
program never includes firing. but deals
with the fundamentals OF learning nov
to fire. The men take the guns apart
and put them together again. ihey
know just what part each bit OF metal
plays, so that when II ceases 70 LunI
tion the gunners Will Know Mhal
wrong. The officers are at work at
other things. Some are taking course
of map-making. some are at wireless
telegraphy' and others are scattered
about the other schools.
Secret Of the "Seventy-Five."
Let US have look at the three
inch school," said the colonel.
Al machine shop had been turned
over to the use of the specialists IN
tho French "soixante-quinze" Held,
piece. The French officer who acted
artiilerists Of tho French army. His
breast is covered with medals won
upon the field. He speaks a slow and
careful English. almost without trace
racy. On benches about the room are
the various pieces of the gun. Day
after day and day after day guns are
taken apart here and set up again.
until his pupils are perfectly familiar
One part only of the seventy-nve IS
not taken down. This is the reco1i
mechanism. in which lies the secret
Of the wonderful efficiency OF the
piece. Before the war it was a Sc
cret in reality. and there is a fairly
well vouched for story that the ofh-
GERS responsible for it. knowing that
the Germans had wind of the secret
and were moving heaven and earth to
get a glimpse of the new weapon.
prepared fake drawings. and even
built fake gun. 1t was good gun.
too-so good that it deceived the Ger
mans who stole it-but it was not so
good as the seyenty-five.
Secret Still Invio1ate.
The secret was still inviolate when
the war began. and it was the seventy
hve that saved France at the battle
Of the Marine.
Nowadays. of course. the secret is
q secret no longer. The Germans
have captured hundreds of seventy
nves and know it inside and out.
But the recoil mechanism is SO deli
cately adjusted that no attempt is
sver made to repair it in the field. If
II breaks down it Is taken of the
gun and sent to the nearest factory
for readjustment. In the next shop.
where the six-inch guns are being
olucidated to the newborn soldiers.
everything is shown. These big pieces
for even in a war in which forty
two's" are being used a six-inch how
itxer is a sizable piece-are no more
intricate than a moving machine. Men
right from the corn. belt understand
them the first day.