Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1917-09-15
Artillery Being Given Inten-
sive Training Behind Line
Of Battle for Contest With
Boches.
WILL SHOOT ENEMY
JUST FOR PRACTICE
American Army Should be Trained
and Ready for Big Drive to be
Started by Allies in Spring.

/ fAiliNl iNdii SuH6 dlt DOllluS III
/ France, boming under the eyes of
i observation balons with airplanes to
trace each singing shrapnel shell,
each missile of high explosive de-
/ structiveness. Thus far the guns have
not been turned against the enemy,
but there is every likelihood that the
artillery will beat the infantry to
the front, for it is planned to com
plete the intensive training of the
gunners under actual battle condi-
tions, under the fire of German guns
and with their own weapons direct
ed against occupied German trenches
in various positions behind the enemy
I lines.
While the plans of the American
comanders are unknown, init would
seem logical from a military stand
point that after the artillery has
completed several weeks of training
at the front in liason with the French
infantry and supporting guns, the
greater part of it would be withdrawn
for m2neuyers with the gradually
multiplying American infantry.
The cooperation of artillery and
infantry is 50 close under modern
battle tactics that it is essential they
should be trained to act together
almost as one unit. And just as the
first contingent Gf American infantry
will devote itself largely through
the fall and winter to training other
units as they arrive, so the first CON
tingent of artillery will train the
batteries, regiments and brigades
which will be thrown into France
before the spring campaign of 1913
is likely to begin
While it is not known here what
announcement may have been made
from Washington, the arrival of a
large section Of American field artil-
derry in France has been kept care
fully guarded secret as far as Eu-
rope is concerned. The announce
ment is permitted now, only after
the officers and men have progressed
far in their intensive training under
general supervision Of Frances most
expert artillerists.
There are no longer any French
officers or poilus actually serving at
the guns, the crews having been
Americanized throughout At the
observation posts and in the schools
of instruction French officers sit now
only in an advisory capacity,
Through various reports received
from trained observers, attaches and
other confidential sources during
the last three years the American
artillery officers of the regular army
have been enabled to keep in fairly
close touch with all the gunnery de-
velopment, in any event to change
many of their older practices within
the last q months, while at the same
time keeping them abreast with the
more modern theories ef the various
artillery schools. what the American
artillery has now, and never had be-
fore, is plenty of shells 1t is easily
conceived what this means to enthusi
astic officials and men, when batter
les are expending within two or three
weeks 10 times the number of shells
formerly allotted to them for an en-
tire year
Modern artillery training is
maze of technical details, a labyrinth
Of mathematical problems, never
ending series Of intricate puzzles, in
which such elusive and subtitle sub
ects as orientation, triangulation, de-
fection, drift, elevation, celebration
meteorology range finding and a
dozen other branches of optics and
geometry and general application of
the concentrated powers of direction
are involved.
In the beginning the fulfilment of
its contract with Washington, the
French government has supplied the
American artillery units with the
latest output