The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-09-18
Covers Area of Several
Miles with Enormous Gun
Shops and F0undries
HAS SPRUNG UP
SINCE LAST APRIL
Only Thing of the Kind to Compare
With American Plant in France is
Imposing Array of Various Guns.


Imposing Array of Various Guns.
CENTRAL FRANCE, Sept. IS, Cor
respondence of The Associated Press) |
Artillery and airplanes are going |
to be two of the decisive factors in |
winning the war, according to the mil |
| itary experts, and here at this little |
| interior town can be seen what the ord |
nance branch of the American army
| has built up in the last four months to
keep up the steady flow of artillery.
arms, ammunition, machine guns, tanks
| and all the material of combat, toward
the fighting front 1t is one of the
mammoth institutions which has sud
denly sprung up with the coming of
the Americans and since April last, it
has spread over an area of several miles
with two enormous gunshops, two SIM
liar shops for tanks and tractors,
two more for assembling and repairing
artillery of all kinds, another For ma
chine guns. rifles and small arms, with
huge foundries and FORCES for the cast
ing. Along with these are going up
four great warehouses for housing all
kind of ordnance material.
The big government arsenal at Rock
Island. H., is the only thing of the
kind that compares III extent with this
plant, and yet it is 90 per cent com
pleted after four months of ex stence
There are two stages in the steady
up-kcep of the cannon and all kinds
Of weapons going forward to the fight
ing lines The first stage is in the zone
OF the advance, along with the army,
where . number of ordnance shops are
operated to meet Immediate require
ments in the field. to remount crippled
cannon and TO get the guns back into
use With the least possible delay. The
shops move forward with the troops.
wish machinery, tools and all tic stock
and parts to do quick work
The larger stage of work, which is
not done in the face of the fighting.
comes back here to the big shops
equipped to do all kinds of extensive
ordnance work, such as the re boring
q the heavy guns, the rcmounting of
The gun carriages. and all classes of
artillery work on large scale.
IN the heavy and constant artillery
actions now going on the big gans are
- put to severe test and there must be
frequent retubing and rc-riaine. The
bigger d gun is the shorter Is its life
A for effective shooting. The 12ipch Gun
4 has a life Of $50 shots the sea-eoast
! li-neh gun, capable Of shooting u
niles has life of about $50 shots. The
i mailer Freuca - is GOOD for some 70.
4 Gao rounds. But when the limit i.
i reached the gun must come back here
1 to BIC made over. Its use as a GUN II in
no way impaired, and with q now cyl
4 ndcr in the barrel and new spiral ri
4 fling TO keep the she'll whirline. re cni
1 is rs good rs new
While this big institution is keep
1 ing up the steady supply of guns, lare,
and small in the fighting now going
1 On, get the main supply win sooner o.
4 later come from America when its vas
4 Productive resources get in full opera
4 ton. There are cheering reports Of hov
4 this production is fast increasing par
I ticularlv il machine guns But hi.
erns and ticT mammoth tractors can
l not be turned out in day AM aftt
4 that is the problem of shipping. sue
4 unwieldv monsters across the Atlantic
| so, for the present at least much O
small moving forward to the firm
line is Of French pattern or Frenc
make. The splendid artillery result
4 IN the recent f2hting tell how thes
ours arc operated in American battel
les. And vet it is only fair 10 til
4 American fighting force to recogni2
that there win be steady increase G
American metal and American high Q,
! piosivc as we'll as American airplanc
~ the crucial phases of the conflict
An imposing array of all the twp,
of big guns now in use is to be seen
the shops here with 1000 gunmake
advancing them through all stages O
one side are the monster guns mounte
or railway trucks with S-inch l0-ine
and l2-inch rifles and the huge Sine
and 90 hoWitzers drawn by tractor
Other forms of this heavy artillery a.
the loo millimetre, the 4.7-inch, 5-int
and 6-inch guns. the field guns of Il
famous French IS pattern and the Is
millimetre howitzers. They look do
BIZ mounstrous in their war pain
q with fantastic camouAagc smeared ov
= rifles and Auge armored trucks.
IL - The SMALLEST field piece in this va
l. arsenal is the little French 37-milim
al ire or onepounder which, under t
Ell Hague convention, is the minimum o.
III firing explosive shells Even in II
Jll workshop where the guns are beil
I'll hurried forward to the front, one o
Ill serves that the same Hague conventi
Il which the enemy ignores is being 0
Eli served by the allies.