The Parker post., 1918-01-05
Americans in France Know Every
Part of Weapons Except
Secret of 49,"
TRAINING IS MOST THOROUGH
No Stint Of Ammunition for Practice
Work-Target Shooting in the
Morning, Machine-Shop In
struction In the Afternoon,
Is the Program.

every morning. By that time every
gun captain has finished his allotment
of shells for the day. It does happen
sometimes that gun breaks down,
and in that case it's shells are distrib-
uted among it's neighbors. There is
no record of a battery commander who
has been kept on bound boy allow
ance of ammunition by his own gov
ernment failing to take advantage Of
the prOdigal son privileges which war
has given him. He is right, of course.
The more shells he shoots the sooner
his battery will be fit for action, writes
Herbert Corey in the Chicago News.
The better part of an hour is used
in getting into camp for luncheon. The
| meal itself is over at one o'clock. Then
business starts again. The afternoon
program never includes firing, but deals
with the fundamentals of learning how
to fire. The men take the guns apart
and put them together again. They
know just what part each bit of metal
plays, so that when it ceases to func-
tion the gunners will know what is
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.
"Let us have look at the three
inch school," said the colonel.
A machine shop had been turned
over to the use of the specialists in
the French "soixante-Quinze' field
piece. The French officer who acted
as instructor here is one of the finest
artillerists of the French army.
Secret Of Efficiency.
One part only of the seventy-five is
not taken down-the recoil mechanism,
In which lies the secret of the wonder
full efficiency Of the piece. Before the
war it was a secret in reality.
Nowadays, of course, the secret is
a secret no longer. The Germans have
captured hundreds of seventy-fives, and
know it inside and out. But the recOil
mechanism is so delicately adjusted
that no attempt Is ever made to repair
it in the field. IF it breaks down, it
Is taken off the gun and sent to the
nearest factory for readjustment. In
the next shop, where the 6-inch guns
are being elucidated to the newborn
soldiers, everything is shown.
1t should be thoroughly understood
at home that the artillery, along with
every other branch of the army here,
is making wonderful progress toward
fitness, but it must also be understood
that these men are not to be hurried
into the trenches for permanent occu-
pancy. They are physically fit as prize
fighters, but they are still short of the
full knowledge required of them.
In normal times, the artillery has
been the corps d'elite of the American
army, but today it is suffering from the
same lack of preparation which char
acterizes every other branch of the
service-a lack of preparation which
must not be charged against the army
heads. In the artillery units here
Each regiment is short thirty officers
of it's quota.
Not more than per cent of the
men have served more than one enlist
ment.
Not more than 20 per cent of the
men have served as much as one year.
The vast majority Of the men were
absolutely new to the army. A COM
parative few have been in service as
much as six months.
Superior as q Body,
On the credit side of the account it
may be stated that the men are of an
extraordinarily fine type. AS a body
they are superior In the raw to any
European organization I have seen,
and have seen them all except the
Roumanians.
But the artillery organizations are
suffering from the handicap of lack
of previous experience in bulk. The
artillerist must be highly skilled spe-
cialist. The greater part of the Off
GERS at this camp are either new to
the army or new to the service with
the guns. The work of development is
further checked by the shortage Of
officers previously referred to-a short
age which is added to by the new de-
mands made by modern war.
More officers must be detached as
observers than had previously been
the case. The training Of these Off
GERS necessarily removes them from
immediate contact with their units,
where they are sadly needed. They
are being taught aerial observation in
balloon and airplane at time when
under the previous scheme of organi-
zation they should be serving with their
men. This is not sounding a note of
pessimism. The progress made is mag
nif1cent. 1t is obvious that a more rap
i'd progress would be made if the regi-
mental quota of officers were filled.
British Decorations for NursAe