The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-03
GERMANS FOLLOWED NAPOLEON'S ADVICE AS TO ARTILLERY--U. s.
 TO HAVE GREATEST IN THE WORLD
Miracle Performed by American Ordnance Officers Who Have Adopted the Best of All the Allies, and Built Factories to Turn Out Everything From Tiny Trench Mortars to Giant Cannon

This practically clears the principal ! guns which are used by our allies to- day and with which our troops will ! be equipped in France. The 3-inch 1 and 4.7-inch guns, U. S. Army Model 1 | of 1906, are practically the same in i general principle as the French 75 and 155, which are of the correspond ing caliber. But it must be remem- bered that our allies have had three | years actual experience with which | to perfect many of the minute details which are so important in the effect iveness of a field gun and which are only discovered under actual field con- | ditions of long duration. This has led | to great improvements over the guns originally in use.
 As indicative of the tremendous | amount of material that one regiment of 75s comprises, it is interesting to know that there are approximately 300 vehicles, exclusive of the actual fighting material to each regiment. These vehicles are trailers, tractors, and trucks, and artillery repair trucks and supply trucks In the actual fighting material there are A guns, 36 caissons, 60 limbers, and the reel
 
 a grand total of approximately 430 l vehicles to a regiment.
 The estimated cost of the motoriza,- tion of the artillery alone of the United States army is $50O, ,O00, 900, of which approximately $210, 900 had been expended on the 1st of February. Ammunition trucks and vehicles are being completed faster than they can I eli the sum of SITS, ,000,0 has been ex- pended by the Procurement Division of the Ordance Department in the
 purchase of projectiles. With this sum about 65,0o0,o0o projectiles have been purchased. These include shrap-
 nel, high explosive type, and gas and anti-aircraft shells for howitzers and
 guns, weighing from 12 pounds to 500 or 1,70O, and costing from about
 $10 to $125 each, exclusive of the
 cost of explosives or of loading the
 complete round.
 The rapidity with which our ord- nance work was accomplished is mar
 velous when one realizes the enor- nous amount of preparation that it
 required. When war came to Europe
 in 1914 there was not a single manu-
 facturer in the United States properly
 equipped to turn out large quantities of field artillery. The work was rap
 idly taken up by our manufacturers
 forfor our resent allies. The magni-
 tude of the problem is indicated by
 the fact that thousands of duplicate gauges had to be made to equip ma
 chinists for large quantity produc-
 tion.
 First, there must be made what are
 known as grandmaster gauges, flaw
 less in their dimensions. The grand
 master gauge is only used to check up a number of master gauges, and
 these master gauges in turn are relied upon to keep large number of actual working gauges up to standard. Not
 only are tens of thousands of gauges , required to equip a factory for the . production of arms and artillery but the gauges must be regularly replac- ed. Nearly a year was spent by pri- vate manufacturers in this country
 preparing gauges for machine tools : for arms for Great Britain, France and Russia. Even after production had been started various adjustments had to be made to keep up with the l r present types. Both the allies and
 the Germans are constantly improv- . ing on various parts in the construc-
 ton of their heavy ordnance, with : the result that the standard type to- 5 day may be changed before the dies have been made to carry on the work 7 We, for our part, had to train the
 man to use the guns as yell as make the guns themselves. and we depend } ed upon our allies to hold the forces of the enemy in check until such time as wee ould be adequately equipped to take the field. As the result of the } efforts of our observers at the front
 and the Ordnance office at home, we . have today reached a production of
 field artillery which is equal to 50
 per cent. of that of France.
 The United States government has
 maintained a large staff of military
 observers on all fronts since the war
 began, and it has been their duty to l report the result of the allied armies :, experience in the field. so that our r own forces might be supplied with the very best possible equipment with f which to meet the enemy.
 I It is a fact we'll known in military 0 circles that British, French, and
 Italian artil1erists do not entirely I agree in their theories of the proper e construction of artillery and the con- S trol of artillery fire. It has been the 0 duty of our observers in reporting @ from the front to sort the good points t from each of our allies methods l and incorporate these in our own - guns, with the result that foreign mill
 itary observers in this country admit - that the artillery which is to be sup - piled to the American troops by the e American arsenals and munition .- plants will be unsurpassed by any,
 thing used on the front today.