The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-01-24
HOSPITALS AT
Fl. DODGE full
Artillery and Rifle Practice at the
Camp Furnishes Plenty of Work
for the Rockies" Who Take to it
Like Veterans.
PRAISED BY WAR SECRETARY
III. G.. L. is in Evidence, Tho it in No
wise Affects the Rations of the
Embryo Soldiers of Your Uncle
Samuel.

Camp Dodge, Iowa, Jan. %, 1918.
With the passing Of zero weather
active practice both with rifles and
artillery began in dead earnest. At
the rifle range the entire member
ship Of the 35Oth infantry under
command of Col. Harrison r. Price,
took their first lesson in the handling
Of the famous Enfield rifles. These
guns are the last word in rifle con-
struction. They are shorter than the
Springfield rifles that the soldiers
used in the war of the rebellion and
they are also much nor intricate.
The ammunition chamber holds five
charges and with the proper elevation
it will shoot to kill a distance of two
miles. Graduated sights enable the
operator to estimate the distance of
the target and practice develops great
accuracy. If anyone is laboring under
the impression that anybody can han
die one of them at the first introduce
ton he is mistaken. There is intri-
cate mechanism to become familiar
with and then the system of finding
the target by means of the sighting
apparatus is no easy task to a begin
e Major Smith Brookhart, of
Washington, Iowa, is the instructor
and he is rated as n of the best
marksmen in the service. He repre-
sents the ordnance department of the
army and has a number of officers
under him. Capt. C. V. Smidt, of
Minneapolis, who constructed the
range, is rendering valuable assist
ance in supervising the tests. All of
the infantrymen will be given inten-
sive training in rifle practice and re-
ports from the range sound like q
battle was raging. Artillery practice
was opened on the artillery
range by officers of the Three Hun
dred Thirty-eighth field artillery. The
guns used are the regulation three
inch field pieces which are similar to
the famous French 75s. The range
of about two miles was used in the in
itial target practice with explosive
shrapnel shells. Several larger guns
are now in camp, these being the Ats
which are to used by the Three Hun
dred Thi~rty-seventh artillery. Most
of the target practice will be done
with the three inch guns which have
q range of about a miles. The At
inch guns will shoot $4,000 yards or
nearly seven miles and the range is
hardly large enough to- permit their
use. Several artillery officers who
have attended the school of fire at
Fort Sill will aid in the instruction
of the men who have had compar-
lively no training in artillery fire, and
as soon as the officers have worked
out with the guns instruction of the
regiment by batteries will begin. The
ammunition limbers, just received, are
brand new, and each includes two
sections, the rear of which has COM
partments for 100 3-inch shells. The
shells themselves are about fourteen
inches long, and both shrapnel and
solid shot may be used in the field
pieces. The roll of the artillery fire
awakes the echoes along the Beaver
Valley and can be heard for miles.
Guards are stationed at safe distances
from the target to warn people to
keep at a safe distance in cas- inquis-
tive observers should wander upon
the forbidden grounds.
Hospitals are Crowded.
The extremely cold weather aggra-
waited sickness at Camp Dodge and
over 100 men are confined in the hos