The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-04-04
ARE MAKING GOOD
WITH Big GUNS
Washington Boys Have Set New
Record in Handling MOtOred
Cannon in France

Will G.. McRae, special correspon.
dent for the Spokesman-Review
writes an interesting article on his
visit to the. camp Of the Washington
artillery in France. While the rules
of censorship do not permit the writer
to reveal the identity of the artillery
unit, there is little doubt but that the
organization referred to is one of
which the Benton county battery is a
part. 1t is known that this battery
was recently converted from field to
heavy artillery and had begun it's
training in France.
In news letter dated February 81,
Mr.. McRae writes:
This week it was visit to the artil-
lery camp where the artillery from
Washington and the converted cavalry
squadron from Oregon is making a
closeup acquaintance with the big g.
ton 155 M. F. new French high-power
gun that shoots so far that a beardless
boy could start walking from the spot
where the gun was fired and before he
reached the spot where the shell land
ed he would be grayhaired. Anyhow,
the cavalrymen are tackling the job
of manning the big guns in manner
that gladdens the heart of the general.
They will never reach the point where
they will present cannons in company
front, but rest assured the former
light artillerymen and the ex-cavalry-
men are tackling the job of learning
how to shoot straight with the big
guns. Their ready grasp of how to
handle the guns, the tractors and the
motor trucks has already amazed the
French artillery officers who have been
assigned as instructors.
The regulations say that it takes 45
minutes to put in and take out of posi-
ton one of the big guns. Well, this
bunch Of huslkies have had the guns
less than 10 days and they have lower.
ed the time for doing the job, setting
up, placing the gun on a. firing plat
form, digging the pits for the spade
and the gun pits in 81 minutes. The
French instructors said the time could
not be beaten because the French ex-
pert artillerymen had tried it. Like
everything else, he is putting etao
everything else the American soldier
over here does, he is putting speed and
pep into everything. Of course. the
drill ground at the artillery camp is
favorable for record smashing, for the
soil is sandy aid easy for digging the
pits; but just the same, the caterpillar
wheels Of the heavy gums and the
wheels Of the tractors sink deep into
the sand, making heavy going. Prob
ably in less than week the artillery
brigade will move to the artillery
range and then will begin target prac-
tice. In the meantime the work that
is engrossing the attention Of the Of
fcers and men is learning the preiim-'
mary tricks Of the trade.
Because the guns shoot SO far and
because the heavy artillery rarely gets.
to shoot at a visible target, whenever
one gets close to a group of officers
one hears a new and strange language
high and low angles, indirect tar
gets-in fact, the conversation sounds
like class recfting trigonometry
or higher mathematical problems.
Some of the officers have shot at the
targets, but until the men get the pro-
per knack of handling that little old
eight-ton cannon the real target prac-
tice will be postponed. I have it from
the French artillery instructors that
the work at the targets will be weeks
ahead of the schedule mapped out.
This all means that as soon as the
period of training has run this battery
and the big guns will be hurting big
chunks of the American 'be good, you
kaiser square-heads" stuff across the
real no-man's land.