The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-09-18
ARTILLERY, AIRPL4NES
TO PLAY BIG PART
In the Wind-Up of the War; Mammoth
American Industries Covering Them
Have Been Built Up in
France.

Central France, Sept. Is Correspond.
ence OF the Associated Press Artillery
and airplanes are going to be two of the
decisive factors in winning the war. ac.
cording to the military experts, and here
at this little interior town can be seen
what the ordnance branch of the Amer.
lean 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 com
bat, toward the fighting front
IL Is one of the mammoth institutions
which has suddenly sprung up with the
coming of the Americans and. since
April last, it has spread over an area of
several miles, with two enormous gun.
shops, two similar shops for tanks and
gun tractors, two more for assembling
and repairing artillery of all kinds. an,
other for machine guns, rifles and small
arms, with huge foundries and FORCES for
the casting. Along with these are going
up four great warehouses for housing ali
kinds OF ordnance material.
The big government arsenal at Rock
Island, Mo, is the only thing of the kind
that compares in extent with this plant,
and yet 1t is 80 per cent completed after
four months of existence.
There are two stages in the steady
upkeep Of the cannon and all kinds ~
weapons going forward to the fighting
lines. The first stage is in the zone ~
the advance, along with the army. where
number of ordnance shops are operated
to meet immediate requirements in tho
neld, to remount crippled cannon and to
get the guns back into use with the least
possible delay The shops move forward
with the troops, with machinery, tools
and all the 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 reboring of the heavy guns.
the remounting of the gun carriages, and
all classes Of artillery work on a large
scale.
In the heavy and constant artillery &C. |
tons now going on the big guns are put |
TO severe test and there must be fire.. !
quent retubing and rerihing. The bigger |
gun is the shorter is its life for effee. |
tive shooting. The l2-inch gun has a /
life of $50 shoots; the seacoast l4.inch |
gun, capable of shooting 81 miles, has
life OF about $50 shots The smaller |
French rs is good for some 10000 rounds |
But when when the limit is reached the |
gun must come back here to be made
over. It's use as a gun is in no way i'm.
paired, and with new cylinder in the
barrel, and new spiral rihing TO keep the
she'll whirling, the gun is as good as new.
While this big institution is keeping
up the steady supply of guns, large and
small, IN the lighting now going on, vet
the main supply will sooner or later come
from America, when its vast productive
resources get in full operation. There
are cheering reports of how this produc-
ton Is fast increasing, particularly in
guns. But big guns and their
tractors cannot be turned out
in day and after that is the problem
Of shipping such unwieldly monsters
across the Atlantic
So, for the present at least, much of
he vast supply Of guns, great and small.
moving forward to the firing line is of
French pattern or French make The
splendid artillery results in the recent
lighting tell how these guns are operated
n American batteries. And yet it is
'nly fair to the American fighting force
o recognize that they are not vet fully
'quipped with their own arms. and that
rom this time forward there will be a
teady increase of American metal and
American high explosive as we'll as
american airplanes in the crucial phases
# the conflict.