The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-09-12
FIRST CALL
BY
ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
Author Of
"OVER THE TOP"
CHAPTER XXI.
Tha Cuns

NnAf LEX AAl,
The Guns.
ITO the average civilian, artillery Is
vague term. lie pictures mon
StronS guns, manned by sweating
crews and belching forth fire, smoke,
and shells into the enemy territory. lie
thinks Il must be glorious to man a
gun and watch your shells smash
trenches, houses, dugou,s, and woods.
Then in fancy he sees the lighter guns,
with caisSons and limbers drawn by
eight to sixteen powerful horses, DASH
ing madly over the open spaces, with
shells bursting all around and he
glories IN 1t all But the artillery on
the western front is very different IRON
this highly-colored picture.
Artillery fire is a science and is d.
rected and controlled by cool calcula-
tion Of numbcrs--in fact, it IS more or
le. mathematical problem. The
gunner does sweat and he is under shell
fire, but he seldom il ever sees the
object fired at, or the direct effect OF
his bursting she'll
Camouflase.
One Of the most important things to
make the artillery efficient is proper
conccalment from enemy observation.
This concealmcnt, or camouilage, has
in the last eighteen months OF the war
developed into a cience Batteries so
conceal their guns by digging emplace-
mentS in the ground, and using wire
screens and brushwood and painted
canvas, that Il is almost impossible for
an observing enemy plane to locate
them. Not only do the armies conceal
their guns bu, they camouflage the
roads which lead to them, and over
which ammunition, supplies, and troops
aye brought High screens painted "a
reSNnble the surrounding terrain are
nailed to posts along the edges OF the
road Roads are also rooted with
painted screens in such a clever man
ner that they defy enemy air obServa-
tion. All work, TO escape observation
must necessarily be done at night II
the job canno, he completed before
daybreak. the workers, Just before
dawn, camouilage their work with
screens. sandbaps dirt, sod, or branches
OF trees. according 10 the nature OF the
surrounding ground, thus preventing
enemy acroplanes from reporting their
activities
A much-uSed and successful ruse Of
the artillery is mounting dummy guns
40 that they may be observed by enemy
air scouts The real guns are located
either well in front, TO the rear, or Il
the right and left OF the dummy Tn,
range Of the camouilage gun IS com
municated 10 the enemy artillery, anC
il is only q short time before she'll
begin TO drop around It, while the rea
guns are firing in comparative safety
Another ruSe used by the ARTILLERY
10 deceive enemy gunners is WORKED
in the following way;
Several shells are dubbed or fxe,
, go they will not explode and then ar
fired into the enemy lines, the tim
fuses having been set so H 10 Civ
the enemy the impression that the bat
terieS firing the shells are either yer
close or far away. The enemy artl
lerymen dig up these "duds," examin
Ult tunc luNcAi anu ~ NnVl lHlHht ~
the exact range Of the English battery
This trick has become ,ime-worn, an
only q green artilleryman will fall 10
II. Still there arc a good many ZEE
srtilIerymen left In the German arm,
Judging from some OF the stunts tha
the British put over on them
Disposition Of Batteries
On the western front the smalle
ealiber guns are nearest the firing lin,
fifteen and eighteen Founders bein
first They range back until the heay
lest. the 90 or lS-ineh howiIer
reached. thousands OF yards behind N
front line trench Smaller guns AT
used for demoliShing enemy barbe
wire and shelling his troops with shraT
mel, while the larger caliber shell, Al
used for searching out dugouts, ammu
milton dumps, artillery emplacement
and for shelling villages, etc.
The hardest work OF the artillery
not during a bombardment, hut aftC
the infantry has pushed well into Il
German lines and consolidated the car