The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-10-07
And
PLANES FACTORS
IN WINNING WAR,
EXPERTS AGREE

Central France, Sept. 1o.-tcor-
respondence OF the Associated
Press Artillery and airplanes are
going to be two of the decisive fac
tors in winning the war, according
to the military experts, and here at
this little interior town can be seen
what the ordnance branch Of the
American army has built up In the
last four months to keep up the
steady flow of artillery. arms. ann
munition, machine guns. tanks, and
all the material of combat. toward
the fighting front.
1t is one of the mammoth institu-
tions 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 gunshops, two similar
shops for tanks and gun tractors,
two more for assembling aand re-
pairing artillery of all kinds, anoth-
er for machine gun. rifles and small
arms, with huge foundries and
FORCES for the casting Along with
these are going UP four great ware
houses for housing all kinds OF
ordnance material.
The big government arsenal at
Rock Island, Mo-, is the only thing
with this plant, and yet it is so per
cent completed after four months Of
existence.
Two stages In UpEeep.
There are two stages in the steady
up-keep OF the cannon and ali kinds
of weapons going forward to the
the zone of the advance along with
the army, where a number OF ordn-
ance shops are operated to meet inn
mediate requirements in the field, 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 fight
ing, 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
remountfng Of the gun carriages,
and all classes of artillery work on
a large scale.
In the heavy and constant arTfl-
lery actions now going on the big
guns are put to a severe test and
there must be frequent retubing and
rerifling. The bigger a gun is the
shorter is it's life for effective shoot
$50 shots; the sea-coast 14-inch gun,
capable, Of shooting 81 miles, has a
life Of about $50 shots. The smaller
French rs is good for some 10000
FUNDS. But wen the limit is reached
the gun must come back here to ~be
made over. It's use as a gun is in
no way impaired, and with a new
cylinder in the barrel, and new spiral
rifling to keep the shell whirifng,
the gun is as good as new.
Main Supply From America.
. While this big institution is keep
ing up the steady supply OF guns.
large and small, in the lighting now
going on. yet the main supply will i.
sooner or later come from America
when it's vast productive resources
get in full operation. There are
cheering reports of how this prodirc-
ton is fast increasing particularly
in machine-guns But big guns and
their mammoth tractors cannot be
turned out in a day and after that is
the problem of shipping such un-
wieldly monsters across the Attain
tic.
So, for the present at least much
Of the vast supply OF guns, great
and small, moving forward to the
firing line is OF French pattern or
French make The splendid artil-
lery results in the recent fighting
tell how these guns are operated in
American batteries. And yet it is
only fair to the american fighting
force to recognize that they are not
yet fully equipped with their own
arms, and that from this time for
ward there will be a steady increase
high explosive as well as American
airplanes in the crucial phases of
the conflict.
All Types of Guns.
An imposing array of all the types
seen in the shops here with 1000
gunmal1ers advancing them through
all stages. On one side are the
guns mounted on railway
trucks with eight-inch, 10~inch and
12-inch rifles and the huge eight
inch and 90 howitzers drawn by
tractors. Other forms of this heavy
artillery are the 1856 millimetre.
the 4.7-tnch, 5-inch and 6-iflch guns.
the ueld guns or the Famous French
IS pattern and the 155-milIilnetre
howitzers. They look doubly mon
strous in their war paint, with fan
tastic camouflage smeared over
rifles and huge armored trucks,
The smallest field piece In this
vast arsenal is the little French 81
mllllmetre, or one-pounder which.
under The Hague convention. is the
minimum gun firing explosive shells.
Even in this workshop where the
guns are being hurried forward to
the front, one observes that the
same Hague convention which the
enemy ignores is being observed by
the allies.