Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-29
Split TRAILER WINS
FAVOR WITH FRENCH
BY Use Of American Device, Field
Pieces Can BE Elevated
80 Degrees.
THIS is WAR OF MACHINE GUN
Majority Of Bclligercnts Use Two
Designs OF Rapid-Fircrs - New
Model Ready for General PERISH
ing's Army.

CENTRAL FRANCE, September IS
correspondence Of The Associated
Press). American ingenuity Is fas,
making Itself felt in the construction
OF field guns in the vast workhouse
can army here.
One OF the American designs which
has won strong favor with the French
experts is the split trailer" which ex-
tends back OF the gun from the wheels
down TO the ground. From the earliest
days Of gunnery this trailer has been
have split 1t in two from the ground
up so that two great legs spread out
BACKWARD from cannon.
permitting an ordinary field piece 10
DO elevated to eighty degrees. or al
AMERICAN DESIGN
ADOPTED by FRENCH.
The American design has now been
adopted a. the standard French model.
made a. French '' a ai in1 neS ctiei nI
photographs made by the ordnance
e1a n1w going forwa5a for
mi: split trailer firing at an elevation
% Tho 6sathdeaiinE maehinesun which
SeeaDe such formidable weapon in
the present war.
sad IN x. on once. OF as a point.d out
a.. sianre n. types. Ereneh, Epslish.
Used m Tho etvsi war, no only At a few in
t6s svaaish-Anerican and Boer wars
han war;; and now they have develop
Cd b q foremost place as an effective
end deadly means Of warfare"
forms Of these machine guns. the heavy
typo weighing about thirty pounds.
S9 on ~. t1i10d and dTaWn by pyos
from tho shoulder like an ordinary
much heavier than the standard ten
pound rtne. Both types Of these guns
smpuni.ion which can be carried;
men. one to fre and two to Keep up
the steady feeding of ammunition.
The new type OF American machine
this array OF makes from all the ma
tons. II Is coming over in large guam
tIses now m odaepped win he the neE
camps the tests have given the best
results. but the real test of battle ac-
divisions on the fighting line obtained
their machine-gun equipment before
the new model was ready.
HAS 40 CUTTING EDGE
In this same arsenal ono could COM
pare the rifles and bayonets OF all
the combatan; troops The American
knife. But the French bayonet was
more Ike slender rapicr two feet
for s,abbinG. The Russian bayonet has
no sharp point but is like a screw.
driver with a fiat edge. cutting and
s.aobing AT the same time.
And besides the guns OF all kinds Is
the ammunition stored in vast guam.
titles in arsena!s and warehouses and
in huge parks and ammunition dumps
ell the way from the coast UP TO the
lighting front. The. great stacks OF
shells are very orderly in arrangement.
each stack representing a carload. and
each graded by caliber and lot number.
Each 10, Of shells differs slightly in
uniform accuracy in the fire OF a bat
terry is TO keep II supplied with the
Separate from the shells. are tho
fuses and srcnades kept IN small de-
tached lots owing TO their highly ex-
aamo there w SeS
dinernt Nndr OF gas, hand and rifle
Grenades
formerly skilled mechanics In large
American factories. who are enlisted
soldiers carrying on this huge work or
keeping up tho supply Of guns and
ammunition. Realizing the need or
highly skilled men FOR this work In
France a special recruiting campaign
was CaTI.tu GA III many VI TIC hthci u
can Industrial centers last winter. The
result IL shown in the equipment OF
the ordnance branch with a stan OF
skilled workmen comparing with the
best factor sections
II Is largely patriotic service IN
which skilled mechanics nave given up
large wages to accept the soldiers pay
OF $50 a month. The foreman of one
OF the extensive Detroit automobile
factories, who received 5000 week. Is
now q volunteer among these en-
listed men receiving $50 a month. There
are scores Of cases OF this kind.