Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-04-16
LIEUT.. ALEX. CRAVEN
Now at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in the
Coast Artillery

Lieutenant Alex Craven, who at
tended the second Officers Reserve
Training Camp at the Presidio of San
Francisco, California, for three
months, received his commission al
the end of that time as second lieu
tenant in the coast artillery, and was
sent to Fort Winfield Scott, California
An interesting incident occurred
not long after his arrival at this
car .. Under the draft law, a reei-
ment of selects from Chicago and
Duluth came into this particular
camp one day, ard as Lieut.. Craven
was assisting III checking insurance
allOtments, service records, etc., he
questioned one fellow as to where
he was born, ETC., inducting him into
the c. A. n. A The young ROCKY,
who happened to be Frank Halada,
promptly said he was born in Wau-
Sau, which sounded mighty good to
the young Lieutenant, as he also was
born in this city. 1t is unnecessary
to say that they had a nice little
visit about Wausau and the people
here. Young Halada has been pro-
NOTED from a private to Corporal, and
he is either with the Anti-Craft regi-
ment or the 62nd Coast Artillery regi-
ment, and possibly enroute to France.
Lieut.. Craven told in a very inter-
esting way of the spirit which takes
hold of the drafted men as soon as
they enter camp, and of the enthusiast
tic way in which they enter into the
work
Among various things of interest to
ial moving pictures showing squad
movements, drills, etc, giving the
men an idea in a general way what
the work is like and what they are
expected to do. These pictures are
flashed on the screen slowly, so as
to enable the fellows to get a pretty
good view of them. Lieut.. Craven
also told of the spontaneous applaud
and excitement which is created when
the American flag is shown on the
screen, which arouses all the on
lockers to a high pitch and they Just
seem to want to get up and Go all
they can to protect the stars and
stripes.
Lieut.. Craven stated that he was
sent from Fort Winfield Scott, Cali
fornia, to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for a
ten weeks course in then School of
Fire. This school is attended by
officers, where they receive further in
structlonS in the heavy and light fir
ing. There are 120 officers that grad
uate each week from this school, and
the same number entering every week.
Lieut.. Craven has spent eight weeks in
this school, and will go back there
for two more, at which time he will
have finished this course. Instruc-
tions are given in close shooting,
trench shooting, accurate firing, ETC.,
and a certain number of successful
problems must be done accurately be-
fore you can graduate. Those who
are not efficient are eliminated.
He told of the many different guns,
which are used in this work, and also
said that the most interesting points
are confidential and can not be given
out. He told of the French three
inch guns, siX-inch Howitzer guns,
rs M. M. guns, 155 M. NJ. guns
Schneider guns,) etc. In the coast
artillery three guns, such as the
fiat trajectory gun, which throws up
ward obliquely in the air; the howit-
ger gun, which is a short, light can
non having a chamber, intended to
throw large projectiles with compar-
atively small charges; and the NOR
tar gun, which is short, and used
for throwing bombs, shells, etc, at
high angles of elevation are used.
He also spoke of richochet firing,
which is rebounding or skipping at
low angle of elevation. The firing
of guns, or howitZers, usually with
small charges, and elevated a few
degrees, so as to cause the shells
to rebound or roll along the ground
on which they fall.
Panoramic sight was also explained
by Lieut.. Craven, which is a COM
plete or entire view of the field in
every direction. The panoramic sight
is in the nature of a periscope which
enables gunners to use an aiming point
in the opposite direction from the tar
get, which increases the rapidity of fire.
This eliminates the difficulty of hav-
ing the sight through the smoke
from the blast.
There are two kinds of barrage.
One is called the offensive barrage
or accompanying fire, and the other
the defensive barrage. In the offens-
iv barrage each battery is assigned
a definite sector in the trenches, and
wait for a given time. For the first
five minutes the four guns of a bat
terry completely cover the enemies
front line trenches firing at a rate of
four or five shells per minute per gun.
One gun drops out and rests for two
or three minutes, and the other three