The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-06-12
Army Lacking In Proper Type
 Of HOWitzers

Wash, June 12-The American army came out of the war with a vast amount of artillery but still lacks the ideal types fguns and howitzers which a careful postwar study by army experts indicated to be the most desirable. On the basis of the re port of the "calber board,' which made this study in 1918, however, ex- isting artillery equipment has been
 apportioned among the troops to ap- proximately as nearly as possible ideal conditions.
 One striking fact was developed by the ''caliber board study. Despite the enormous increase in the amount of of artillery used by the contending the principles of the use of field ar tillery continued unchanged.
 Although the French coined the saying during the war that '"The ar Ellery cOnQuers; the infantry occu- pies the ground" postwar studies do NOT confirm this in American mili- tary opinion which holds that the in fantry armed with rifle and bayonet other arms designed merely to aid the advance of the foot troops.
 As to the increased use of artillery during the war, Sir Douglas Haig. British commander, noted in after the war reports that while the propor- uon of British artillery personnel en- gagged in the battle of the Somme was about 50 per cent. of the infantry, it | reached 80 per cent. in the Battleeof Ypres in 1917., In the 1916 struggle | British guns hurled 13,000 tons of
 poured 23.0Oo tons in the German positions in the same time. The caliber board found that for 1 the purpose of American field opera tions there should be six types of weapons, light weight gun and how tiger to accompany infantry divisions,
 a medium weight pair for corps use and heavy team for each field army. | The board found that for divisional
 use, a gun of about 3-inch caIber | firing missiles of man killing charac- | teristics'' weighing not more than 20
 pounds and with a maximum range | the American and French 75's, while l NOT exactly filling requirements, | formed a practical substitute. The army artillery as we'll as the Nation | equipped with these weapons supple mented by some American S-inch guns.
 As a mate for this field gun, the board recommended a 105 nm. weap- on with range of 10000 yards and
 projecti1es of 30 to 35 pounds. That | type does NOT exist in the army today l although the 155 nm. howitzer sug- gested as a substitute is included and was for a time mated with the light field gun. It is regarded as too heavy for divisional use, however. and
 has been eliminated from divisional batteries.
 The lack of a light howitzer is due to the fact that the American army adopted French artillery equipment in the war and the French never were able to turn their attention to this weapons production in the stress of other work. The British army is equipped with a 105 nm. hoWitzer to support infantry operations.
 For medium batteries attached to army corps, the cahber board rec commended AT to inch guns with range of IS, 900 yards to bring hostile battery positions under fire. The existing 4.7 guns of old model. with one regiment armed with British D. inch weapons make up this element of the present American artillery strength, the guns being mated with the 10000 yard range 1855 nm. how itzer
 For the heavy field artillery handled by units of the Field Army, the board selected a 155 nm. gun with 25,oOO firing 1S,o0o yards Equipment ap- proximating this is made available by using British design howitzers which are on hand.
 It is pointed out that under present national defense plans, most of the artillery for major mobilization must come from the National Guard which now includes 1892 gun batteries armed with 75's; S6 howitzer batteries equipped with 155 mm- weapons and 13 gun batteries armed with 155 mm rifles