The New York herald., 1922-01-01
One of the greatest aids in infantry
attack was the Browning light machine
gun, weight IS pounds, fired thus.

ventions that grew out of the war. The
Allies, confronted with the problem of re-
sisting gas attacks, developed the masks so
that they would protect the soldiers from
death in agony when they came into con
tact with the poisons.
The tank also was a war invention. 1t
was the work of the British who developed
Ii from an idea obtained from a common
farm tractor built in Peoria, ILL., One of the
English officers saw the tractor in opera
ton on a farm near London and he applied
the principle to the tank.
The caterpillar tractor similarly was a war
development. 1t is, in a sense, second
cousin to the tank with similar motive
power and wheels capable of negotiating all
kinds of terrain.
Caterpillar tractors, with their funny
belted wheels. now are used for hauling
heavy guns, mounted on carriages, the
wheels of which are constructed in the
same fashion. They haul powerful search
lights used at night TO find the enemy: they
pull the ammunition wagons over the hills
and through the streams they bring up the
baggage from the rear Some of them,
built to seat a score OF soldiers, make fast
speed across country in advances against
retreating foe.
These tractors have taken the place of
the old time army mule. They are pieces of
mechanism that never balk-power driven
pieces of machinery that form integral parts
of the great army which is little more than
a machine itself.
Tracer ammunition is n development of
the world war. In the main this is intended
TO assist in aerial combat, but il also has
been applied TO machine guns and other
guns fired from the ground. This new type
OF ammunition enables those engaged in
firing 10 follow the course Of the shots. so
that aim may be corrected when 1t is out
of line
In the ordinary machine gun, for example
one out of every five bulets-the percentage
varies-is of the tracer type constructed so
as TO send off fine smoke which is visible
TO the naked eye and permitting, thereby
an accurate following Of the bullet. If the
aim is inaccurate it may be corrected
This development came about when ma
chine guns operating from arplanes were
rendered useless, almost by the inability
OF the operator to trace the fire II was a
need the army saw, and many army en-
gineers took hand in the work of finding
something to overcome the difficulty.
imilarly a development. a direct result of
the war, was the aircraft machine gun itself.
The perfection of this weapon is especially
interesting, since one of the problems en-
countered was TO prevent iarring Of the
airplane. due to the recoil of the gun. This
was overcome by firing a powder charge
tIoHi tnc rear Oh the gun, 10 HeulTdHze Lne
recoil
In addition to this a gun was devised so
that it might be fred through the swiftly
moving propeller blades, without hitting
them The airplane, OF course. offers n re-
stricted firing base. Due TO the tail and to
the wings the most advantageous place for
firing Is from the forward part through the
propeers.
Tho war also brought about the develop
mont of the Browning machine gun and
tho perfection Of the Lewis machine gun,
which modern weapons hold an important
place in the list of armament on the west
ern front.
Ordnance officers for many years have
been and still are, In fact. experimenting
with fuse attachments for shells They
doubt IL they ever will be able to find per-
feet fuse, for. as they put II, such a thing
would be mind reader fuse" The result
is THAI different fuses arc required for
different work.
or all the fuses the army had when the
war came on none of them was found TO be
suitable for antl-arcraft fire. The ordinary
fuses would not do because they were