o
OOXlLMi
How Shells Costing Thousands of
Dollars Apiece Are Hurled for Many
Miles With Terrible Destructiveness
BT CLIVE MARSHALL,
Ft.'K in space
parattv slle
particular
J lOR th apace of a few second coin
lence reigned In that
section of tha forest
aoma fonr or five mile back of the
front-line trenches. Tha great run
which stood In the center bf -the littl
clearing bad been made ready and tha
runocri were, grouped about It alert
for the final ordcra from tha com
nander. who anxiously waited at the
telephone a short distance away the
report from tha observer.
Finally tha voice of tha commander
broke tha silence.
Three degrees left." were tha words.
Tha chief runner cava a quick, short
fcut careful twist to tha wheel In his
hands, tha nosa of tha bis; engine of
death moved almost imperceptibly to
the left, the runners harried to post
tions to the hack and each side) of the
sun and threw themselves flat upon
their faces.
Vlre!" came tha sharp eommand-
Tha chief runner. In bis place some
distance back of tha gun, pressed an
electric switch. Ther was a mighty
roar from the mortar, tha earth shook
until tha bodlra of the runners fairly
bounced and another great shell was
aent awirllnr and droning across the
aky on Its errand of death.
Day after day. unceasingly, tha great
guns in tha battle sones of Europe are
poundlr.r away lika giant blacksmiths
soaping peace In the forg of war and
tha men that man them often do not
sea a human creature but their own
group for weeks at a time.
At tha very outset of tha war Ger
many fairly astounded the world with
aer "Fat Berthas." aa tha Bochea called
their Krupp "42a." Thea big siege
guns were cumbersome affairs and
their transportation alwaya remained a
matter of great difficulty. It required
seven railway wagons to transport a
alnrle run. but when It got within
ranra It could throw shells that would
amaah the moat modern fort Ilka an
errahelL And each ahell fired from a
'!" coat about SISOO.
Together with the dtfflrultlea expe
rienced in transporting theaa great
guna and the Imposatbllity of with
drawing them quickly In caa of a
audden and unexpected advance by the
enemy, tb "Fat Berthaa" had other
drawbacks. They were very coatly.
very short-lived IS ahots being all
that on of then could be made to fire
with eafety and tha ahork of each
shot was so great that tha gunner
had to lie flat on the ground with their
mouths opra. 20 feet away from the
gun when it waa fired.
Hut deaplta theae drawbacks the suc
cess of the gun was colossal. Tha fact
la that at the taking of Fort Douanmont.
which baa been ascribed by the alllea
to th assembling by the Germana of
a number of theao heavy guna. only one
of these gun. It la claimed, actually
took part. Thla givea some Idna of the
wonderful destructive power of the
"Fat Berthaa."
It ia said, however, that the German
"4J vera inferior to the Austrian
Si 4-centimeter Skoda guns, which
were mor easily moved about and
which, manned by Austrian gun crews,
plated ao pronounced A part ia the
Antwerp campaign.
Franc really did not plan her heavy
artillery until aa late aa August. 114.
Iter Ti-mllllmter guns were good, but
they could not reach the Germans, who
rould drop sheila In the trenchea from
a distance of eight miles. So France
Lvsri
kries of Big Guns
got busy and soon succeeded in turning
out guna of aa great power and mobil
ity aa any 'Germany could boast of. -
The first of the new French guns
waa the lOS-milliraeter. which could
throw a 34-pound shall eight miles.
Then earn the ISO-millimeter howitsar,
which could safely discharge a 42
pound shot a distance of five miles and
from that distance, one the rang waa
accurately aecured. It could drop it
great bombs in trenches as though they
were being let fall from aeroplane.
After these two guns cant tha
French abort-barreled mortar, which
fire at an angle of 70 to SO degrees.
and then atlll heavier guns, up to the
SSO-milllmeter terrors, filing projec
tiles weighing from 440 to Si pounds
five and a half miles. These are moved
by large tractor or mounted on spe
clally designed railway carriages. Tha
mortar Is 11 Inches in diameter and
French 171.4 millimeter Schneider siege
mortar fires a projectile weighing 140
pound at a velocity of S20 meters a
second.
The famoua "Long Tom" la England
most effective and precis weapon. It
Is a gun that Is easily moved about.
ha a range of about four rallea and
can fir S00 shot in succession with
great rapidity.
In Italian ordnance ther are three
principal types of great guna. The
long. 14-mllllmter howltser fire at
the rat of IS shots a minute and throw
a projectll of 1300 shrapnel balls and
a howitser-mloe loaded with IS pound
of trinnitrotololuL The 31-centermetr
howitzers have the advantage of firing
from wheels and are easily moved.
The 210-milllmeter mortars, mounted
on platforms were the sensation of the
Isonso front and are given credit to a
great degree for the Italian success in
that difficult field.
Greater guns are found In the navy
and coast defense than are employed on
the Inland battlefields.
The British super-dreadnought Queen
Elisabeth carries 15-inch guns, which
were the largest guns carried by any
warship In the world up to the ttme
of the building of the new lS-lnch
weapon. Some Idea of the awful power
of these lt-lnch terrors can be gathered
when on realise that the regular 12-
inch guna of the British navy are 40
feet long, employ a cordite charge of
20T pounds behind a projectile weigh
ing S0 pound. Their mussle velocity
I SfOO feet a aecond aad ylelda a
atriking energy of SS.S43 foot tone.
Each shot from one -of these big
British naval guna casta from J7S0 to
120. -and It ia probable that a shot
from the new IS-lnch wrecker costs
between $10 and S2000.
America largest weapon la her new
If -Inch coast defense gun. The gun Is
to feet In length, weighs 215. S00
pounds, throws a projectile weighing
240 pounds propelled by ti pounds
of powder at a enussle velocity of 22S0
feet per aecond. with a mural striking
energy of 100.000 foot tons. Th maxi
mum rang of thla new gun la about
10 H miles and the cost of firing on
shot la close to S10O0.
With skepticism and open denial th
artillery experts of the allied armies
met th first report of th new long
range cannon with which th German
are bombarding Paris, declaring that It
was utterly Impossible to construct a
gun that would shoot the estimated
distance of 73 miles.
Continued bombardment and the In-
on the Italian Sea Front, Planted in Defense Against Attack From the Adriatic,
TIIE .SUNDAY
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Remarkable Photograph of a
. , .
spectlon of shell fragments, with the
definite locating ' of the . big ' cannon.
forced belicC and admission. It is lo
cated In a forest near Laon, and its
bombardment of faris Is daily.
The gun Is said to be of 42-centi
meter caliber, and is the Invention of
' ... . .
OREGONIAX, PORTLAXD,
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French Mortar of the Heaviest Type Bombarding the German Lines Cranes and Hoist Rope Used in
. - .... on the Right of the Gun, Which Has Just Been Discharged.
Professor Rauxenberger. an artillerist,
manager ot the' Krupp works. In. an
interview given in 1910 he predicted
the advent of the long-range cannon
and declared that It would be possible
to construct cannon of such range that
England could be bombarded. r
APJIIL 21, - 1918.
A -
-i
Va
i..
HE first standing army was formed
by Saul, 1093 B. C.
The catapult was invented by
Oionysius. 399 B. C.
The sword came from ancient Egypt
i and was used throughout Palestine,
, Syria and Asia Minor, India and
I throughout the western world. It was
in Egypt that the three shapes of the
I sword blade originated, these being the
j straight, the curved and the half
curved.- .'As the shape became more
settled, treat attention was given to
;the adornment of "the sword, especially
I the hilt, which was made of gold. A
i sword of the Pharaohs had a pommel
; surmounted by a hawk's head,, sym
bolical of the sun, while studs of gold
ornamented the handle. The Roman
sword was larger than that of the
; Greeks, and in the days of the empire
many of the sheaths were so covered
with repousse work and incrusted with
, precious stones as to be veritable art
i treasures. Among the 'Moslems the
I highest title given to a warrior of re
' nown is "the sword of Allah." he
I Chinese made swords of Iron as early
as 1879 B. C.
Bullets of stone were used in 1514,
while bombs came into general use in
' 1634. Bomb vessels had their origin in
: France in 1681. Fireships first ap
peared in the
early part of the 16th
; century. .
! The use of cannon datea back to the
year 1338. Artillery constructed of brass
first appeared in 1635. Among the curl
osities of artillery odd inventions have
a great place. Cannon have been made
of the most unlikely materials. Leather
was used as early as Henry VIII's day,
at the siege of Boulogne. These ar
ticles were . stored in London-'towr;
Evelyn saw them there inscribed "Non
Marti opus est cui non deficit Mer
eurlus." The Scotch used leather guns in 1640
to batter Lord Conway's fortifications
at Newboume. In a tomb on the Island
of Chinal, near Usumacinta, Mexico,
was-found a cannon four feet 11 inches
long, of terra cotta, with terra cotta
bullets. It is suggested that when Cor
tex retired after his great fight at
Ceuta. Tabasco, the natives copied the
Spanish guns in clay, hoping to pro
duce the same results. Artillery was
first used in war by the Moors at
Algeciras, Spain, In 1341. Cannon -were
first used by the English, by direction
I BEGINNINGS IN ALL WARFARE
'I.--,-.--'
J
t ' s
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4
!V
of the Governor of Calais, In 1383.
Iron bullets were first mentioned in
the Foedera in 15S0.
Letters of marque and reprisal were
first granted in' 1295. Muskets were
first used in 1414, during the siege of
Arras, while chain shot was a device
of a Dutch admiral, De Witt, in 1666.
The bayonet was Invented In Bay
onne, France, about 1670.
Pistols were first employed by the
British cavalry in 1544. The revolving
chambered breech of the pistol was
patented by Colt in 1835.
Muskets supplanted the bow and ar
row among the British soldiery in 1521.
Spain was the first nation to equip foot
soldiers with muskets'.
Leaden bullets came into use shortly
before the end of. the 16th century.
The Minie rifle was invented about
1833 by M. Minie, of Vincennes.
The battering ram had Its beginning
with Arteraones, 441 B. C, while the
first army arranged In a regular line
of battle was that of Palamedes of
Argas.
Palamedes is credited with devising
the idea of placing sentinels and pick
ets around a camp. The watchword
as used by sentinels is supposed to
have been his conception, also.
The most famous cavalrymen of an
tlquity were the Parthians. Their In
vasion of Judea, 40 B. C, resulted in
such terrible devastation of the coun
try that 100 years later the terrors of
the Parthian invasion gave the Apos
tie John the idea for one of his most
vivid pictures.
The earliest sea fight took" place be
tween the Corinthrians and the Cor-
cyreans. In whifh the former con
xne Venetians maae xne earnest use
of artillery .in sea fighting against the
Genoese in 1377.
The first use made of fireships by
the English was during the engagement
with the Spanish Armada, in July, 1588.
Wildfire, sometimes called Greek fire.
was an invention asdribed to Callinicus
of Heliopolis. Gunpowder was known
in China at a very early period. This
mixture of saltpeter, charcoal and sul
phur is well known all over the world.
It was used in the 12th century both
by Christians and Moors In Spain.
Roger Bacon first introduced It into
England early.. in the 13ta century, but.
ft J
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Lifting Great Shells Are Seen
f
its preparation was so imperfect that
it was of very little use until a Ger
man monk. Berthold Schwartz, intro
duced a new method of manufacture in
1320. With the progress of science de
mands for new varieties In gunpowder
have resulted In smokeless powder. It
is a compound. of guncotton and cellu
lose nitrate, the latter' consisting of
sawdust which has been soaked in sul
phuric and nitric acids. Guncotton is
attributed to the devisement of Pro
fessor Schoenheln, of Basil, who made
it known in 1816.
Dynamite, which takes its name from
a Greek word meaning Btrength, Is pro
duced by mixing nitroglycerin with a
kind of earth known under its foreign
name of keiselguhr. It was first dis
covered by Ascagne Sobrero, in 1846.'
Twenty-one years later it was patented
by Alfred NobeL
The French navy, consisting of gal
leys. Is first mentioned In history, 728
A. D. 1
The United States Navy virtually
had its beginning March 30, 1794; the
first United States war vessel was
built at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1781.
The man-of-war of the ancient
Romans had a crew of 225 men ot
which 174 were oarsmen, working on
three decks. The speed of this vessel
was about six knots an hour in fair
weather.
The original regiment of dragoons
was organized in England in 1681.
British historians assert that guns were
used by their soldiers at Cressy in
1346.
Military uniforms were originally
worn in France by order of Louis XIV,
1668. The French claimed that scarlet
color was best fitted for uniforms, in
that it is the most difficult color to hit.
Explosive bullets were first used in
India for hunting tigers and lions.
They were brought into Russia in 1863.
In 1868 an international convention de
clared their employment in war to be
inhuman and unnecessary.
The first breechloadmg firearm used
in this country was the Sharpe rifle.
The study of submarine boats, which
has been carried on with great secrecy
bv the different nations, at present is
attracting the attention of the world.
The first war, according to scriptural
authority, was begun by a son of Cain,
3563 B. C.
Roumania was formed in 1859 by the
union oi .Moldavia ana waiiacnin, iwu
principalities tributary to the Sultan
of Turkey.