WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS.
THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE
ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION
TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY.
It is a long step from the old, smooth bore, flintlock rifle of the
Revolutionary days to the modern magazine gun, with its long-pointed
cartridges; and it is almost as great a step from the crude iron cannons
and smooth bore mortars of the Civil War, with their canister and grape
shot, down to the huge, 42 centimeter guns which have boomed their way
through France and Belgium.
The patriotic citizen who is unfitted for military service no longer
sits at home and aids the armed forces of his country by melting pewter
spoons into bullets, or cutting patches of cloth to serve as wads to
pack down into the muzzle of guns. The powder horn and the bullet mould
are devices of the past. The whole world working in the old-fashioned
way could not have in the course of the "war-of-nations" made sufficient
bullets to supply the forces for a single week.
Those who must sacrifice in the stress of war now turn their silverware
and precious metals into nuggets that may be sold to produce revenue, so
that the armed forces may purchase the machine-made cartridges and
weapons required to fight the enemy.
Modern warfare has developed the climax in armament and the world has
learned more within the last few years about the devilish instruments of
destruction which human ingenuity has devised than was known in all the
ages before. Since Germany and Austria were the first into
action--actually precipitated the great conflict--and as by their years
of preparation they were ready for the emergency, it best serves the
purposes of those who seek enlightenment on the subject of armaments
and weapons to deal with the equipment of the Teuton forces.
Other nations--England, France and the United States in
particular--have, in some directions, surpassed the Germans in
developing efficient weapons, but in the main, when Germany plunged into
the war, she had all around what was conceded to be the best equipment
that science and mechanics could supply.
INFANTRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY.
While stories told of the awful havoc wrought by the German siege guns
in reducing the forts and fortifications in France and Belgium are true,
it is also true that the bulwark of the military organization is the
infantry and field artillery. The big guns may level the forts and
reduce them to powder, driving off the opposing forces, but the infantry
must advance and the small arms and rapid-fire guns must keep the
opposing forces from resuming the position which they had abandoned.
The difficulty of handling the big guns has always been a problem,
except in fortifications and at fixed points of defense, and it has only
been within a few years that a solution of the trouble has been found.
The solution lay in the use of tractors, or the tractor principle, which
every person familiar with farming and the "traction engine" can
recognize.
Germany and Austria, as in many other matters, solved the problem by
building mortars for field service which outclassed the heaviest
artillery of the old type, and mounting them on tractors. It would
require a team of probably forty horses to pull one of the German
42-centimeter guns over the rough ground, and then a relay would be
required every few hours. An immense number of horses would be required
and the transportation would be slow, and not certain at best.
Early in the war Austria sent to the front a battery of 80-centimeter
howitzers, and from the famous Krupp gun works there were 21 and
28-centimeter howitzers. Later came the 42-centimeter guns, which are
classed as automobile field artillery. These are the weapons which
leveled the forts at Liege and were used to bombard Fort Maubeuge.
The immense howitzers, with their caterpillar wheels, are taken apart
and transported to the scene of action in sections, or units. An
automobile tractor carries the artillery crew and tools and furnishes
the motive power. The second car carries the platform and turntable on
which the gun is mounted, and the third hauls the barrel, or gun proper.
THE MOVING OF HEAVY WEAPONS.
The weapons can be moved anywhere, though they weigh as much as forty
tons in some cases. Sometimes it is necessary to build special roads
where fields must be crossed, but on the highways there is little
trouble. The big howitzers are built on the principle of the large
caliber guns used on battleships--that is, there is a system of recoil
springs and air cushions to take up the shock when the gun is fired, so
that the terrific energy, when the charge is exploded, shall not be
borne by the breech of the gun. The howitzers can be turned in any
direction, and the gearing attached to the mounting is such that the
barrels can be pitched at any angle.
Such guns fire an explosive shell weighing from 500 to 1000 pounds, and
because of their form of construction--they have shorter barrels than
the naval guns--which reduces the surface of the barrel subject to
erosion, they are longer lived than the long guns. The endurance of the
guns is a factor because it is difficult to get repairs for such great
weapons on the field of battle.
At the outbreak the contending forces are said to have had 4,000 guns in
the field artillery. Among the devices of interest identified with the
artillery is the armored automobile, which has been described as the
"cavalry" of motor driven artillery. The advent of the armored
automobile in the war changed many features of campaigning and helped to
revolutionize military methods. The armored automobile is an ordinary
chassis with a body made of chilled steel.
Many types have been devised, including turreted automobile, mounting
one or two rapid fire guns which can be turned in any direction. The
armored motors have high-powered engines, and the chassis chosen for
these new instruments of war are of the heaviest types. Some have been
constructed especially for the purpose. One of these, used by the
Germans, had a "barbette" top, which looked like the shell of a
tortoise, fitted down over the chassis. Guns protruded from holes in the
front, back and sides.
VALUE OF ARMORED CARS.
The armored cars have proved extremely valuable for scouting purposes.
They can sneak through and complete scouting where mounted men would be
detected, and besides, are better able to protect themselves against
attack. The cars also possess the ability to speed away out of range of
enemy detachments.
The army officer, too, has taken to the armored automobile, and put
aside his horse. You cannot kill an automobile; and the armor laughs at
the bullets from small caliber guns. The officers can, with the
high-speed armored cars, travel from one end of a line to the other and
in a few hours make surveys and complete observations which would take
days were horses used.
Very few of the light-armored cars used by the officers are armed, the
attache or aide of the officer carrying a rifle. Some of the armored
cars used for scouting and by the officers have, in the case of Germany,
been provided with sharp knives attached to the front of the machine.
These are steel blades vertically attached to the frame and hood, and
are designed to cut wires which the enemy may have stretched across
highways or passages to hinder progress.
The armored covering on some of these cars is little more than a steel
box, with "port" holes all around. There is no hoop dome or cupola, and
the men are supposed to protect themselves by keeping their heads below
the sides of the box. Besides the driver, some of the cars carry two or
three men, who are further protected against the bullets of the enemy
and the chance missile from the sharpshooter by steel headpieces or
helmets.
The Belgians have a type of car of heavy design, equipped with huge
headlights, as well as a searchlight to operate at night. The car has a
rapid fire gun mounted in a cupola-formed revolving turret. In the
matter of automobiles in the army, Italy outranked Germany at the
beginning of the war. While Germany had Mercedes and Opel trucks,
mounting five to seven rapid fire guns, which, with their steel armor
and solid tire disc wheels, were actually miniature forts, the Italians
had more formidable mounted creations of the same sort.
ITALY'S SINGULAR POSITION.
As a matter of fact, Italy's position in regard to motors is unique
among the other countries in the war. Not only are the transportation
conditions different, but the motorcar industry in the country is on a
different basis. It is said to have been the only one of the countries
which was able to meet the demand put upon it for motors without going
into some other land to augment its supply. Italy did not buy a single
American motor vehicle for war purposes. There are cars of foreign makes
in the army and with the Red Cross, but these vehicles were in the
country--purchased for private use--when the war broke out and were
requisitioned.
The big guns of the army are handled by motor tractors, 95 per cent of
the army mail service is motorcar service and 95 per cent of the
drinking water for the fighting forces is delivered by motortruck.
Profiting by the lessons of the other countries called to war, Italy had
time in which to prepare for emergencies, and when the order for
mobilizing forces was issued the motorcar factories were speeded up and
the workers were permitted to stay on the job, instead of being called
out to fill up the ranks of the army.
Compared with the resources of America, the Italian motor industry is
not large; but the product is uniform and practically all of the
factories are conveniently located for distributing the machines to the
army on the frontier and readily providing repairs and parts. The
physical conditions of the country necessitated the use of certain types
of trucks and motors and the dropping of some of the practices of other
countries in motor usage.
The rugged, irregular country, with its narrow roads, makes
impracticable the use of trucks larger than three and one-half tons, and
"trailers," largely employed by the French, German and Belgian armies,
were found not satisfactory. What is described as the Isotta Fraschini
heavy model armored artillery car of Italy is considered one of the most
effective of the "motor forts" or "land cruisers" developed during the
war.
THE WHEELED FORT.
The wheeled fort has a battery of four rapid fire guns and a revolving
turret. Besides being full armored and turreted, the car has steel
wheels of the disc type, and is as formidable in appearance as it has
proven in practice. France has a type of the completely enclosed armored
motorcar which affords its crew unobstructed view on all sides through
lattice panels. Even the windshield is made on this plan. This car also
has a revolving turret and carries a 5-centimeter rapid fire gun and
possesses high speed.
All of the powers have armored automobiles, and in Germany, England and
France the exigencies of conflict impelled the Governments to
practically commandeer all of the automobiles in the countries for war
purposes. Many of these cars were turned into armored cars of the
lighter type, and the number of such automobiles in use runs far into
the thousands. The United States has not made much fuss about it, but
has had armored cars in the regular army for several years.
The experience gained in the campaign in Europe indicates that the
military authorities believe the high-powered, speedy cars, clad with
armor of medium weight and mounting one or two machine guns, are the
most valuable of all the "sheathed" cars. They can appear suddenly,
maintain a withering fire for a short period and then disappear
suddenly.
As an instance of what the armored car accomplishes, it is recited that
when the German troops sought to invade the Belgian town of Alost a
detachment was sent through the streets in armored cars. The houses were
barricaded and the Germans feared snipers. There were no snipers when
the motorcars returned. More than a thousand Belgians were mowed down in
the streets by the rapid fire guns of the armored cars.
IMPORTANCE OF THE AUTOMOBILE.
Evidence of how greatly the automobile is appreciated in its relation to
the modern army service is found in the fact that when America entered
the war and began the mobilization of its forces and resources, the
Quartermaster at Chicago was ordered to obtain bids for the delivery of
35,000 motortrucks of one and one-half tons capacity and 35,000 trucks
of three tons capacity. Bids were also asked on 1000 five-passenger
automobiles, 1000 runabouts, 1000 automobiles, in price ranging from
$1500 to $2000, several hundred motortrucks of half, three-quarter and
one ton capacity and 5000 motorcycles, and the same number of
motorcycles with auxiliary passenger capacity, or side cars.
The motortruck, too, in modern warfare is a shoeshop. The care of the
feet is an important matter in the army, and the men, besides being
provided with good footwear, must have that footwear kept in serviceable
and comfortable condition. It is some job to keep the shoes of half a
million or more men in repair, and the United States Quartermaster
Department, in connection with their mobilization, included in its
equipment portable motor-power machines to nail on half soles for troops
in garrison and campaign. Such a machine will nail on a pair of soles in
five minutes. It weighs but 27 pounds and can be transported with the
troops on a motorcar, and may be used anywhere to keep the shoes in
serviceable shape until the troops can reach permanent camps, where new
footwear can be provided.
FRANCE'S TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES.
At the outset of the war France is said to have had 100,000 passenger
cars, 25,000 motorbuses, taxicabs and motorcycles and 10,000 motortrucks
available for military use, and was able to give the various departments
of her military organization excellent transportation service. Besides
this, she had squads of automobile aeroplane cannon, and about 84
12-centimeter and 15 5-centimeter Rimailho howitzers of the armored
artillery type. Russia is said to have been weak in automobile
equipment, having less than a thousand trucks in the Empire available
for military use; but this number was rapidly increased, upward of half
a thousand having been purchased within a short time.
Austria and Germany together are said to have had something like 1500
trucks and about 20,000 passenger cars available for army use. At the
start Germany alone had 250 armored automobiles, several score of
searchlight automobiles, or night scout cars, probably 8000 motorcycles
and more than 500 motor-driven field guns, besides the big tractors used
to draw the heavy howitzers. Aside from this, practically all the motor
vehicles in the country were commandeered, numbering upward of 75,000.
While they are stationary devices, the forts which were stormed by the
Germans at Liege and Antwerp are properly part of the military equipment
used in the war. These forts, known as turret forts, are described on
preliminary inspection as looking like a row of huge tortoise or turtle
shells rising a few feet above the ground. The shell is, however, a
shell of chilled steel. Through it the guns protrude and are operated
very much like the guns on a battleship, the turret revolving. Under the
dome are vaults and the compartments of concrete, containing the
mechanism for moving the turrets, operating the guns, lifting the big
shells and handling the ammunition generally.
The fortifications, which at Antwerp included nine intrenched sections,
were regarded as almost impregnable; but when they were built there were
no such field guns as the famous 42-centimeter guns which the Germans
brought to the attack. The forts themselves had no guns larger than a
7-inch caliber.
FRANCE'S ARMORED FIGHTING MACHINES.
In the matter of movable guns, the French and Germans both had them
mounted on armored trains. One such train used by the French included
armored locomotive, flat cars on which were mounted the guns in
"barbettes," or steel turrets, and completely protected armored cars,
used to transport troops or detachments of men.
A feature of the train was the observation tower. It was mounted upon
what would ordinarily be the cab of the locomotive. Such towers have in
one form or another become very common in the war. One type resembles
the motortruck ladder and platform devices used by the man who repairs
electric lights and wires in our city streets. Another is patterned
after the hook and ladder truck of the fire department. The tower, or
ladder, is raised after the fashion of the ladders in fighting a fire. A
couple of soldiers turn a crank, and the ladders are raised to a
perpendicular position and extended high into the air on the sliding or
telescope principle.
The German and Austrian engineers also utilize observation ladders of a
less complicated mechanical nature. In use, and with a soldier perched
on top of them, they remind one of the toy devices with which we played
as children, using the slotted acrobats to do wonderful things atop the
"ladders." The ladders are carried in short sections, which may be
fastened together in a variety of ways, but a good idea of the manner in
which the ladders are used may be obtained if you can imagine a letter Y
made of ladders and turned upside down, with a soldier standing on top
of it.
THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATIONS.
And making observations is a highly important matter in modern warfare;
more important than it was in the old days. The long-range guns are
aimed and their fire directed by observation and calculation. The gunner
cannot see the target he is required to hit. His job is a mechanical
one--perhaps it would be better to say scientific--for he must read
mathematical calculations and interpret them into accurate gun action.
The guns may be on one side of a hill and the enemy on the other, and
they may be miles apart, yet the gunner must be able to get the range.
His efforts are directed by observers in aeroplanes or balloons, and the
range is established by calculations, so that the gunner must be
proficient in geometry, trigonometry and mathematics generally.
Not all the great guns in the war when it started were owned by the
Germans, for England had 100-ton Armstrong pieces which were capable of
hurling a 2,200-pound projectile; but it was the modification of the
design of the large caliber guns and the method of mounting them, which
permitted them to be drawn wherever needed, that gave Germany such an
advantage.
Most of the big guns are in the navy--on the huge dreadnoughts and
battleships--and therefore the fortifications at Helgoland, which are
designed to resist the bombardment of the heaviest naval guns, must be
regarded as equipment. Helgoland is the protecting fort of Germany's
most vulnerable point. It is the Gibraltar of Germany, and protects the
entrance to the Kiel Canal from the North Sea. If the British could get
past the fortifications to the Kiel Canal, it could establish a close-in
blockade which would render Germany helpless in a short time.
Helgoland is an island fortress in the North Sea, in the center of which
is a mortar battery mounting 11-inch and 16-inch guns, capable of
puncturing the decks of the battleship which comes within range; and
these batteries have a range of from six to eight miles. The batteries
are ranged in tiers, one above the other, to a height of almost 180 feet
above the sea level, the heavy guns and pieces being placed below and
the lighter ordnance in the upper tiers. The guns range from 17.7-inch
caliber down to 8.2-inch. Germany calls Helgoland the "fortress
impregnable," and the developments of the war seem to indicate that the
description fits.
SMALL GUNS OF VARIED INTERESTS.
In the smaller guns used in warfare there are many varieties of
interest. The United States prior to and with their entrance into war,
particularly during the period of the trouble along the Mexican border,
experimented with almost every known make of rapid fire machine and
field gun, and there was for a time much criticism because the
government did not adopt for army use the Lewis gun, which was adopted
by some of the foreign countries.
The German army rifle carried by all the infantry is of the Mauser type,
first introduced in 1888 and gradually improved until 1898. The weapon,
because of the adoption of the improved model in 1898, has come to be
known as the "ninety-eight gun." It is a quick-firing weapon, from which
20 to 30 shots a minute may be projected by the soldier. The gun is
universally used and has a caliber of 7.9 millimeters, which provides
for the use of the smallest bullet which will work sufficient injury on
the enemy to make its use profitable.
Experience in the Russian-Japanese war proved to the military
authorities that the use of a smaller caliber was not advisable. It was
found that the smaller bullet could, and in many cases did, pass through
a man's body without actually rendering him useless, and that in a large
percentage of cases--more than one-third--the wounded were back with
their troops within a few months.
In the United States all of the forces are now provided with standard
arms or weapons. The army, the Marine Corps and the organized militia of
the States, absorbed into the body proper of national troops, have the
same firearms--the same service rifles, the same machine guns and field
guns and the same automatic pistols. One kind of cartridge--containing a
cylindro-conical bullet of copper-nickel, with a lead core--serves for
all rifles and for the machine guns as well.
OLD FLINTLOCK IN WAR.
Many people, perhaps, will be surprised to learn that the Mexican war
was fought mainly with the antiquated flintlock muskets. When the
trigger was pulled the flint came down hard upon a piece of steel, and
the resulting spark was thrown into the "pan," igniting a pinch of
powder. The fire ran into the powder charge and the gun went off. Round
balls were used, and the loading was done with the help of a ramrod.
There were already percussion rifles in those days, but General Winfield
Scott, who bossed the Mexican war, declared that he would have nothing
to do with those new-fangled weapons. The old smooth-bore flintlock was
good enough for him. In truth, the percussion gun of that period was not
as reliable as might have been wished. The cap was liable to get wet and
to fail to go off, whereas a good flint could be counted upon to yield a
spark every time.
It was not until 1858 that the percussion rifle, still a muzzle-loader,
was generally used by the United States army. The Springfield, which was
the first breech-loader (one cartridge inserted at a time) came along
in 1870. In 1892 it was replaced by the first of our magazine rifles,
the Krag, and simultaneously we adopted smokeless powder, a European
invention.
The regulation United States service rifle is a great improvement on the
Krag. It is loaded with "clips," holding five cartridges each. The
velocity of the bullet is greater, and the accuracy and rapidity of fire
are superior.
FIGHTING RANGE 800 YARDS.
In the Mexican war the ordinary fighting range, with the smooth-bore
flintlock, was about 250 yards. In the Civil War, with the percussion
muzzle-loader, it was 350 to 400 yards. With the new service rifle, the
fighting range is 700 to 800 yards, and the infantryman is able to fire
at least twenty times as many shots in a given number of minutes as was
possible fifty years ago.
The field artilleryman carries no rifle, but is provided with a
45-caliber automatic pistol and twenty-one cartridges. The men who
compose the machine-gun platoons have no rifles, but each one of them is
armed with the same sort of service pistol and a bolo. The latter is a
weapon new to our army, adopted as a result of military experience in
the Philippines. It is in effect a machete (a sugar cane chopping
knife), shortened and made heavier. At close quarters it is a formidable
weapon.
The bolo embodies the best principles of the various razor-edged
fighting blades of the Filipinos, and was first adopted as a side arm of
the Marine Corps officers. The bolo, which is much heavier than an
ordinary sword, measures 24 inches from tip of handle to tip of blade,
and is forged from a piece of file steel.
For many years the Marine Corps, except upon dress occasions, has had no
cutting weapon. It is not strange, therefore, that many of the officers
of the corps, while on duty in the Philippines, adopted for use in the
field that weapon of the Moro tribesmen.
The introduction of the bolo as the field arm of the Marine Corps--the
sword having given place to the pistol several years ago in this branch
of the service--robs the time-tried and traditional Mameluke saber of
the corps of the distinction of being the only cutting weapon in the
equipment of this division of the Government's sea fighters.
The Mamelukes are inseparably associated with the military history of
Egypt, the first country in which a regular military organization was
established, and a country in which the fighting element was the most
honored and powerful of all classes. This type of blade was adopted by
our Marine Corps in 1825, and later by the officers of the Royal Horse
Artillery of England.
Until recently the allowance of machine guns in our army has been two to
a regiment, but abroad four to six are used.
AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLES.
These guns are automatic machine rifles, firing ordinary rifle
cartridges, which (in the Benet-Mercie weapon, a French invention which
we have adopted) are supplied in brass clips of thirty. A small part of
the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates
the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and
making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a
volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third
of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a
step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a
continuous stream of bullets.
The latest government rifle--the weapons of the individual soldiers--are
manufactured at the Springfield (Mass.) Armory, which is the
government's great small-arms factory, and at the Rock Island (Ill.)
Arsenal--the facilities of the latter having hitherto been held in
reserve for emergency purposes. The rifle cartridges are turned out at
the Frankford Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and at private plants in Lowell,
New Haven, Bridgeport and Cincinnati. These concerns and another near
St. Louis also make the cartridges for the automatic pistols.
At the outbreak of the world war we had 150 batteries of light field
guns and 45 batteries of heavy artillery (four guns to each battery),
including cannon provided for by Congress, and since then delivered.
There was an inadequate supply of ammunition for the heavy guns.
MUNITION SUPPLY AUGMENTED.
The ammunition supply was immediately augmented and field guns of
various calibers turned out as fast as possible, including 9-inch
howitzers.
A 3-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 15 pounds, with a muzzle
velocity of 1700 feet per second.
A 4.7-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 60 pounds, with the same
velocity.
A 6-inch howitzer fires projectiles weighing 120 pounds, with a muzzle
velocity of 900 feet per second.
The principal difference between the field gun and the howitzer is that
the latter can be pointed at a high angle, to assail infantry protected
by intrenchments, or for other purposes.
While reference has been made to siege guns, which were used by the
Germans in their attacks on the Belgian and French forts, the fact is
that the large caliber mortars and howitzers are what wrought the havoc.
The large caliber howitzers and mortars throw shells containing huge
charges of explosives, and are more adaptable in their application than
the ordinary siege guns or cannons.
One novelty which had not been used up to the entrance of the United
States into the war is a device invented by a Los Angeles man, which
makes a "periscope gun" of any ordinary service piece.
In trench warfare, as developed abroad, the periscope has been used by
the men in the trenches to observe the movements of the opposing forces
and watch for scouts without exposing themselves to the fire of
"snipers" or sharpshooters, who are always looking for a head or mark to
aim at.
The new device comprises two mirrors attached to the gun by a metal
frame in such manner that one mirror is above the range of vision and
reflects the image to be fired at upon the other mirror below the stock
or butt of the gun. The attachment enables the soldier sitting in a
trench or shelter to accurately aim his gun and conveniently shoot while
his head is kept below the safety line, or top of the parapet, or
properly built trench.
THE TRENCH PERISCOPE.
With this attachment, approved by the United States Ordnance Department,
a rifleman, from his concealed point of vantage, can survey a 30-foot
field at 200 yards. The attachment can be removed at will and the metal
bars and parts can be easily carried. The device adds about one and
one-half pounds to the weight of the gun.
In the same category with the aeroplane, the automobile, the submarine,
the torpedo, in their effect upon the method of waging modern warfare
are the telephone and the wireless telegraph. There were no telephones
and no wireless instruments in the days of our own Civil War, and the
stories related of the bravery and astuteness displayed by orderlies,
messengers and scouts of those days will not be repeated.
Today the army carries a complete telephone system and wonderful
wireless apparatus. The commander sits in his headquarters and
communicates with his officers in all parts of the field, reaching
points miles distant. Wires are strung through trenches, along fences
and wherever needed, and telephone "booths" are set up wherever it is
found necessary. Switchboards are mounted on motor cars and encased in
armor plate. The "repair" wagons are motor vehicles, and lines cut or
destroyed are quickly repaired or replaced.
Aerial stations for the wireless are carried, and are of many varieties.
Some of them are similar to the observation towers and ladders. The
French army regulations provide for wireless service between the general
staff headquarters and the army corps, connecting these with the heavy
cavalry divisions and lines of communication. The wireless companies in
the French army are made up of 10 officers and 293 men.
Nearly all of the other nations have patterned their wireless companies
after the French. The company carries 302 miles of wire and cable and
about 96 sets of instruments. The rate of operation is more than 400
words a minute. The mast for the aerial station is made in sections, on
the telescope plan, and can be erected by a trio of men in a few
minutes. The whole outfit for a station weighs about 750 pounds and the
range of service is about 200 miles.
"KNAPSACK" STATIONS.
There are, in addition to the field stations, "knapsack" stations, which
are divided into sections so that four soldiers can carry an outfit. The
sections weigh about 20 pounds each. The small station set up with this
apparatus has a range of from 5 to 10 miles and in service replaces the
orderlies and such visual signs and signalling, as was used before the
wireless came into existence. Such an outfit can forward more
information in a few minutes than a whole squadron of orderlies could
riding at full speed.
The aeroplanes carrying a wireless outfit can communicate with the field
stations, and have rendered wonderful service on the battlefields. The
cavalry also carry wireless outfits, and in the Allied armies the second
regiment of every cavalry brigade has a wireless detachment of 4
troopers, 1 cyclist and 3 horses, besides a wagon. There is also a
division with tools and material for both destroying and repairing
lines.
The French army also has automobile wireless stations. The automobile
outfit is complete in every particular and is not augmented. It carries
its own crew and has a traveling radius of several hundred miles. The
car containing the station is completely enclosed and the walls are
deadened so that the noise made by the apparatus may not betray the
presence of the station to the enemy scouts.
The practical application of portable wireless outfits to military usage
is probably less than four years old, but the portables can transmit
messages over a radius of 200 to 250 miles. Expressed in technical
terms, the portable stations have a capacity of about 200 mile
wave-lengths.
The one weakness of the wireless is that the enemy can purloin secrets,
though adroitness in manipulation can overcome some of this difficulty.
A WORD ABOUT "HEAVY ARTILLERY."
It would not do to mention armaments and weapons without a word about
the "heavy artillery" of the commissary department, for this branch of
the army service is represented by formidable field kitchens, which are
again carried on trucks or motor cars. The officers' field kitchen
follows the advance of the officers to the field of action. Some of
these kitchens, particularly those of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince in
the German army, are described as almost luxurious. They contain
complete equipment--range, bake-oven, pantry, ice-box, china closet and
every device needed for preparing a complete meal.
Supplies are hurried after the troops in motor trucks from stations
where the supplies are delivered by rail and soups and sturdy meals are
prepared which were lacking in the campaigns through which the soldiers
of the Civil War passed. The pioneer mobile military field kitchen which
has been the subject of widespread comment was developed by the German
army.
It consists of a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses, though
motors have supplanted the horses in some cases. The front carriage is
detachable from the rear and is actually a separate contrivance. On the
rear truck is a 200-quart copper, double, or jacketed vat. Also a
70-quart coffee tank. Both receptacles have separate fireboxes and ash
pits. One section carries extra rations for the men, the daily quota of
provisions, extra rations for horses, folding canvas water pails and
utensils.
The actual food is cooked within the vat or caldron inside the water
jacket, so that the heat does not come in contact with the food direct,
thus preventing burning. The food will cook slowly for hours when once
the water is heated, and will remain hot for a long time. The men can
get water in an emergency and hot coffee is always ready for the
sentries and men on guard duty to carry with them at night. Of course a
bottle of the thermos type is used by these men so that they can have
hot coffee when on the line of duty. The kitchen outfits are complete
and so arranged that they can be rushed over rough ground without
spilling their contents.
Electric flash lights, batteries for setting off dynamite and other
explosives used for blowing out trenches and other fortifications,
searchlights, mirror signaling devices, illuminating bombs, which are
shot high in the air to explode and illuminate the field for hundreds of
yards, signal bombs, and many ingenious contraptions never dreamed of
are part of the army's equipment used on the battlefields of the
greatest war that the world has ever known.