Show BULLETPROOF SOLDIERS Conditions Which Would Increase HandtoHaml Fighting London Spectator If we are right in our reasoning and if again there is not some latent but fatal defect in Herr Dowes system the result on warfare will be a very remarkable one Since the object of war is to killto place hors de combat com-bat is only a crude way of putting the factnew ways of killing infantry and cavalry will have to be devised The chances of hitting men in the face at long distances with rifle fire will not be good enough But the only ways of killing effectively that will remain open will be artillery fire close combat with bayonet and clubbed rifle preferably pre-ferably the latter as the cuirass will make the bayonet difficult to use with effect the riding men down by cavalry caval-ry charges The first of these artillery artil-lery fire hag hitherto been regarded as of comparatively little importance in the matter of killing It is often declared de-clared indeed that the chief effect produced by the guns is the moral effect feet Though not many men are killed men do not like to be within the range of artillery Possibly however the effect of artillery fire could be increased increas-ed In any case and since everything is relative the fact of the falling off of efficiency in rifle fire must increase the importance of artillery fire It is obvious however that the chief effect of the bullet proof soldiers on the circumstances of a battle would be to increase enormously the handto hand fighting But handtohand fighting fight-ing means an advantage to the strongest strong-est and most athletic force Now it will be seen from the bare enumera tion of the changes which seem likely to follow the bulletproof soldiers that a great advantage will be given to England Bulletproof cuirasses will give an advantage to the nation which can only bring a small number of troops into the field But that nation is England It will increase the importance im-portance of artillery But this should be in favor of England for though we have not the conscription and so cannot can-not get men in large quantities we can manufacture as many guns as we choose Next the revival of close combat com-bat ought to be in our favor for Eng lishmen are surely better at the rough andtumble of close fighting than their I neighbors The infantry are naturally natural-ly more handy and more athletic and the cavalry are if not theoretically better riders more capable horsemen An Englishman is more likely to get his horse to do the impossible than a frenchman or a German If then Herr Dowes invention enters the reg Son of practical warfare the change will be in Englands favor It will give us a chance to escape being pressed to the ground by hostile millions In the navy no less than in the army the cuirass should be of enormou importance im-portance During a sea fight a great many things will want doing under a storm of rifle fire but will hardly be doable except in one of Herr Dowes jackets A few bulletproof sailors would be godsenji tp cantnin when he was fighting his ship against heavy odds In the field too the cuirass would be of great use to artillerymen Jt 1 rt lince they do not have to march but Cither ride or sit on the gun carriages here is no reason why the gunners Uiould not be very elaborately pro ected by means ofHerr Dowes patent naterial But if they are they will be ible to work their guns in the open ind at close quarters in a way which s now often impossible owing to the fire of sharpshooters In truth there ire a hundred points on which the bul etproof clothing alters all the conditions condi-tions of war It will alter too some of the conditions of civil life Insurrection Insurrec-tion against invulnerable men will be iome even more impossible than it is now Again the result on small bodies jf men traveling in savage countries will be very marked When the savage cannot wound his white foe even men so brave as the Matabeles will find re sistence hopeless Possibly however all we have wrItten writ-ten is destined to be quite beside the mark not because of any flaw in Herr Dowes system but for a totally different differ-ent reason Suppose that the gunsmiths retaliate cut Herr Dowe by making a gun that will send a bullet through his cuirass Irt that case the present conditions con-ditions will remain We do not say that they will but undoubtedly they will cry Meanwhile all we can say is that In the great duel between attack and defense the latter after lying hopelessly hopeless-ly beaten for two centuries has revived and appears to have given her antagon lest a heavy blow Time will show whether we haVe to wait fifty years or only six months for the counterstroke |