| Show WARS WAR'S EXTENDING ARMS i By FREDERIC FREDERIO T. T HASKIN BASKIN For Tho The Telegram WASHINGTON Sept 28 28 While While political men and diplomats diplomat are rc concerned with possible solutions which will stave off oft the war which is felt by so many to be inevitable and while military men are studying games of ot strategy scientific men are arc wondering what a a fresh war will produce in the way of oC new arm anne The evolution of ot offensive weapons of war has been slow It has taken thousands of years to advance front from the cast stone to modern heavy ordnance but each step h has s been so definite deti- deti alto nite that today it seems that further further further fur fur- ther steps must be taken It proba probably ly seems to many people people peo pea pie that each step must be the thelast thelast thelast last one The first men who encountered en en- en encountered countered a foe toe armed with bow and arrow must have thought that the last possible weapon The bowman must have been equally astonished by the The mile 90 gun n which in the World war shelled Paris was was most c certainly regarded as the ultimate then S. S When news reached the world that shells hel were vere falling on Paris from a gun 90 miles away awai there was a an avalanche of technical dis dis- dis- dis Reference e to the period will show how that at first most of oC the technical opinion was vas to the thc effect that there must be some mistake The thing was ble But the shells continued to fall creating tremendous damage at the French capital not only physical damage but damage to the French morale Now Now Now-it it is thoroughly well known that there was no myth about I the Paris gun It is known that it actually did bombard the city from 90 miles away en have studied the weapon i and while it does indeed appear to be the ultimate all previous experience suggests that guns of ot still greater range range will be in in- in vented Professor Henry W. W Miller one of the country's leading ordnance experts has made a special study of t the great gun and of the events which led up lip to Its construction The Th elaborate plans of the Ger Get German Getman German man general staff staff- plans which had been in process of perfection ever since the days of Prince Bismarck Bismarck Bismarck Bis Bis- marck and Von Moltke called caned for fora a swift blow at France Franc The very I essence of the plan was rapid execution The Germans sensed that once the French had opportunity opportunity opportunity to rally victory was less certain Range Long Guns To that end the most amazing mobilization plans ever worked out were perfected by the Ger Ger- mans In the first two weeks weeks' of the war troop trains were vere sent across the Rhine RhIne- bout about trains a day day each each proceeding with precision The bridge at Cologne Cologno carried a tr troop op train every 10 minutes for 11 days The movement movement move move- ment carried armed men west of ot the Rhine in that brief space This was what was was meant by a swift blow It failed of course course and in that very failure as the original planners planners plan plan- ners feared the war wart was lost to Germ Germany ny But that did not prevent prevent prevent pre pre- pre pre- vent every every effort to w win n. n The fact that the swift enveloping movements movements move move- ments had been defeated drove the G Germans to resort to weapons weapons which would strike at a distance and a new form of warfare opened a a. form which might be be called the field siege I The 90 mile gun that besieged Paris was by no means the first range long-range gun employed ed by the Germans In April 1915 the French harbor and city of Dunkirk Dun kirk one of the channel ports woke suddenly to the fact that Jt It t. t was being bombarded and as it t seemed somewhat mysteriously There was not supposed to be any enemy near e enough ough It was wa not hot long however before it was wa discovered discovered discovered dis dis- dis- dis covered that from a distance of 23 miles the Germans were discharging discharging discharging dis dis- dis- dis charging shells weighing 1700 pounds apiece and having tremendous tre- tre explosive power They had bad mounted a naval gun In a concrete emplacement in a wood near Leugenboom in Belgium and from there they fired altogether rounds into Dunkirk The disadvantage of oC this gun was that it it- was sas stationary The French bettered the Instruction and in a short snort time they had devised devised de devised de- de a long range gun but with the improvement that it was wai was mo mo- mo- mo bile A drop frame frame- railway carriage car car- car car- tinge was designed and the gun mounted While the French long range gun shot only 21 miles as compared with 23 23 23 miles for the German its actual effectiveness as a long distance weapon was enhanced ed because it could be moved rapidly In an advance or orin orin orin in retirement when hen In danger of at c capture Progress Goes Goci Steadily Forward All AH of ot these steps were merely leading up to the great mile 00 gun that finally shelled Paris It was the last gesture of oC Germ Germany ny to o make good that vital part of ot its strategy the strategy the swift blow If It such a blow had failed on the ground as the res of the assault assault assault as- as sault of armies it must be attempted at attempted attempted at at- tempted at long range There is no gainsaying the fact that the effect o of the gun was dous Its unbelievable performance perform perform- ance had the effect of a a blow fallIng falling fall fall- ing on on Paris and all France but by that time the Americans were in the field and the war had been lost to Germany Step by step from the first stone thrown by a caveman to the gun that shelled Paris the evolution of arms has progressed and it is not out of of- the question to assume that the next war will produce a weapon which will fire a shell ashen miles That cannot seem more impossible today than the mile 90 gun seemed even when mile 20 guns were in use On the battlements battlements battlements battle battle- ments of the Castle of San Angelo at Rome there are two curious pieces of ordnance relics of oC the thelong thelong thelong long past They are merely huge bows and ar arrows ws The bows are arc of steel steell and had to be drawn mechanically mechanically me me- as a. as no man could draw them They were the heavy ordnance ordnance ord ord- nan nance e of the day and fired bolts a great distance They are no more than museum pieces today but once were marvels of warlike ef ef- ef c So it might n not t be out of the question that the Italians might erect at the Castle of CC San Angelo a gun with which to shell Addis Ababa in far Africa Of Ot course it is not likely but neither was the Paris gun likely Progress goes along in more lines than heavy ordnance e. e It is of kindred interest that there just has been perfected by an Amen Ameri American merican meri- meri can company a new type of re revolver revolver revolver re- re volver which is the longest advance advance ad ado ad- ad vance vance made in hand weapons since the gun supplanted the crossbow This This- new weapon a handy hand little revolver strikes with just double the energy of any re revolver revolver revolver re- re volver ever before invented What this means is that this compact hand han hand handgun gun easily carried has all the ilie efficiency of ot a hIgh powered rifle rUle With such advances and especially especially espe espe- daIly with the minds of ot the Inventors Inventors in inventors In- In turned toward such things there seems little to limit progress It must be borne in mind however that hand in hand with the development of these weapons ns of offense goes the de development development development de- de of ot protective devices from train individuals' individuals to ships and cities R Raymond ymond Clappers Clapper's Va Washington hing n column will appear in this space Mo Monday da Ed |
