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Show I France Relies Largely I Upon Her Artillery B The French, army today claims the B most. deadly rapid field gun yet de- B vised and the fate of her anna In B this war depends largely on her gray VM guns and her artillerymen in panta- H loons ot blue. Just as Germany has H staked nil on the massing ot over- B whelming forces of menj so has fl Franco elected to trust to her fort ft hnd Held; artillery. Germany has wit- HC' tfngly shut her eyes to" the awful ffV carnago ot which the French guns B are capable, hoping to rush and -cap- B ture them by Infantry. France Is H gambling that her guns will bo hble B to annihilate any force that comes. B wltbin their range. And she Is ready B to sacrifice any number of her own B Infantry merely- to protect her guns B v from capture to keep them In action. H Which system will, win? This la, B the question that military experts M the world over are asking as they 1 watch the mighty forces hurled at M each other along the Franco German H frontiers. Both systems really dato H back to the time ot the great Napo- B leon after having been tried out with, H carrying success In our own Civil B war, In the Franco-Prussian war ot M 1870 and In the Russto Japanese war, H In 1905. While the Germans have B powerful cannon and the French have H wonderful .infantry, each army has H been built up on directly diverging, H and highly specialized lines. The Germans have admittedly the best H massed troops as tlje French have H admittedly the best artillery. H The quick firing ot massed cannot) H nt close range into largo bodies ot H troops and particularly the firing ot H these cannon vat unexpected polnta, H made Napoleon master ot Europe. In H our own civil war this method sav 1 its feature of massed firing on a tac- H tlcal point, was rendered useless by H the Invention of long distance rifles H placed In the hands ot Infantry and H the consequent Inability to handle H cannon at close quarters. Witness H Frederlckburg and Gettysburg. H By a curious twist of circumstance H it was the partial use of the Napo- H leonlc method, that enabled the Ger- H mans to hasten their victory over H the French in 1870 At St. .Frtvat H they abandoned, their cannon before H effectually using them oh tho French H to come to hand to hand fighting, and jH Buffered terrible losses. This lesson lyl they remembered all'durlng tho war. m A little later, at Sedan, they kept I the brilliant French troops cnvoloped I In fire from 600 big guns and won. I Yet today the Germans hopo to win by the method which so cruelly hurt I them at St. Prlvat. The carnago in H this mothod was more lately lllus- H trated by the terrible losses of the H Jhpanese In assailing the apparently H Impregnable guns at Port Arthur. H Thousands upon thousands ot their H soldiers were mowed down, but they H finally were victorious. H The return ot the French to the old H method of Napoleon has been 'made H possible by the Invention ot light rap- H id fire field guns and the working out H ot methods for their quick use In as- H saultlng Infantry, suppression ot the H latter's fire by a rain of shrapnel, H nnd escape before-capture. The op- H palling power of artillery, which has H Increased out of all proportion to H rifle fire is responsible for the' French H theory ot war. They have profited by H tho lesson ot Port Arthur an Incl- V dent that may be Repealed many M times in this war-rand know how to H protecV'thfelr larger guns "with tho B flanking fire of smaller short mngo B ones, and not only repel, but actual- B ly annihilate, any number of men B which may assail any ot their torts B or important stategetic positions. H Frcrich military authorities claim H to have tho light field guns far sup- B erlor to any like guns possessed by B any other nation. These guns .are- H the long barrelled 75 m.m, (3.2 H Inches) repeater, weight 1.2 tons, H and the .155 m.i. (7 inches) long H tind short Rimallho. The superlor- H ity ot theee guns lies In that they can H be fired at a rate If emergency re- H quires, ot virtually a shot every two H seconds. In practice testa the small. H er gun has been fired .as many S H forty three times a minute. The H metal composition ot the guns, which K is a carefully guarded secret, gives V them long life and prevents over beating and the wearing out ot rift; H Ing. A nonrecoling big gun is the H artillery Ideal, since It leads to boti H tor aim and to quick firing. The H French claim to have in the Rlmatt- 9 ho, tho only bfg gun which fullllls H these domands. B An additional Advantage claimed H for theso guns Is their hutomatlo H system c covering entirely a given H nros fired upon with tlino frfso shrap- H ii el. Instead of tho gun remaining Bh """' absolutory stationary, It desired, it moves with a sweeping motion, known as the blr fauchant. In any series of threo shots, ono Is planted nt tho original spot aimed nt then tho gun diverges slightly to thu loft and plants h second shot, then a third on tho right. A fuither lnllnoment ot this hutomatlco movement is search and sweep In very rapid firing by which an area of 600 by 200 meters Is covered with fdrty or fifty shrup-nelsnel shrup-nelsnel shells, releasing a rain of bullets. The result of this flro If, that, mathematically calculated, 19, per cent of the men and 75 per cent of tho horses In tho area nnd not under un-der cover should bo hit by sepamte bullets. But all the work of the gun however excellent In Itself, depends on the gunner. The drill of the French artillery has time and again been pronounced by American and other exports as matchless In quality. Their light guns can be run anywhere across country, up hill and down dale at a 15 mile gallop, unllmbered and fired, In the most unexpected places. Tho French have tried t6 follow the old, dictum of Napoleon: "When once tho fight has begun the man who can bring up an unexpected force of artillery ar-tillery is sure to carry tho day." In action, tho indirect method ot fir' Ing, which has been widely copied by other nations Is applied. A gun Is sheltered behind some hill or else in the ground, or even In a ditch, whore Its smokeless powder will not betray it to opposing artillery. Then a bat tery officer climbs to tho hill top, gauges tho position ot tho enemy and signals a first shot at a certain range. If, with his field glasses, he secB It fall true, firing Is continued for a short period. Next before enemy's ene-my's guns locato the battery, it Is raced off to h new position, In mass firing, aeroplanes locate the enemy and signal his position. According to those Intimately acquainted with theso guns, no body ot men once sighted at even a distance ot five or six miles Is shfo from annlhlllatlon. The heavy losses In tho Balkan wnr, where older tj.pes of theso 'gunj wero in action against Turks employing em-ploying German guns nnd gunners, were caused by French guns. The faith of the French in their nrtlllcry Is shown by tho high vulie set on It, tho Jealous guarding ot tho secret of its manufacture, the mini; her In use nnd by the large sums ot money spent during pcaco tlmeB in, artillery practice at tho Camp de Clintons nnd elsewhere. According to reports issued for foreign consumption. consump-tion. France has In Initial mobilization mobiliza-tion but 80,000 artillerymen and 3000 field guns, nnd Germany 5000 field guns and 100,000 artillerymen located locat-ed on French and Russian frontiers. But there Is little doubt that France has now double this number of men, and guns In the field. The French take four guns as a firing unit and assign all ammunition which should be hvallable upon entry Into action, whereas the Germans count six guns as a firing unit and take ouly so much ammunition as Is nooded for Immediate service. With nearly 400 men to n battery, tho Germans Ger-mans use more than half merely for tho ammunition service. Each French Fr-ench army corps (32,000 Infantry) has In peaco times twenty-four batteries ' In groups of threo butteries ench. Six hnttorlcs fight with each division (10, 000 Infantry), whllo the remaining tw-elvo tw-elvo aro formerly under tho orders of tho corps commander though In this war tho artillery frequently may bo massed and the Infantry made subject to Its orders. This war will seo the greatest collection coll-ection or guns yot assembled in battle, bat-tle, Inflicting n loss to stnggeLthoJm-nglnatlon. stnggeLthoJm-nglnatlon. Already their huvoc has been seen at Llego nnd elsewhore, nnd theso wero not battles but skirmishes. skir-mishes. At Mukden, In the Russo-Japanese wnr, 33,000 guns were used and tho casualties wero 160,000.. At Port Arthur, whoro artillery was the principal prin-cipal weupon, tho defenders had 34 per cent casualizes and the assail ants 42.0 per cent Leslies Weekly |