THE 75's

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 53, 2 March 1916, Page 2

THE 75's

WHAT THEY CftN DO;

A Girar THAT MOUUJED TACTICS

iL Pousse Cailloux- contributes to "Blackwood's" for January an informative article ori the French field guns, with which such deadly effects have been produced. "Tv"hat "is a, 75? By-this Is convexsa*tionaily" undersfood a French' field' ; gnri, the calibre—or interior diameter of the bore—of which is 75 millimetres. Incidentally, it is the finest mam-killing niac-hine the world has yet known. "In 1S!)S France surprised the armies of the world by the introduction of. an artillery weapon which till then' had only existed in the dreams of experts. The secret was well'kept; tire weapon as it caw the light was characterised by, a boldness of conception and a carefulness in detail which spoke of most anxious thought. There was no searching after inspiration or. any adaptation ol existing methods; the finished article wa* finished indeed, and had; all the air of finality.

"Till ".this period, .the slowness-''prf-arfcille'-y lire was due "to .the fact that after 'iii'c gun was laid and fired, xhe shock uf. the .ifecharge so upset the' aim thut, . the " gun had to bo relaJd. f<M—asccftnd shot. The rapidity of fire there-, upon bocame a matter of how quickly. ami . m'ately a. gun could be laid by ekill of the layer. Xh*. .French, seeking artillery progTesev an 4; confronted with iiie inexorable- shortness: of their conscripts' period of training, sought to improve in mechanism what they could not improve in personal skill. The best braine in the country got to work; iiigt. -technical, trabriii;, much- patience, king- experience of practical warware—all these would have i«cn of no avail without -the, hapy gift of imagination and the boldness. of conception wKTeh give concrete shape to j tiie -gunner's, dreams. j "Br-ieriv-, the uew French field gun of | IS9S' ceased to be attached to its axle j tree, but was attached, instead, to >v\ buffer in a. • cradle, which Bot ohjy ft'beorbed the shock of .recoil, but- xaM backthc gun so ex£>£t!y into its former position, --that-no second, laying, was jgetesHaving got crer the primary trouble of laying, iaridity o? fire appeared to have -been "attained." * Experiments- t-bea-proved that though.a rapid rate of fee was possible, this..ate was only as fast as that at which the gunners could adjust the fuses of the shells;- ■ ••■ "HoW. how, to improve the rate ol fnoe setting?.. Thk task' was-, and -iPr-a-mattef of metiotdoßfi accuracy." needrrig' careful ttaiiiing to- be done correctly.; moreover, .it could not be hurried, Bittoe: a shell badly fused by ever so iittlC. was ..not only innocuous to the enemy but was a danger ijy one'o own E.u!s. Once more - the french put aside any; idea of -brisking up the personnel, and. invented a. machine-to set the **&*■ The details oi lii 3 fase-ectter are K,;;A a secret. Let -it- suffice- that it us Kiinpl", I accurate,' and very rapid in its work. Pa» -beliinci-an-lllnglisb- and_.a jFreEcs_ battery in action. The British apieare to be laboriously eviscerating W shell with. a. tin opener; ; tue i-rendi-m£n. on the other hand, you wotlMde;,cribe as using. a beer engine, \ftSM on.- clean- crisp stroke for-each x-heUj; Thanks to it. and to the: steadine«i of the "gun after each discharge, the Hem* eld gun ie easily capable of- 20-uur.e4 ■ rounds a'minute. One more word abouv j the recoil absorber, and the scares j thereof. The recoil if taken up by a, evlinder beneath the gun, which contains a" combination of glycerine, compressed air and -springs. It ie this combination, and tie exact proportions thereof, «mci makes the secret of the gun. It is- not even known to ourselves or to otter. alUed nations, nor, in view of the extraordinary usefulness of the gun, can wo grumble 4vt the secret not being m more Lids than it is. It is riot-even. H«e* tamable from a captured gun r _sm«u il you take a cold chisel to it and try to examine the works -by opening the buffer, the compressed air escapes.and the secret, whkh lies in ite density evapoTates with it. v "Havin" solved the question of tne rate of fire, you would haw theug&t hat the French would ***:**?£& tent: Not they. A gun not be allowed to stop short of perfection The mechanics" of the thins ronUl not be improved,-but the ballistics could. Here the inventors were on simpler rrround. Range and accuracy were sue-_ Sssively taken in hand. Muzzle.: veloe-ity-which. after all, meant range-was increased; not by increasing the charge, and .with it. the thickness of the gun that withstood it. but by lengtheningthp gun to a hitherto unheard of extent and giving it a slow-burning propellant; m-nch as our naval guns get their immense range, velocity and penetrative power by-apparently tapering away into the Ewigkeit. 'The usual length of the. gnn mattered not at all: even though-it reached 36 calibres, all bnt !) feet, an unheard of length in any modern field gun. It only j involved the lengthening of the recoil, chamber, and a small adjustment in the-1 rate of the recoil, the whole process boiiig. so quick :as not to make the differ' enco of a round a minute in the rate of .fire...

-The temptation to. put in a lighter shell, and so get it further, on the same bang, was successfully resisted. Excellence of steel in the gun and the adoption of an improved breech evo"n"air6wed of a slight increase in the weight of the" shell, and in it's consequent remaining momentum at the end of its flight. The designers never lost sight of the fact that the primary object of the grin .was to deliver death to its enemies, at "the.. greatest speed, range and "effectiveness ■possible; so- they concentrated- their (JneTgie3 on a man-killing shrapnel which, in the end, weighed? IIT-bV. and" left the <_ri on its long journey" at "the unpnv cedented pace of 1,730" foot-seconds. " And "there you - havo the present shrapnel. -••• _ "•Tactics here began to. get rained up with mechanics and bl_fl_tie«. ft "Was pointed out that -troops would' not always remain in the.opcfl~to:.be whiffed oat of existence by shrapnel,- Rather would they" get' under cover afc.wWai. spcjid they might.. So. a.shell, .to.,deal with entrenchments, buildings "and foftifieatioiis was indicated. Here, again, careful thought showed the need of accurate gunnery, and a still higher velocity in the shell, which, being more; 10. al-in. its effects, could not be allowed thejsafiie' latitude in its action as its shrapnel confrere. So a Viijrh explosive shell weighing only 11.68 11). was introduced. Thanks to the chemists this time, its contents were of such a startling nature that its weight became a secondary consideration, ItTaced;a_sy-on--itsTnissian

at 2.050 foot-seconds, a-velocity at that time unequalled even by the latest smallliore rifle, and, when it exploded, its melinite charge blew great-holes in the scenery.

" This ■ immense • velocity, giving exact accuracy, allowed the field gnu to be used with all &■" rifleman's marksmanship, and ..French gunners came to view direct hits on objecta aimed at as not merely fortaitons but. as , things to- be normally expected.

"Well; here were the best" gunners in the world with the best gnn in the- world. | They did not run' about patting one artother's hacks and then patting the breech of the gun. They kept on "thinking. Imagination haTing. ceased*inspiring with the -creation of the weapon of their dreams, the French thinkers let the logical issue have full play; they saw at once that the novelty in the powers-of the weapon had revolutionised fire, tactics and the .methods, of dealing with targets, "animate, and inanimate. The. long sp'oiits of their 9ft guns, the heavy bullet in their shrapnel, the pace, accuracy and shattering power of their H.E. shell—all this gave them to think. How was the supply of ammunition to be kept up in a six-gun battery? What was the best way of using the spraying effect of multitudinous' shrapnel? What effect would a tornado of his own fire have on the vivacious temperament of the French .gitrnter?

"These and many otber problems en-paged-their attention. Nothing was left to chance.

•'For the first time in history, the weapon produced tactics; hitherto, tactical needs had produced the desired weapon. It was fonnd that the consistency with which this gun would place round after round on the. same spot withont relaying gave too-close apafctern on the target, and nicaTis had-to be devised to spread the "effect" a-bout~a little. In the old fnin, traversing right and le-ft was obtained by shifting-the tfail: Jit tho new. it was.found possible to consider as iixed points the wheels and the spade on the end trail,.and to make the whole grin and cradle traverse along the axle-tree a small number of degrees fight and left without' upsetting' the stability of the triangleTo'n"which ttre'tjun rested. In other words, it was found.that the •battery, commander bad np need to abandon .the advantage of h-U high rate of fire' in order to spray his shrapnel right. ~a.nd lvft A simple womv and wiieel /rear, wil'u a handle working o;i a circle divided into arcs, gave- a coast.ir.t j amount of traverse: so that the guna'.T, I in turning his wbeci a certain number o!! times knew exactly W.v much or! left c! his tarsal- his shell would bnrst.! This , power of ttaversmg, vithin-certoiii limitß. combined , with an titonr.ivo power of elcvat-ins and depreseinf; turned the gon into a veritable , hose. Forthwith, tho uew (artics were fcorn. T.;e Krcm-ii introduced new r,ainos-.-tue 't:r fauchant' or mov.'irig.'fire (faucher, to riwjw: liat. falx: -"Raj; 1 .., falchion). Tho 'tir progTCSsif,' whu-Ji coald iollow men as tliey ran towards you or away {:oiu you. Finally, the'combination of ttc two. the 'tir' }»-ogT«- J .sif ct fauchani-,'. whereby the. - japiiiii- coaunandinfr t!io battery is able to sow with sfirapnc! any pioce of firound containing a target so effectuaUy tjui.r.iiUlch sUsrt.notice. that il tha target is flfaii and Wood and is not buried over lipaa nrtU ears in a trench. lit stands no cisance whatever of sarrivI'm.s. ■'*•'• ■-- ■ cj'Jjtt-->»* ! "This .is' the ttorm, the dreaded I 'rafak". J ; ■ -'''' ■" ' - ■■?"••

.. '!'& the cxpciiso of let us examine its details. "The cone of dispersion—flic pattern, in fact—which a bursting Pretiea shrapnel makes on the ground at, say, 3,000 metres, is a dia-jn-am 3OO..jn»trc9 . long By 14 metres bread. Owinp; to the high remaining velocity of th'; bullet, and its comparatively great .weight— 38 to the pound— this area i.s bentec by 250 effective bullets, each having sufficient momentum in it not only to kill a man. but also to perforate any practicable form of portable -protection with which he may be provided.

"Now, the consistent shooting of the French field gun renders it possible to imprint on the surface of any given piece of ground a succession of such patterns, side by side and touching one another, and all by. giving a stated number of • turns to the wheel on the carriage which deflects the muzzle right and left. By shortening tue range 300 metres on the elevating gear, done in a moment, a second succession of patterns may be placed below thefirst lot, much in. the same way as "a typewriter shifts at the cud of •the -line—and- commences- to write ■ second. There is no reason, in effect, why a third and a fourth and any other number of lines of patterns not ho splashed on to th'o ground, the process, being only limited by the amount of ammunition available. Tn practice, the amount is", aft a rule, limited to 8 rounds ■ per gurj.; • • ■ , ■

" "The.battery commander rattles--off a string of words, containing object, range, fuse and angle of deflection: while ho is yet speaking, the layers arc on the mark, the fuscrsetters are punching the shell noses, the breech swings open, the traversing' number graspS the worm' and wheel gear. And'as the captain finishes on a. sharp word of command, each gun, being laid on an axis parellel to its feljlow. whizzes-off -wHhont further cammand a string of eight shells in two •proups of four, and ceases fire. As>the last shell leaves the gim the loading number j swings open the breech and stands easy j —the whole process has taken exactly 20 seconds; and, somewhere about two miles off» there is a patch of mother earth the size nf Trafalgar Sqnare, every scrap of which has been so beaten by shrapnel Imllpts that within its area it is mathematically accurate to say there is no unprotected living thing.

'Were four battalions, massed in a brigade formation, unlucky enough to find-themselves within (5,000 metres of a battery of French: 75' a. a t a previously ascertained distance, it is theoretically correct to say that in tinder half a minute they would be beaten flat to the earth, not a single man surviving untouched.

refers to'shrapnel only; it is a different.''matter when it comes to tho 'obus explosif a/ the high-explosive - percussion shell. Here marksmanship is very, .necessary, though, tho ease with wihtchY.exact. 3h.Qo.ting. .is obtained' with thiß JLE. shell is proportionately as ' "great- as is the efficiency, of tho shrapnel. Laying, the delicate adjustments possible in a. finely divided clinometer, is more often resorted to than open sights-,, the exact on the object is invariably used', sometimes- without the preliminary Of establishing ' the bracket, as in..shrapnel fire. The. exact :range once obtained, firo i» kept up till the target is 'demolished bya series of direct hits. Tir baTichaoit' is sometimes used, as, for instance, iti the attacking of a line of parapet'; or, again, 'fauchant et progressif,' ,'wiicre the liiie of fire is oblitjrie to the •trench face.

"The organisation of the.,battery was next taken iir- hand. . Tlje French had committed. themselves to the;., idea ol a battery-being an instrument for registering the personal wishes of its commander. It: had therefore to be. reduced to manageable dimensions. The six-gjia battery become. -a,\ fonr-grm beiterjy

"It was soon obfiotis that such a death-dealing machine, depending for: its cffectiTCaess on its; capacity for , exact accuracy, would be; ■ misused by being served by personnel 'who got'excited. The French gunner, in the ecstasy of seeing his target melt away before him, often shot wildly. The gun was therefore provided with gttniomefcnci or angle-measur-ing, sights. By the means of these the gun is laid on any conspicuous- object, such as , a- factory chimneyy a- steepie, or any other mark. Tte aiiglt; formed by mark, gun, and target is measured-by the battery commander, who announces it tp the layers; they make the necessary adjustment on their, sights, which brings the muzzles- of -their guns on to the target From.this. time, onward their wbolo •preoccupation lies in keeping their eye on the church steeple. Kingdoms may molt away in the middle distance, but the slow shift of the weathercock is all that meets.their eye.

"Direct and indirect fire are therefore on the same system, and one has no more difficulties for the gunner than the other.

"This, it may be said in paTenthcsee, if. the system of indirect laying adopted also by the Germans. The writer i«membera an instance in Flanders where a tall factory chimney stood behind the English trench line. The German gimneißj believing it to I>e a Britieh. observation post, get -busy .with it,, ami methodically shot the top half off, leaving only a splinter or spicule of masonry sticking forlornly into the air. There they stopped, and only our gunners then knew why they stopped. A short whiie after, one of the periodical 'pushes' was to- take-place. The evening before the C.R-A. oi the section saw the C.R.E., who detailed a' ■ subajtem's party to brir.g clown the chimney during the night. They did their' wort well, burrowing underground and atacking the: foiiuda-.-lions with gui-cotton m. such a way.Ui;U the fabric collapsed as nearly ac possihie nokcleealy into the ploughed field alongside. And when, at dawn, our mon ewanned over the parapet, into the German, trenches, tbe German gunners— deprived:of the aiming point on to". Bliich all their angles had been 'registered'— bhot as wildly as. hawke and hurt nobody. "One last word, on the eupply of ainmtinition. The French did not hesitate to incur expenditure of affiuncnition on a far more iavfett sr.ale B.cy oth-er nation had. contemplated, and tbey provided their batteries wich twice the fiuci'ocr of shell cajiicdby other armies. ! i*hs number of wagons in a German sixi iirh iattery i 3 sis-; that in a French •iour-gun battci-y twelve—three times as i roacy in proportion. When the last ift-ench field artillery manual was ! brought out, each 75 had to ite credit Jin the Jieid shells, carried m the ! varioiiE columns and reserves. It is 'be • licred that since the war commenced ! this number has been increaeed by 500.

"Need we wonder that, ac the French President told lie recently, the reserve stocks of "5 shell had reached an. almost incredible figure , ! "Need we, moreover, wonder at the affection in which the gone arc held by [the whole French peoplet The high i opinion in which they have always held their guns and gunners has been fully borne out in the present war."