A WAR OF ARTILLERY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 132, 5 June 1915, Page 5

A WAR OF ARTILLERY

WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES IN POLAND. _ War in Poland is becoming a struggle of, guns. Artillery, wrote a correspond', ent at Warsaw in March, is the only arm left. In the past three' months field guns, howitzere, and mortars have decided the battles in the provinces of Petrokow. Plock, Radom, Kielcy* and Warsaw/ Artillery decided the three weeks' battle for Lodz ; artillery decided the four weeks' battle of Warsaw on the Bzura and Rawka banks. Victory is to the side which can pile, up the most big guns, shoot the straightest, and pound the earthworks hardest. Artillery war on ' the Bzura and Rawka is much the same as it is on the Aisne. The difference is that on the Aisne neither side resolutely attempts to effect a general advance. The individual fights are local; mobility is limited to a few yards; tho . general position is static. Here in Poland both sides still aim at a mobile war; each hopes to send the other flying. Bindenburg has been trying to push us over the Vistula and gain all Central Poland. Our aim is to repulse 'all attacks, and also to expel Hindenburg. For • three weeks past neither has had much success. This is because artillery war means delays. As Hindenburg gets forward Ins artillery difficulties increase. Guns have to be dragged greater distances over worse roads; and the shell supply is hard i to keep up. Outside Lodz, which is nearer to Prussia's frontier, Hindenburg was able to concentrate more guns, and fo keep an unfailing ammunition supply. H e was able to waste shells as other armies waste rifle bullets. Bofore this can be done on tho Rawka. and Bzufti, roads must be made and railroads restored. Grand Duke Nicholas's troubles are smaller. The nearer he gels to Warsaw, tho more offective is his artillery hail. Nobody can say how many guns we have in the field. Field-Marshal Hindenburg has 1700 field-guns and 400 mortal's, howitzers, and siege guns. Austria-Hungary has in South Poland and Galicia 800 guns of all kinds. Among thorn are 12-inch howitzers. Hindenburg'hns not got any of the> Krupp 42-centimetre "Thick Berthas." He has not yet managed to bebiege any of our fortresses; and his "Thick Berthas" are too heavy and costly for use against trenches. Warsaw trembles at the notion of "Thick Berthas," shells falling among, her palaces. But the " ThicK Berthas" would be used only against f orts. The shells cost £800 each, and each shot does £200 damage to the lining of tho guns. HINDENBURG'S TACTICS. Field-Marshal Hindenbnrg's genius has been somewhat exaggerated by the Germans. Rut Russians ndmit that he has improved the effectiveness of attack by means of new artillery tactics, which were first tried at the battle of Tannenberg in the last days of August. Alone the road to Passenheim, on Samsonoff's right flank, the enemy posted tho artillery of a whole army corps. This had within range a Russian army corps. Tho German guns were concentrated against a single brigade of our corps. From their arc-shaped position they poured in a converging fire as the brigade marched to the attack. The brigade was annihilated ; seven hundred men escaped. This massacre took twenty minutes. Next the artillery assailed on the same principle an attacking divi&ion. Shrapnel w;is poured down like hail. The invaders, hampered by lakes and marshes, could not get cover or spread out. When the

whole army began to retreat, the artil lery attack was concentrated against thi, leading unit. This unit Was destroyed i. and the road was so blocked wijth corpses of men and horses that the rest of the army was delayed. Through successive artillery massacres the battle was decided. Tannenberg began ay a "mobile" battle : in tho first stage both sides' were attacker?. But it became a position ai« .tiUery fight. It was the first indication that artillery would play a decisive roio in the war. ARTILLERY VICTIMS., Grand Duko Nicholas has been able to hold the Bsura and Rawka defence line, and to shield Warsaw, largely bocausjs his artillery position has improved. There is abundant ammunition, and, at Warsaw- arc artillery repair shops and all the technical equipments which a successful artillery war demands. From Warsaw one can see that artillery is dominant. The infantrymen snipe one another, and the infantry patrols fight. But so-called infantry fights for trenches are infantry expeditions to occupy, trenches from which the guns have shelled the defenders. This is proved by the small losses from bullet and ))ayouet wounds. Of the last 1800 Wounded brought into Warsaw, only 300 were Wounded by bullets, and only & handful by bayonets. The rest were artillery victims. Shrapnel bullets and fragments of shrapnel cases accounted for i 550. Percussion and time shells wounded ..the others. The Germans are using a Hew Explosive which rends earthworks to bits and pours out green asphyxiating fumes. Many wouiided are mangled, many are burnt, and many who are not wounded are stunned or deafened. Men have been found killed, whose bodies were without wounds. They died from shock. The flames of exploding shells scorch at a great distance and set uniforms on fire.