THE TRENCH GUN

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 78, 28 September 1918, Page 16

THE TRENCH GUN

."FIFTY-FOUR ;ARGUMENTS."

Describinc the" new trench shot-gun used by the American Army, the New York Sun says:—.. ■' • ■ ' "The new trench gun was first suggested by a general officer with the American "Expeditionary, Forces in France — General' Pershing himself,; it is said — and was perfected by- the Winchester. Repeating Arms Company engineers, working in conjunction with experts of the Ordnance Department ■at -■ Washington. The new trench gun is,: elementally speak-^ ing, a comparatively, short repeating shotgun of the 'pump' variety, capable of sending 54 gleaming little globes of buckshot,, eaclr. about the size of a .32 caKbre bullet, all over the anatomy of as many of the Kaiser's six sons as. could be crowded into an area measuring.nine feet .horizontally and . about three feet vertically. In other words, the average American soldier could, at 50 yards, make a polka-dot, pattern all over the grey uniform, of three or four Bosches just where the doses would do the most gbodr-between the neck and the knees, inclusive. ... ■■. "... . .<. ■'■■■■

"Attached to the single-barrelled shotgun is a bayonet, long enough to penetrate a Teutonic waistline, especially as waistlines, made in Germany measure these days. "The bayonet takes the new shotgun out of the sporting arms class."American army men abroad made it plain a few months ago, whrai the Winchester firm first - took up the work, of turning out-the gun, that when the American soldier goes over the top ho absolutely insists upon having a bayonet fixed firmly to the muzzle of the arm he carries. Immediately a difficulty presented itself, inasmuch as the comparatively small amount.of metal in. tho thin barrel of a shotgun did. not offer a substantial enough, base upon which to fasten a bayonet that might bo called upon to withstand a thrust into Teutonic solid ivory. The lack of stability, however, was overcome by the Winchester Company. The muzzle .end of the barrel was covered with a second skin of steel, which, being perforated and not quite -. touching the barrel proper, acts not only as a brace for the bayonet, but also, owing to the freo passage of air, as a ventilator that keeps the barrel from getting too hot. '■ ■ ■ "The gun holds six paper shells such as are used in. duck shooting. In each shell are nine pellets of buckshot, or a total of 54 excellent reasons why the world shortly is to be quite safe for de: mocracy. Although a shotgun, the arm is equipped from muzzle to stock with a leather rifle sKng, so that it may be slang over the neck and shoulder.

"Shotgun and- bayonet complete weigh B|lb. At 40 yards the _bucksnot will go completely through a 2in pine board." When the Australians were holding so bravely to their precarious perches on the crags of Gallipoli a proposal emanated from some Melbourne shots to arm a section of the men with just such a deadly short-distance arm* as it was held that.in a night attack, or an attack from contiguous trenches—on Gallipoli Turks and Australians were often only 25 yards apart—enormous stopping power would be held by the men with shotguns. The proposal was vetoed by the military authorities, however, as being contrary to the Geneva Convention in not being a "service" arm.