RUSSIA'S NEW GUNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12833, 5 April 1905, Page 6

RUSSIA'S NEW GUNS.

13 It is important to nojce, when we an an tardily realising the perils of a "-unless '•; army" (writes St. James* Gazette), that the | point in which Russia ho been growing s • appreciably more foraaidab| during the pro- '■&$ gress ot the Manchurian struggle is in her '.-"'.. artillery arm. She has be<n gradually get-' 1 |flt ting to the front her .new quick-firers do- !M vised by General EngelbarcL in 1900,'whicu ' "*« are vastly superior to the t-pe with which Vthe began the war. *>> \ v

The new weapon is a- oihjgmi, tiring a shrapnel shell of lMlb, Obtaining 2&6 balls, which is provided with In aluminium double-acting fuse of 9o'x.. Tie initial velocity is 192tift, and its rate offire is about 15 snots a minute, a great, on. the oldei.p.4in weapon which quid fire no more than live to .six shot* ii the same. time, with an initial velocity of'.llOlt. Tim new gun. is provided with" a rpid-closiug/ breechblock 01 the screw typo. \bich oper-* ales in a single motion. It is mdptod upon .: a small cradle, which, after a she lias been! tired, recoils about 56in upon tin slide* of the carriage, while the recoil of . t-h carriage/ itself is prevented by a rigid*.trU spade, which is fixed in the ground. Tlv. carriage is also of sliding upon i ie axle, and thus permit of : direct pointig when the spade is fast. In battery, thecaissons are arranged alongside of the gus at m the French artillery. - ■ It will be seen at once that the hprovement in the Russian artillery maCrial is very great. Added to this, the* artillrvmeii of all ranks, in point of intelligent and efficiency, arc much in advance a. their ■ comrades in the other branches of h. service. In fact, they possess rim entire? different morale, from the rest of the irmy. liven the Trans-Baikal and Eastern SSerian'i corps, which have supplied,most of t.b artillery in Manchuria hitherto, and are rated inferior to the. European Russian battWes, have numbers of picked men drawn froaKrropo. .........' * \

The offieerr ar. recruited from a litter class of society than those of the ordvary cavalry and infantry regiments, and.'the. gunners themselves are. far superior in all soldierly qualities to the rank and file [of the army at large. Jtoth in tin battericsat For' Arthur and in the field artillery ho number of Jew-; employed is remarkafae. The reason [or this is that, despite religion and racial hatred, (lie Russian authority have always recognised the superior apitiido and intelligence of the Jew to that if the ordinary., Russian peasant,', and haw eagerly drafted them into what is a nickel arm of the service. '." ' ' {%

Unlike the infantry arid cavalry training: artillery practice is pretty constant, good results being promptly rioted and rewarded, and many effort* made to promot" efficiency. It is interesting to note, that the ■ Russian artillery it'- opposed bj what is also the crack corps in tin Japanese array, and the rapidity" and efficiency of 'the;' Japanese gunners is remarkable. Thcii gnu is lighter than the Russian, and; ibex depend I',; ■' a greater effect upon r 'supuioi' mf>biliry, giving them : greatet power to ma*? gnus. ';.....'. : " . 1