AVAR OF EXPLOSIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15821, 19 January 1915, Page 8

AVAR OF EXPLOSIVES.

ALLIES ASSUME SUPERIORITY

LATEST FROM THE FRONT.

VALUE OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES

Another story by "Eye-witness"' has been made available by the military authorities. Ho says:—"The experiences of the war have caused many profound moditk... ions of theories. No factor was so under-estimated as the effect of high explosive projectiles fired from guns and howitzers. At the outset the position of the allied forces in this respect was one of inferiority, but it has since been made _x>u. and the German? are experiencing to a far greater extent than before the devastating effect of thei* missiles.

'* Hie successes of the Japanese at Port Arthur an inkling of the possibilities «■:' the heavy howitzer against permanent fortifications, but the decisive effect of high explosive shells against troops in the held in well-concealed entrenchments has been a complete surprise. The gunner, and especially the gunner of the Royal Garrison Artillery, has come into his own, for this arm of the service has assumed an importance greater than it has ever before j. messed. Once the position of trenches is noted by the airmen it is not long before those trenches are blown up by the guns. The artillery is the chief agent in destroying the enemy's power, and°the resistance of the allied forces is gradually assuming a superiority over the Germans, which is, consequently, a factor of great importance in the prosecution of the general offensive."