ARMOURED SOLDIERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARMOURED SOLDIERS.

-STEEL BODY PLATES.

\ A QUESTION OF WEIGHT.

" Remember the officers at the front are very clever men and know more about it than we do." ' ' ' ■ Such is the gist of Sir Hiram Maxim's opinion of the current advice to the effect that armouq and shields should be used at the front. On this subject Sir Hiram is better fitted than most observers to speak. When questioned, he stated hisbelief that big plates on wheels, behind which a storming party should advance, would be impossible owing to ' the holes and hills of the ground, but that a bodyplate on • the fighting man might be of some service for a rush.

" I don't know how much steel it takes' to-day to stop a German rifle projectile," said Sir Hiram, " but some \-ears ago I made experiments, using the best nickelsteel, carefully tempered, and the English military rifle projectile. I found that a quarter of au inch would stop it at close range every time, but if it was only three-sixteenths thick it was not safe— some shots would go through, some would not. Of course, when the projectiles are fired from a distance of 1000 metres or so they do not strike so hard. In all probability one-eighth inch of highly-tem-pered nickel-steel would stop the German projectile at that range, but as they got nearer the projectiles would pass through such a plate. The trouble with steel shields is that they have to be so thick in order to stop modern projectiles at short range that they are altogether too heavy for a man to carry. It would have to be 15in wide and as much as 22in long and a quarter of an inch thick in order to protect a man's body and resist Maxim gun fire at short range. <

A 500-Yards' Run Possible. A man could run with one of these plates for 500 yards easily enough. But .on the whole I feel that in actual service, where there is a lot of marching to do, the disadvantage of having a shield large enough and thick enough to be any good would, encumber troops so that the shield would probably be a disadvantage instead of an advantage. The Maxim gun, which is so much in use, has a shield thick enough to resist rifle fire at close range, but it is mounted on wheels with a tripod, which makes all the difference in the world. As to the suggested big armour plates to be pushed before whole platoons, .1 think you will find that the ground between the trenches is so uneven, and has so many obstructions, that it is extremely difficult to move anything of that size on wheels.

.. "I remember, by the way, that 'once we wanted to fire a Maxim gun a great number of times for some test. They were not plated bullets, but. simply lead. We took an old anvil and put it up and fired at tie side of it. After firing several thousand rounds we found the anvil was literally stuffed with lead. First a small hole 'bad been formed, and when another bullet struck it made a pressure greater than the tensile:-strength of the steel, and as they got further and further -in that ~ opened cracks - in various directions: On some parts of the anvil the cracks were actually spinning out sheet lead— rough, to be —and it was called afterwards an 'anvil sonf file. , But, of course, in actual warfare no two bullets ever strike in the same place. / . German Example. " The Germans' have bad helmets for many years, % They were made originally for- warding off blows of swords. * Of course if a, spent »projectile strikes at an angle ;t might glance off instead of going through. So it is with a shield. If it placed at an angle projectiles) ~n!ouV<? glance off instead of penetrating. > (c . opinion," Sir Hirajn summed up, it this : that the officers know that a piece -of steel thick enough will stop a projectile." . •