NEW ARTILLERY ARM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18320, 9 February 1923, Page 6

NEW ARTILLERY ARM.

MOUNTAIN HOWITZERS:

SUITED TO HILLY COUNTRY. BATTERIES FOR AUCKLAND. [BY. TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Thursday. At the commencement of the Great War New Zealand was the only Dominion that could arm its. forces with the modern howitzer. It was owing to the foresight of Brigadier-General (then Colonel) Johnston that New Zealand had been tne pioneer in the introduction overseas of this tr.ost useful and destructive weapon. The {Jew Zealand howitzers were taken to Gallipoli and did good work there. New Zealand is now to be equipped with another up-to-date weapon that can be effectively used in the field. Artillerymen will recollect that in Colonel Johnston's time Wellington was to have had a mountain battery, and the Territorials actually did some training with mountain guns and the mules that were to carry them. : The new gun, however, is different. It is a 3.7 in. mountain howitzer, which will be issued to Christchurch and Auckland batteries. It is a successor to the old "screw" gun that was used in past years in India, but it is a great improvement on that weapon. It can be divided into loads of about 2701b. to be carried on pack mules. ■"■■ ■ '. Although,the new pun is provided with wheels and shafts, it is not intended for draught, the normal method of transport being by pack. Notwithstanding the severe conditions imposed by these requirements, it embodies the latest practice in pun and carriage design. The recuperator is on the same model as those in the latest guns. The gun possesses several new feature-;, all typical of the latest weapons. The split trail, the large arc of traverse, the quickacting breech-block, and the high-pressure hvdro-pneumatic buffer are improvements. The new gun can be used as an ordinary howitzer- in flat country or can be carried into the trenches by hand.