MILITARY AND NAYAL TOPICS

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9736, 31 December 1909, Page 7

MILITARY AND NAYAL TOPICS

("Canterbury Times.") The number of mitrailleuse, companies in tho German Army has been raised, from seventeen to fifty- by the creation , of 1 thirty- three new units, taken from the twelve senior companies, and thus do not appear in the Budget charges. They, form the 13th Mitrailleuse Company, with four officers, all mounted. The mitrailleuses (six Maxims per company) are^ drawn by two horses each. The experiences of Manchuria proved that there should be from six to eight mitrailleuses told off to each infantry regiment. The Japanese had six to each regiment in the First Army, and a larger proportion in the other armies in that camx paign. For efficient results no. time must be lost in (1) the choice, of position and (2) the opening of fire. It was their slowness in these essentials that placed the Russian gunners in an inferiority in Manchuria. From, the Grand Duke Serge Michaelovitch's report of his recent Siberian ' tour as Inspector-General, these- defects still characterise all the Siberian artillery except that of Irkutsk, the capital. Half the rounds fired by the various unite in the Grand Duke's presence were thrown away as far as hitting went. Yet he notes the results as "nearly always good." At " Oky " something better than this is required. We all know that to " hit, hit, hit " is the essential in gunnery. But to have good horses, well shod, inured to cold and hardship, good carriages, with wheels or runners proof against lumps of ice and snow, are also, important matters (remarks the " Broad Arrow"). In these 'the Siberian army corps could give our own or the French or German gunners points.^ The. officers of quickfiring or mitrailleuse detachments should be men of rapid decision, quick eye, good health, temperate habits and good temper. A mitrailleuse is the finest thing in tne world. But if it jams! Some of our readers will remember the experience at El Teb. The spears, and the white, patched gabbas or coats, the. fuzzywuzzy hair, the yells and the accursed gun that would not fire a round, then the rush, whilst one is, pulling at a breech-lock or trying to get a strap in I

Admiral Sir Charles Campbell has written an important letter to the " Glasgow Herald " on the subject of the proposed Forth and Clyde National Canal. The subject is one upon which the Admiral's authority is beyond question. No one has studied the matter from a national, strategical or commercial point of view more fully than he. The fetter deserves the attention of all who are interested in national defence, and it should also appeal to the business instincts of the community. We ("Army and Navy Gazette") have not space to set forth the many arguments advanced by Sir Charles Campbell as to the benefits to be derived from the construction of the canal, but a brief summary of its advantages is as follows : — 1. It would add another sea canal, and extend the coast line through one of the principal industrial centres. 2. It would unite at the most suitable point the two seas most frequented by national commerce. ' 3. It would avoid the loss of life and property inseparable from the north and south routes.

A. It would reduce by hundreds of miles the distance between, all the great shipping .ports on the east and west coast.

5. It would provide extensive ha*.

bour accommodation on important: trade routes. 6. It would be of inestimable service in the protection of the national trade in the event of war. 7. It would enable men-of-war, ; ocean-going steamers, and. coasting vessels to coal directly at the source of supply. ■, ■ 8. It wpuld more than double the mobility of our Fleet, giving us a power of concentration in the Atlantic or North Sea which would be denied to our opponents, and be of inestimable advantage to us in reference to the success of any operation we had taken in hand.

The important lecture on " The Engineering of Ordnance*' which Lieutenant Trevor Daw6on, of the Vickers Company, delivered recently on the oct casion of his being awarded the first Gustave Canet gold medal, has been published in pamphlet form. We recommend all naval officers to read this valuable contribution to the literature of the subject with which it deals (says the " Army . and Navy Gazette "). There is not an important question connected with the subject of ordnance upofi which Lieutenant Dawson does not supply 6ome instructive facts ,and comment. He has also something to say on the problem of the flying machine and the progress which has been made in this direction. He describes the types of guns suggested, by- the Krupp firm for the purpose of use against attack by aerial ships, but. he arrives at the conclusion that, as ships offer the best means of warding off attack by .snips, so the airships of the enemy mkst be met by better airships and more of them. Perhaps one of the most pregnant paragraphs in the lecture is the following: — • 1 ■

"The increase in range (of guns) has been forced upon the artillerists by the great development of the torpedo. . . . These hidden and stealthy weapons art now ef.ective iip to three and four nines' range, and their accuracy has been proportionately increased with the use of the submarine , boat, reliable now from/ every standpoint, mobile to as great a degree as the warships of ten years ago, and as capable of manosnvring under water as 'any ship on the surface." , The fact; that the Vickers firm has built nearly all the submarines for the British Navy adds to the, importance of these words. , The pamphlet, which is reprinted from the proceedings of i the Junior Institution of Engineers, k well illustrated..

Until quite recently it, was regaled as impracticable to employ a wireleßS telegraphic installation, on a dirigible balloon -; apart from the risk of the gas being ignited by the electric current, there were other serious dangers. The German authorities, however, /seem to have worked at the problem with great assiduity, and froni' time to time statements have been made that several of the German military airships .hasd been equipped' with " wireless," apparatus, and that satisfactory results had beep, obtained: Qne of the latest reports is i that the Gross dirigible, stationed near "Berlin, has been able to communicate I with Frankfurt and Carlsruhe by its wireless instalation. If this be correct — and there is little ground for doubting it— the airship will have a vastly increased value as a militart instrument.' That the; airship will run considerable risk wh*n equipped with wireless \ apparatus is obvious (says the " Military Mail "), and the future vessel.'of the air,' charged with highly explosive gas, fitted with \ hie-h-vbltage electric apparatus, loaded, with explosives, and carrying supplies of petrol, will require very skilful handling indeed if it is' to escape destruction . by mischance. ' - , :

The French Minister of War, General Brun, is an artillery officer by origin, and is now in his sixty-first year. As a subaltern (records '" The Army and Navy Gazette ") he, witnessed- /the three great battles of August 14, 10 and 18, 1870, took part in much' of the fighting round Metz, and became a prisoner of war with the rest of the garrisdnw He became an artillery specialist, and as a captain held appointments at the arsenals of Tulle and , Grenoble, -v He, '.pass-; ed brilliantly through the Superior School of War, and was attached to the staff of the sth Army Corps: after which 1 , as a major, ;he was attached to the Artillery School; In 1887 he was on the staff of General Ferron, Minister of War, and later on was professor ' of artillery tactics at the Superior School. On promotion to general's rank he commanded an infantry brigade, but" he was soon called to "headquarters, and was appointed Chief of the General Staff in October, 1903, after serving for some months as sub-cMer. He is an officer of great repute, and his nanie, has been, mentioned as 1 possible comman-der-in-chief designate xn case of war, though he has never commanded an army corps. He may certainly be counted on to cajry oqt the increase of the artillery, which has been voted, and is an advocate of the four-gun battery.

The German " Jahrbucher " jsave some details recently of . the firing against balloons with rifle, machine fan, and shrapnel fire. The balloon at uterbog was of the "dragon ' type, about 40~ft long, and the distance was 12d0yds. The first exercise was made by a depot company, from the mus-. fcetrv school, and 4800 rounds were fired, the balloon being blown about in the wind. Then a whole company with increasing distances vra» employed, followed by machine guns, but there was no result, and when the balloon Was brought to earth it was found that it had been touched only seventy-six times with no consequences for ite security. A similar exercise took place on the practice ground at Griesheiny near Darmstadt, the mark being a captive balloon at a height of nearly > 4000ft, and the results with rifle and machine-gun fire were as inconsiderable as at Juterbog. But when a howitzer .firing shrapnel came into action, the balloon was brought down at the second round, the /shell bursting just over it. The " Jahrbucher " therefore concludes that while the machine-gun firo is ineffective, good results may be expected in favourable conditions from shell fire."

A Parliamentary return has been published showing the sickness and mortality from enteric fever, cholera, plague' and emall-pox, with the corresponding rates per 1000, in the Native Army and among European troops in India for each vear from 1900 to 1908 inclusive. In tne case of enteric fever among white troons, the ratio of admissions was highest in 1904, being 19.7 per 1000; it dropped in 1907 to 13.1, while the ratio of deaths from this disease, which in 1908 was 4.77, shows a steady decline. The statistics for cholera vary greatly during the years under notice. In 1908, excluding cases on active service, the admissions . were .6, and the deaths .61 per 1000. # Plague and smallpox show little variation-. As regards enteric fever among^ native troops, tho ratio has steadily risen during the years covered by the return, and now skinds at 1.8 for admissions and .59 for deaths, compared , with .4 and .15 in 1900. Smallpox remains steady, while cholera and plague vary each year. ■ '

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