NEW TYPE OF GERMAN SIEGE GUN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10305, 9 November 1911, Page 4

NEW TYPE OF GERMAN SIEGE GUN.

According to the Berlin correspondent of the " Standard " some interesting experiments have recently been carried out by the German military authorities at Doberitz with a new type of siege gun constructed by the firm of Krupp. The new gun is an improvement on an idea much used by the Japane33 in. the siege of Port Arthur, and is designed to' aid the advance of infantry storming an entrenched position. *

Military experts in Germany, continues our contemporary, have for a long time been ixiKiling- over the problem of how the long range artillery of an army could render efficient support to its own advancing infantry right up to the_trenches of a fortified position. According to present " siege technique" fcll§ artillery of an attacking army lias to cease bombarding the enemy's entrenchments as soon as the storming infantry gets to close quarters, otherwise the stormers are likely to be shot down by their own guns from the rear. Tins cessation of the attackers' bombardment enables the besieged to emerge from their entrenchments and pour a devastating fire at close quarters into the ranks of tho attacking force, which is thus_ deprived of the support of its own artillery just at the moment when it most stands in need of it. The new gun lias been devised to overcome this difficulty. It has an extremely narrow, unrifled bore, and is of very li»ht construction, easily capable of being carried by two men, and is intended to be carried in the "front lines of the advancing infantry, Its most remarkable feature is its "projectile, which consists of a round bomb of great diameter loaded with a very powerful explosive mixture. The bomb is of far greater diameter than the bore of the gun which throws it, and is provided with a long stick-like tail which is loaded, into the barrel of the gun, its lower end, which is enlarged to a wad or piston-lilce form, resting on the gunchargo at the bottom of the barrel. The bomb itself merely lies on the gun muzzle, quite outside the bore. On being nred the trailing stick-like tail serves to keep tho bomb in its proper direction of flight, and only detaches itself and falls to earth after a certain distance has been covered, leaving tho bomb to pursue its course alone. The experiments have shown that a reasonable precision can bo obtained with the new missile up to a distance of 300 to 400 yds, and the bomb itself, which, owing to its large, capacity, is capable of great destruction, serves not only to prevent the defenders emerging from their cover, but also» to make great j breaches in their entrenchments or j fortifications.