MUNITIONS.

West Coast Times, 21 June 1915, Page 3

MUNITIONS.

HON. LLOYD GEORGE’S POWER. THE MUNITIONS QUESTION. [Per Pi .ess Associat;:ox. —formiom.] LONDON, Juno 19. The Hon. I.loyd-Goorge’s power has been officially defined. He is to organise the sources of supply, and the' labour available to supply munitions, whereof the supply is to be .wholly oi partially undertaken by transfer to him as may be agreed with the department or authority concerned. Other functions will he matters for a general ordnance, or those connected with the Woolwich and other Government arsenals, and small anus factories. -WASTE’’ SHELLS. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF FRENCH RUNNERS. “Don’t let ns hesitate to waste ammunition in order to economise in men” was a remark of General Journeo.. Mr. Lloyd George has given figures as to the increase of our shell production. Tile French are producing 600 per cent, more than had been thought necessary at the beginning of the war, and hope shortly to increase their output by another 300 per cent. General Fromm has insisted upon the all-importance of munitions, and the scries of actions along the Western front during Inc past month lias brought home the trutn of his lesson. Lieutenant-Colonel Boisonnet explains in the “Temps” some of tne many reasons which make spendthrift artillery one of the necessary factors of victory. The Freud) “75" is a weapon of marvellous precision, hut, even with a nt-iv gun and the shells in perfect condition, after a great number of shots from a distance of 3,000 metros the shells will be found to have fallen within a radius oF 96 metres, and half the shells will have fallen in a strip or about 24 metres. The gunner, thcrclore. has to regulate his fire so that the object aimed at will bo in the centre of this most thickly covered strip, a task which against trenches, even after aeroplane reconnaissance, requires » considerable expenditure of ammunition; and when it is remembered that the trench itself is not milch more than a yard or so wide, it wall be realised that lor every three or four shells ivhich hurst iti the trench there is a vast number ..wdiich explode before it or behind it. The need for heavy shell expenditure against trenches is already great, but it wall become more urgent still after the siege period is over and real field fighting again becomes possible, when the artillery wall have not the fixed target of the trench line, but the thin mobile ranks of the skirmishers, as its objective. Against moving infantry, unless it is advancing in close formation, regulated fire is a matter of some .difficulty. Infantry which finds itself between the first shell which has burst in front of them do not await the avalanche which is to follow, but rush rapidly forward beyond the firs! short shell, where (hey

fling themselves to the ground under Cgver ttey c'»e the aijSlisrj *tzzxTs tLat they aro scmetrpere ra ti? neighbourhood, and to bog in again “tir do would only bo a loss ot time, s <j that the only tiling for the artillery to do is to shorten its ranee by 100 yards or ?o and sweep the whole of the zone where they imaidno the enemy's infantry to bo with shrapnel. A battery of Tomin. guns fires no less than 80 shells a minute, and it is only with rapid, intense fire that the shrapnel fragments can sweep a whole countryside and break tho enemy’s attack. The same thing applies when the artillery is taking part in an offensive. Ih«-y ha\o to cover the whole zone of the enemy’s front with a shower of shells, forcing the gunners to take shelter and pinning the infantry to the ground while their own troops are advaxjemg to the attack.