GERMAN HOWITZERS IN THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2345, 30 December 1914, Page 7

GERMAN HOWITZERS IN THE WAR

THE MEANING OF TERMS. Major-General O'Callaghan writes as follows to t&o. London. ''Times ■ ■. There has been a good deal of loose writing tof late with, -regard jto "tine German howitzers' that have dealt so much .destruction m the seiges of I/iege and Maubeuge, and in the bombardment of other places, ■ and perhaps a few words on the subject' may bp of general interest. That the 42cm. howitzer' exists 'there' is little' doubt, 'but lit is'very questionable - whethermore than two have been actually used during the war. If used at all, it was at the siege df Liege. These weapons require a concrete platform to which the mounting is bolted .down, and their transport can only.be effected on very first-class' roads , and over bridges strong enough to bear a weight of 15 tons, or by rail. . , 1 It is the 28cm. (11.2 in.) which has wrought, all; the havoc with General Brialmoiit's steel cupolas. These pieces weigh only 6.3 tons, their total weight in action, i.e., including carriage, recoil cylinders, "etc., being 14.8 "■ tons. The wheels are encircled by linked steel plates, called girdles, which enable! tho howitzer to travel oil good. roads' and alsoserve to cushion the, shock of discharge, for no platform is needed, the howitzer being fired from its wheels. This is rendered possible .by the long recoil permitted by the hydraulic and compressed air cylinders bjywhich it is controlled. A 'holdfast 'in front anchors. tho carriage. . A special, transporting wagon is provided, adapted for meohanic'al transport; from which the'howitzer is readily shifted to its firing carnage. It is capable of being fired up to 65deg. of elevation and has.a maximum.range, at 43deg., of 10,900 yards. The shell weighs, 7601b., and carries i a. burster of 1141b., high explosive. , It' is said that shrapnel do not/form part of its equipment, but this is open to doubt. There is some permissible confusion in tho civilian' mind between guns and howitzers, and a simple , definition of the latter is that it is a piece which, in. proportion to its weight, throws a shell ■very much heavier than-. that from_ a gun, but with much less muzzle velocity and a correspondingly shorter range. Thus tho 11.2ih. howitzer' weighs,,, as we see, 6.3 tons, and has a.' muzzle velocity, with its full charge, of 1100 ft. per second; while a modern gun of that calibre would weigh some 40 tons, and would, develop a muzzle , velocity of 3000 ft. per second. ' The howitzer can •be;taken into .the field; the gun can only-, be mounted on board .ship or in. permanent fortifications.. The -maxi--mum range ■of the howitzer I have' given above; that of the gun would be ahything up to 15 miles. The more than subtle difference between the centimetre , and millimetre has proved a stumbling block to many correspondents, one of whom writes, for instance, of "tho terrible 75cm. pin,'' and, indeed, did such a gun' exist,' it -would bo terrible, for it would have a bore of 30in. in diameter. There is a ready' and fairly accurate method of > eppverting. centimetres .or millimetres into inches. Multiply by four and put in a decimal point. Thus locm. multiplied by 4 equals 6.0 in.; 75mm. x 4 equals a.OOin.; 28cm. x 4 equals ll.'iin.,. Somo uncertainty seems to exist as' to /the difference between a machine gun (mitrailleuse) and a quickfirer' (canon a tir rapide). The former fu'?s smallarm 1 ammunition; the ; latter is a'shell gun with a weight of projectile of from' lib. to 181b., and is'more precisely described by saying that its carriage is so constructed, that the gun should not' require relaying after each round. To most soldiers, and to many civilians, the foregoing will, no doubt, read as a wearisome statement of wellknown facts, but I have lately-talked a gopd deal to tho man in the street, and to him the technicalities, of war are still a sealed book. I venture, therefore, to ask for space in your columns for what may pernaps give".him a better understanding.