HORSELESS ARTILLERY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 243, 19 January 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

HORSELESS ARTILLERY.

AN AMERICAN INNOVATION. Following upon reports of the wonderful achievements of the British tanks in France, plans are announced by the United States army for the formation of a horseless regiment of heavy artillery. The guns will be hauled from point to point, nnd then put into the firing line by means of "catoi pillar tractors, described as similai in construction to the giant motor-cars used by the British. The new regiment is to have many distinctive features. Its co'onel and other regimental officers will ride in an automobile instead of on horseback Its lie-ivy lield-guns and their ammunition caissons will be hauled by powerfil tractors, which, unlike the "land Dreadnoughts" on the British front, will not be armed, and will be armoured only for protection of their machinery. Ihe battery and store-wagons of the regiment will also be h.Miled by-Ira-tor.?, so as to be able to follow the tr.ictor-drawn field howitzers into action over rough country. The artillerynun. who heretofore have ridden horses. will hereafter ride on motor-cycles with " bath-tub" attachments, each cycle carrying three men.