THOSE MONSTER GUNS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 104, 25 September 1914, Page 3

THOSE MONSTER GUNS.

THE IG-INCII STOItV. A QUESTION OF PROBABILITY,

The "haze of war" has been responsible for, among other things, a remarkable amount of misconception regarding the German heavy artillery. It began with various stories of huge guns of 18-ineh calibre, alternatively called 42 centimetre (16.5 in.). These guns were reported to lave been used in various places, and readers were free to assume that they were a monstrous species of field gun. Other accounts referred to Sin. and llin. guns, and latterly we have heard of "big siege howitzers," without any size being mentioned. The only evidence of their size was that they 4?ould not be hauled over soft roads, even by sixteen pairs of horses. It seemed at first, and seems now more than ever, unlikely that the tiermans took with them any 10-inch guns. If it were not that "42 centimetres" had been mentioned, it might reasonably be assumed that a 16 centimetre, and not a 16-inc'h gun was described. This would Mean a gun of G.sin bore, a weapon just as big as could be handled in the field. That this is not unlikely is shown by the freedom with which the French "7.4 gun of remarkable mobility" has been assumed to be a 7.4 in. gun, where it is simply tho French 7.4 centiuieiro, or IG-pound field-gun, of which so m,acn has 'been heard. (Actually the calibre is 7.5 centimetres, or 2.95 in). It is a trifle smaller in calibre than the German gun, hut fires a shell nearly a pound heavier, hut 2y 2 lbs lighter than the British field gun.

SIEGE GUNS. It ought to be clear that no guns of huge dimensions can be used in the field. The Germans have for some years used a 15-centimetre (Oin) howitzer tiring a shell weighing 1221b5. The load behind the team is 53 cwt. Clearly neither this nor the the 4in. heavy field gun (which has to be fired from a platform) deserves the enthusiastic phraseology about monster pieces. It may be that use lias been made of an S'/i-in. mortar firing a 2751b. shell. This gun has been mounted on a very heavy carriage, and weight altogether about a tons. But for its size it is a gun of small power except for the size of its shell, and, like all other large guns, must be fired from a platform. If the guns intended for the siege of Paris were not of this type, it could not have been a bigger one. According to the cables, the Germans used at Soissons the siege guns intended to be used against Paris. If any proof were needed that these were not the lGin. guns of the earlier messages, it is here. No huge siege gun can he got ready for use in the field without a great expenditure of time and material quite incomputable with the procedure of a battle.

Another extraordinary statement sent out is that the big siege guns can only fire twenty rounds apiece. If there is ono thing on which the Krupps pride themselves it is that their big guns have a long life, and even their 12-inch naval guns which can withstand very little wear before they become inaccurate, are claimed to have a life of over 200 rounds.

NATURE OF A IGINCH GUN. To revert to the 16-inch gun story, it is interesting to discuss briefly some of its qualities, for, though no particulars are available, it is easy to say certain tilings ivhich must be close to the truth, if such a gun exists. Other Krupp guns of 10-ineh boro (for coast defence) throw shells weighing over 2000 lbs, and the big gun under discussion probably fires one of even greater size—a huge steel projectile containing, perhaps, l*2olbs. of high explosive. These shells will be thrown to a great height, so that they will come down at a steep angle, and their destructive power if they explode on any of the protective works of a fort will be tremendous. It will be remembered that in connection with the siege, of Xtill) ur it was stated that the Ocnnans had 11 in. 'howitzers, which outranged the Sin. weapons of the Belgians. Even more, the 1 Gin. monster will prove a terrible menace to Paris. If the (Germans have really brought lfiin. guns into France, they have performed a feat • which is regarded by experts as truly marvellous. They will add to the marvel if they can use them. Much smaller guns are exceedingly difficult to transport. An 8-in. howitzer, without any of its massive mountings, weight obout two tons and a-half; and a sixteen-inch must weigh close upon 20 tons, while its mountings would weigh at least as much again. Thus the transport of such a weapon is obviously an excessively undertaking. More than that, to supply it with ammunition must lie even more difficult, for each day's firing means more than the gun's weight of shells, and with a numerous battery there is ail enormous amount of carriage to be done. I!ut even if the guns and the ammunition are, by dint of using railways and extraordinarily good roads, placed on the ground, the difficulties are not over. ' for guns of such size can only be lir»d from a large and well-constructed platform. The force exerted upon the platform by the gun is precisely equal to that exerted on the shell—-probably more than 10,000 foottons with a maximum charge for long-range firing, and obviously no makeshift or hurried structure can be built to control so much energy. Timber would be useless, and nothing but concrete sounds feasible. It must be remembered, however. Hint in stress of war, when materials can be had for the Inking and the supply of labor is practically unlimited, extraordinary things can be done. At l'ort Arthur the, Japanese built solid concrete platforms .for their 11 in. howitzers, which were, roughly one-third as powerful as the 18-inch gun would be. The more one considers the story of the 1(1inch gun, the more extraordinarv it ■■seems, and the more one is compelled to admire the skill and efficiency of a military organism which can overcome the (difficulties inseparable from handling such huge weapons.