INVENTION IN WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 271, 26 April 1915, Page 2

INVENTION IN WAR.

THE BATTLE, OF BRAINS. NEW GERMAN BOMB. . The Germans,/says the special co-res-pondent of tlic London Daily Mail, who writes from Northern France, have i«rently been throwing at some of the "iritish trenches a now bomb that roscn.iiles a child's Indian club. „It con«i»ts of a stick rather over a foot in lengft, with n. black ball at the end. The final tasK of a. young cavalry officer just rolivcd of trench work was to carry a whole bundle nf these to our scientific He was careful to carry and lay down his "fireworks" with groat gentleness This bomb is only one example out of very many of the scientific energy whie'i the Germans are still bringing to bear rm the problem of war. Their scientific energy haq never abated. Their newer armoyred cars, which they now possess in great number, have been freed from the one cardinal drawback of this form of machine. Previously they were always liable to destruction from any heavier gun owing to the extreme cumbrousnoss in retreat. There could be no better target than a big heavy car —and these weigh just under three tons—attempting to turn in a narrow road. This weakness 011 our part was in some decree overcome by the device, of backing 'into action ; but only those who have attempted to back their ears know the appalling difficulties of the job when precise or quick work is needed. With the later German cars there is no backing, because the machine has, ao to speak, 110 bow or stern. The.reverse is so perfected that it has thrc« gears and all the facilities necessary to forward manipulation. In other words, the car is driven with equal ease and speed this way or that, like a shunting engine. ; Another Germitn niachinc which is said to have been worked very hard recently is a trench digger that combines a number of virtues. It is half plough, Half bucket crane. It makes as little of cubic,'yards of earth as some of the va»t. drain diggers used in the United States ; and it has a subsidiary device which enables it to phce the • dug earth—thp molehill material—where it pleases. This in conjunction with some effective method of local concrete manufacture li.ti vastly facilitated the building of reserve trenches far beyond the reach of our shell fire at present.. I do not suggest that the allies have been behindhand ill invention. I shou'd say that the greatest achievement of the war .in the sphere of invention is a Frenchman's, who has worked with logical genius very characteristic of his nation. Tn his new machine grease and oil are produced by processes that will save the Government millions and provide almost on the spot a material most nee'essarv for a score of military objects. liotli French and British are continually inventing and perfecting media nval apparatus of many sorts ; but it remims that there is much to be learned from the enemy. It seemed at the beginning of the war that their rifle fire—in spite of the greatly superior penetrative power of their bullet—was almost contemptible The reason, of course, was that in German theory it was waste of time for advancing infantry to aim or even to put the gun to the shoulder. Recently, however, their rifle fire has proved excellent. In this regard their infantry have jtiqucstionably benefited immensely through the possession of rifles nickclled and so [(reserved from rust at the breech: One glimpse of a wet trench will suggest to the least practical observer the extreme and daily difficulty of keeping .the rifle even sufficiently clean not to block. '"Keep your breech bright" is now as necessary—and as difficult—as oiuv it was in the muzzle-loading days to "keep your powder dry." '