MUST WASTE SHELLS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4008, 14 August 1915, Page 2

MUST WASTE SHELLS.

JN ARTILL.FRY All lONS. FRENCH EXPERT'S VIEW. Lieut enant-Colonel I Joisson net; explains; in ihe “Temps" some of the many reasons which make spendthrift artilery one of the necessary fa tors of victory. liii,’ French “75“ is a weapon oi marvellous precision, hut own with a in u gun and the shells in perfect condition, alter a great numb r of shots Irom a distance of .'!“(!() metres tinshells will he found lo" have i'allan wiihin a ratlius of % imlrcs and half the shells will be found to have fallen in a strip of about 21. metre:'. The gunner, therefore, lias to regulate his lire so that flic' obp er aimed ulwdl !> • in tho centre of this most thicklyeovered strip, a task wlrcli against trenches, even after aeroplane ivcan11a i- -:i- 1 1 -- ■. requires a com.iderabie cxju’iidn ure ol aiiinoiMii ion, and when it is remembered iliot the trench it-si-ll is not much mere than a yard or so wide it will be realistd that for ('very three or lour shells which hur.si m tin- treueh there ant a vast number which explode before it or behind; ir. I’he need for heavy shell expenditure against trenches is already great, hut it will become more urgent, still after the siege p-'rmd is over <ukl r- al lie hi- fighting again becomes p05•M..!,... •M..!,... when the artillery will have not the fixed target of the treueh lino, hut the mobile ranks of 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 behind 1 them and the shorter shell which has- hurst in front of them do not await tiie avalanche which is to follow, but rush rapidly forward beyond the first short shell, where they (ling themselves to the ground under what cover they can find. The artillerymen know that they aro somewhere in the neighborhood, and to begin again the tir de roglage would only be a loss of time, so-fhat the only thing for the artillery to do is to shorten its range hy 100 yards or so and sweep with shrapnel the whole of thie zone where they imagine tho enemy’s infantry to be. A battery of “75” guns fires no less than SO shells a minute, and it is only with rapid, intense fire that the shrapnel fragments can sweep the whole countryside and break tho ' enemy’s attack. The same thing applies when the artillery is taking part in an offensive. They have to cover the whole*zo«o 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 advancing to the attack.