About this time all the leading Powers in Europe were manufacturing rockets for war purposes, factories for their manufacture being established at Warsaw, Turin, Toulon, and Metz. The Russians used them at this period in their war with Turkey, firing them in salvoes of nine.
In 1831 a series of trials were made by the Swiss military authorities of 6 lb. rockets fired from a 6 ft. tube, when a range of from 18–1900 yards was obtained, and three hits registered out of five were made at 1,100 yards.
Although great interest was aroused by the rocket for war purposes, it quickly subsided, and it is now practically only used for signalling and line-carrying purposes.
William Bourne, who describes himself as a “poor gunner,” the first to produce an original book on artillery in this country, as distinct from translation of continental works, makes the following observations on military pyrotechnics: “Divers gunners and other men have devised sundry sorts of fireworks for the annoyance of their enemies, yet as far as I have ever seen or heard, I never knew any good service done by it, either by sea or land, but only by powder, and that has done great service for that the force of it is so mighty and cometh with such a terror. But for their other fireworks it is rather meet to be used in the time of pleasure in the night rather than for any service.”
CHAPTER X
MILITARY PYROTECHNY IN THE GREAT WAR
The outbreak of the great war, whatever may have been the case as regards other branches, found the Service badly equipped pyrotechnically. The great and almost frantic interest taken in military pyrotechny during the first half of the nineteenth century had died away. Gradually the pyrotechnic stores included in the official schedule had been reduced until in 1914 a few rockets—mostly signal—lights for signalling and illumination, Very pistol cartridges for signalling purposes, with single stars of various colours, and incendiary and light stars for shells constituted the entire list.
The cause of this neglect of the art of pyrotechny for warlike purposes was not difficult to understand. Rifled barrels, breech-loading, and quick-firing ordnance had entirely destroyed interest in the rocket as a projectile. The telephone and telegraph had almost entirely superseded older methods of signalling, and so with most of the pyrotechnic contrivances which, less than a century before, had been thought to be indispensable.
As events proved, this abandonment of old ideas was premature. Although every thinking man in the country realised that war was some day inevitable, no one, or at least very few, realised the nature of the struggle. The development of land war into what were practically siege operations on a gigantic scale; the nature of sea warfare with the new factors, the submarine, seaplane and wireless; the extent and ferocity of aerial warfare—all were unforeseen. Yet each of these called for new inventions, new methods of destruction, new methods of protection and communication, and in many cases the resuscitation of old ideas long since abandoned.
And as fire has for all time been associated with the sword, it is small wonder that pyrotechny played no inconspicuous part in the struggle.