(Photo, Newspaper Illustrations.)
The left-hand picture shows the advantage possessed by a howitzer over a field gun when firing over a hill at some troops at t. i is the howitzer, and a, a, a is the track of its shell. 2 is the field gun, and b, b would be the path of its shell were it not stopped at B by the hill.
The right-hand picture compares the effects on a trench of a shell from a howitzer and a shell from a field-gun. 3 is the howitzer's shrapnel shell bursting and pouring its bullets into the trench; but you will notice that the parapet of earth protects the occupants of the trench from the bullets of the field-gun's shrapnel shell, which is bursting at 4.
Both of these shells are fitted with "time fuses," which make them explode in the air as shown. If they were fitted with "percussion fuses," the howitzer shell would fall to the bottom of the trench, and explode at h; while the field-gun shell would not burst until it hit the ground at s.
In both pictures the howitzer is firing at a range of 2¾ miles—that is, it is 2¾ miles from the target—and the field gun at a range of 2¼ miles.
You can easily understand that howitzers are very useful when troops are advancing on the enemy. They can be fired behind the advancing line, for the shots from them fly high over the men's heads. Ordinary guns cannot be used at such a time, for they must be in line with the infantry or in front of them. These guns are usually held in reserve until the enemy shows himself. Then they are brought forward, and open fire. The barrel of a howitzer has a wider bore than that of a field gun, and its shell is not so long. The 5-inch howitzer with which the Royal Garrison Artillery is armed is so heavy that eight horses are needed to haul it along good roads. When it is taken over broken country the team must at least be doubled. Six-inch howitzers are also used.
For battering down fortresses very heavy howitzers are brought up. The Germans have reserved as the surprise of this war a howitzer with a calibre of seventeen inches, which throws a huge weight of metal for a tremendous distance. The gun is so heavy that it is provided with caterpillar wheels, and is hauled by motor or by thirty-six or forty horses. It is fired by electricity, and it is said that the gunners stand four hundred yards behind it when it is discharged.
Armoured Train.
(Photo, Central News.)
Guns for firing high at aeroplanes are also used, and some of them are mounted on motor cars. On the railways naval guns are placed on armoured trains, which dash along the line and harass the enemy. Armoured motor cars are sometimes provided with machine guns, but these belong to the infantry, and not to the artillery.
Now let us see what part artillery plays in a modern battle. Its first object is to help the movements of its own infantry, and to harass the movements of the enemy's infantry. Guns are thus the handmaids of infantry. Almost every modern battle opens with what is called an artillery duel. The guns of the one side engage those of the other, so as to keep them busy, and prevent them from hampering the movements of the infantry when they are forming line of battle or are advancing.