The Mamelukes are inseparably associated with the military history of Egypt, the first country in which a regular military organization was established, and a country in which the fighting element was the most honored and powerful of all classes. This type of blade was adopted by our Marine Corps in 1825, and later by the officers of the Royal Horse Artillery of England.
Until recently the allowance of machine guns in our army has been two to a regiment, but abroad four to six are used.
AUTOMATIC MACHINE RIFLES.
These guns are automatic machine rifles, firing ordinary rifle cartridges, which (in the Benet-Mercie weapon, a French invention which we have adopted) are supplied in brass clips of thirty. A small part of the gas generated by the explosion of the individual cartridge operates the mechanism, discharging the bullet, throwing out the empty shell and making ready for the next shot.
A machine gun is designed to enable one man to fire the equivalent of a volley, or series of volleys, discharged by an entire platoon (one-third of a company) of infantrymen. As at present developed, it represents a step toward the evolution of a shoulder-rifle that will throw a continuous stream of bullets.
The latest government rifle—the weapons of the individual soldiers—are manufactured at the Springfield (Mass.) Armory, which is the government's great small-arms factory, and at the Rock Island (Ill.) Arsenal—the facilities of the latter having hitherto been held in reserve for emergency purposes. The rifle cartridges are turned out at the Frankford Arsenal, in Philadelphia, and at private plants in Lowell, New Haven, Bridgeport and Cincinnati. These concerns and another near St. Louis also make the cartridges for the automatic pistols.
At the outbreak of the world war we had 150 batteries of light field guns and 45 batteries of heavy artillery (four guns to each battery), including cannon provided for by Congress, and since then delivered. There was an inadequate supply of ammunition for the heavy guns.
MUNITION SUPPLY AUGMENTED.
The ammunition supply was immediately augmented and field guns of various calibers turned out as fast as possible, including 9-inch howitzers.
A 3-inch field gun fires projectiles weighing 15 pounds, with a muzzle velocity of 1700 feet per second.