The Romance of War Inventions / A Description of Warships, Guns, Tanks, Rifles, Bombs, and Other Instruments and Munitions of Warfare, How They Were Invented & How They Are Employed

by Thomas W. Corbin

length of 50 calibres, and the guns of small calibre do approximate somewhat to the proportions of the naval guns, since even then their length comes within manageable limits.

Modern warfare, however, requires the use of larger shells containing larger charges of explosives, and to fire these requires guns of greater calibre. We hear of shells of as great a diameter as 16 inches being thrown into the Belgian fortresses and of course nothing smaller than a 16-inch gun could do that. Now a 16-inch gun, if made to the naval proportions of 50 calibres or even 45 calibres, would mean a length of at least 60 to 70 feet. It would also mean a weight exceeding 100 tons, for the 12-inch naval gun of 50 calibres weighs about 70 tons. And it is easy to see that such a gun would be very difficult to move on the field of battle. Indeed, it would be almost useless because of the time it would take to get it into position and to construct the foundations which it would need. If the Austrians had only had such as those the Belgians would have had plenty of time to prepare for them at Antwerp, whereas it was the quickness with which they brought up their heavy guns that astonished everyone and took their opponents by surprise.

The secret of this astonishing performance lies in the fact that they were not guns at all but howitzers, which instead of being long, slender tubes are short, fat ones, and that involves a different idea in gunnery altogether. The "gun" fires at an object. The howitzer fires its shell upwards with the purpose of dropping it upon the object.

The difference between the two is well illustrated by the methods of practising with them. In learning to work a gun the gunners fire at a vertical target just as those of you who practise shooting at a miniature range fire at a target of paper placed vertically against a wall. The target for howitzer practice, on the other hand, is a square marked out on the level ground, and the object of the gunners is to see how great a proportion of a given number of shots they can drop inside that square.

Of course, being so much shorter the howitzers cannot throw a shell so far or at such a high velocity as the naval guns, but that can to a certain extent be compensated for by using a higher explosive for the propellant. That, however, involves greater stresses in the tube when firing takes place and also calls for stronger foundations in order that the aim may be steady.

A great part, too, of the velocity of a naval shell is required for the penetration of the armour, whereas against forts or earthworks it is sufficient if the shell "gets there."

Moreover, generally speaking, it is possible to get much nearer to a fortress or entrenched position for the purpose of attacking it than it is to an enemy ship on the sea. Except for the occasional help of a mist there is no "cover" to be obtained at sea, while on land the ground must be very flat indeed if there is no low hill or undulation behind which a gun can be set up unnoticed.

The Austrians cherish a piece of steelwork from one of the forts of Antwerp which they smashed with a shell from one of their big howitzers at a range of seven miles. They evidently were able to get their big howitzers within that comparatively short distance of the Antwerp fortifications without being molested.