september - october - Fort Sill

FOREIGN MILITARY JOURNALS
Unfixed ammunition is used, the powder being contained in bags
and the breech mechanism of the usual Schneider type provided with
obturator and separate primer. The carriage is of the split trail pattern.
Elevation from 0 to 43º is obtained by means of a pinion on the chassis
engaging with an arc rack under the recuperator. An independent line of
site is not provided. The chassis pivots around a large pin set in the axle
housing, permitting a considerable deflection shift. The recuperator has
an oil brake having no connections with the counter-recoil system
which has two air- and one oil-pressure cylinders. In all cases the
cylinder is the moving part. At the muzzle is attached a device called
the Schneider Muzzle Brake.
By a system of vents and passages the forward moving gases of
discharge are brought to act on the tube in a manner, which it is claimed,
greatly reduces the force of recoil, thus permitting a much lighter
recuperator than is normally used. The tube is slid backward for travelling.
No shield is used, but band brakes and rubber tires are provided. The gun
was successfully tested at Harfleur in June, 1924, followed by a run of
2500 km. over the roads.
The howitzer differs little from the standard Schneider, model of 1917,
with the addition of travelling springs and the above-mentioned muzzle
brake. It was tested in October, 1925, with gratifying results.
"Revue Militaire Française," May, 1926.
"Chemical Warfare," by Chef d'escadron Paul Bloch, is continued
in this number. The author believes that in spite of the almost universal
condemnation of the use of gas in the last war, it will play an even
greater part in future warfare. There was a time when even the use of
the firearm was considered unsportsmanlike. We can understand the
indignation expressed by the old soldiers in the days of Montluc, who
remarked:
"Were it not for that cursed invention so many brave men would not be
killed by cowards who fire from a distance and dare not look their victims
in the face."
As an example of the effectiveness of gas at a moment when offensive
and defensive means were well balanced, the author points to the gas
casualties suffered by the American troops. Twenty-seven per cent. of their
total losses was due to gas. Only twenty-five per cent. of the German
artillery ammunition was of the gas type.
In 1920 the English under-secretary of war stated in an address to
Parliament:
"No nation has renounced the use of gas * * * if we must
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