Our Army at the Front

ogramme of his own make, an abundance of what he liked and nothing of what he didn't, should be thrust into some grade of a public school. He would be ridiculously advance

ted that backwardness to follow through. They conceded the natural quickness of the pupils, but saw a long road ahead before they coul

that in comparison to the size of their army, and to the extent to which they had prepared nationally for war, their artillery was stronger than that of any othe

illery preparation one of the most dra

to guns. For big guns, the American reliance was wholly upon France and Eng

rose from the fact that the coast defense could be diverted, within the first year of war, to the handling

nd training. There was no such thing as a citizenry trained to artillery. Mathematics was its stronghold, and no smattering could be

degree. And the diversion of it to the artillery in France stiffened the backbone of th

e and unpreparedness, so that big-gun problems had received a disproportionate amount of study. The American technical

n France, in mid-August of 1917, the problems to be

gun differences between American and French types, and in learning about the e

ants. There need be no attempt to conceal the fact that first satisfaction came wi

oors, and where they were billeted with the French they found excellent quarters in the old, low-lying stone and brick houses. The weather would not have been admired by any outsider. But to the men fr

ple at first, becoming, as to guns at least, steadily

roximately the American three-inch gun,

the work wholly new to the men, and, nat

erous of all artillery service, seventy-five per cent of the young officers who were eligible for the work v

America's entrance. All the old visual aids were abolished, such as smoke-pointers and rockets, and the telephone and w

m of range-finding was: "First fire long, then fire short, then split the bracke

t dependent on co-operation. It is always a joint j

lculation is complicated by the variety of types of guns and shells, and, in the case of howitzers, by the variable behavior of charg

ccurate, in spite of weather, visibility, enemy camouflage, and everything else. More th

not so elusive as field-guns and motor-emplaceme

which its wants can be filled from the rear. The mobility of the big pieces, and their constant con

eir mathematics were A1, as has been noted, and their familiarity with existing model

tion-more than any of them had ever seen before-and told to open fire. One dramatic touch exacted by the French

ive, because at that time there was a half-plan to put the artillery first into the ba

ers as well as proficiency, the mastering of gun types wa

The artillerymen named her "Mosquito," "because she had a sting," although she had served for 300 charges at Verdun. It was not long before ev

theless first in actual fighting, they were able to give a fine account of themselves. By the time they had got back

, with an increasing number of men able to remain in the line, and a constantly increasing number of ne

wise would, chiefly, of course, because of the coast defense, and somewhat because American college

nterim in the line, the artillery practised on some specialties, partly

ttering of the "pill-boxes," German inventions

ct hit by a huge shell. But the American artillery camp worked out a way of getting them-with luck. Each aperture, through which the German inmates sighted and shot, was put under fire from automatic rifles, coming from several directions at

d the natural value of the American artilleryman. He became, in a short

ways credited, by his men, with being three-fourths of the reason why they made such a showing. General March always credited the matter to his men. At any rate, between them they pu