Armament

“ Armament.—“Ten 12-in. guns and twenty-four 12-pdf. Q.F. anti-torpedo-boat guns and five submerged torpedo tubes.
“In arranging for a uniform armament of 12-in. guns it became at once apparent that a limitation to the number of guns that could be usefully carried was imposed by considerations of the blast effect of the guns on the crews of those guns adjacent to them. It is obviously uneconomical to place the guns in such relative positions that the blast of any single gun on any permissible training should very seriously hamper the use of one or more of the remaining guns. ”

“ A town in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. Here the French, commanded by Jourdan, defeated the Austrians in April, 1793, and again in April, 1794.
Arm. In a military sense, signifies a particular species of troops,—thus the artillery is an arm, and the cavalry, and infantry, etc., are each called an arm of the service. The word is also used to denote an instrument of warfare; a weapon of offense or defense.
Arm. To be provided with arms, weapons, or means of attack or resistance; to take arms.
Armament. A body of forces equipped for war;—used as a land force. ”

“ The vastly expensive armaments of the present—the rifled breech-loader, the magazine rifle, the machine guns, the long-range field-guns, and so forth, are all accepted and paid for by the respective nations in the frank and naked expectation that these weapons will perform increased execution on the enemy in war time. ”

“ Armament, miscellaneous weapons, § 64 et seq.; the machine gun, §§ 15, 47, 48, 53; one-pounder, § 46; light weight shell, § 63; the bomb, §§ 64, 65; supremacy of the gun, § 68; treaty restrictions as affecting, § 45 ”

“ Considered as a mechanism the148 whole gun-equipment was a rude and primitive affair; the clumsy carriage run out to battery by laborious tackles, the cast-iron gun laid by a simple wedge, the whole equipment traversed by prising round with handspikes—by exactly the same process, it has been remarked, as that by which the savage moved a log in the beginning of the world. ”

“ The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind. ”

“ Rifles having a larger twist were therefore made by rival gunmakers and, the results of shooting matches giving incontestable evidence of their superiority, a demand arose for their supply to the army riflemen. ”

“ An infantry charge reminds you of a moving wall that cannot be resisted; a charge of cavalry stirs the blood; but I have never known excitement to equal that of a battery of artillery going into action on a full run under fire. Over the top of the hill came these two guns, a cloud of dust almost hiding them, the horses straining every muscle, the men hanging to the horses or any part of the gun on which they could hold, those of the men that were mounted riding at full speed. When the top of the hill was reached there seemed to be no stop. ”

“ In olden times, when weapon directly answered weapon, the act of defence was positive and direct, the blow of sword or battleaxe was parried by sword and shield; under modern conditions gun answers gun, the defence from rifle-fire is rifle-fire, and the defence from artillery, artillery. ”

“ Three generals, two hundred and seventy-three field and company officers, six thousand seven hundred privates, one hundred and twenty-three pieces of heavy artillery, thirty-five pieces of field artillery, all of the very best character and of the latest patterns, seven thousand stand of small arms, tents for twelve thousand men, several wharf-boat loads of provisions, an immense quantity of ammunition of all kinds, many hundred horses and mules, with wagons and harness, etc., are among the spoils. ”

“ The French and German writers discuss artillery as employed in battle, under two distinct heads—1st, as an arm of preparation, and 2d, as an arm of succor.
I. As an arm of preparation it serves, 1st, to protect the deploying of the other troops; 2d, to disorganize the enemy's masses, and to facilitate the action of infantry and cavalry, by weakening the intended points of attack; 3d, to force an enemy to evacuate a position by overthrowing obstacles with which he has covered himself; 4th, to keep up the action till the other troops can be prepared to strike the decisive blow. ”

“ Any officer who has been present at great operations of this nature will understand what it is for an army to land in narrow and widely separated creeks all its munitions of war—its shells, its cannon-shot, its heavy guns, mortars, its powder, its gun-carriages, its platforms, its fascines, gabions, sandbags, its trenching tools, and all the various matériel requisite for the siege of extensive and formidable lines of fortifications and batteries. ”

“ Infantrymen with automobile transport, plentiful machine guns, Tanks and such-like accessories; that is the first Arm in modern war. The factory hand and all the material of the shell route from the factory to the gun constitute the second Arm. Thirdly comes the artillery, the guns and the photographic aeroplanes working with the guns. Next I suppose we must count sappers and miners as a fourth Arm of greatly increased importance. The fifth and last combatant Arm is the modern substitute for cavalry; and that also is essentially a force of aeroplanes supported by automobiles. ”

“ Fell out to work at 7, pioneers helping us. Ordnance train came up from town this morning and deposited their stores inside of the fort, filling our magazines with artillery ammunition; 90 boxes of three inch rifle; 40 12-pounder guns; 150 boxes of infantry ammunition, guns, sabres and other stores piled up inside the works covered with tarpaulins. A sergeant and seven men with them as guards, to guard our guns also, which lightens our duty greatly. ”

“ In a general sense, comprehend weapons both of an offensive and defensive character, but in the usual restricted sense they only embrace the former, and in modern warfare include the gun and bayonet, the rifle, the pistol, the carbine, the sword, the lance, cannon, etc., all of which are noticed under their respective heads. ”

“ If a siege is to be undertaken, place in each vessel with each piece of artillery its implements, ammunition, and the carriages necessary to [Pg 122] transport the whole or a part; the platforms, tools, instruments, and materials for constructing batteries; skids, rollers, scantling, and plank.
3. If a particular calibre of gun is necessary for any operation, do not place all of one kind in one vessel, to avoid being entirely deprived of them by any accident. ”

“ Under the general term ordnance and ordnance stores are included all guns, howitzers, mortars, rockets, and projectiles of every description, the explosives used in warfare, all gun-carriages, limbers, caissons, mortar-beds, battery-wagons, and traveling-forges with their equipments, and all other apparatus and machines required for the service and manœuvres of artillery at sieges or in the field ”

“ Troops of the enemy are moving to the left, our left, to outflank us, and we lengthen out correspondingly; and now the blue smoke of the musket discloses the line by day trending away, far away south toward the Chattahoochee, and by night it is marked, at times, by the red glow of the artillery amidst the sparklike flashes of small arms that look in the distance like innumerable fireflies. ”

“ The exercise of the great guns has, till the late war, been very complicated, and abounding with superfluities, in our navy, as well as all others. The following method was then successfully introduced by an officer of distinguished abilities.
“Upon beat to arms [23] (every body having immediately repaired to their quarters) the midshipman commanding a number of guns, is to see that they are not without every necessary article, as (at every gun) a spunge, powder-horn, with its priming wires, and a sufficient quantity of powder, crow, hand-spike, bed, quoin, train-tackle, &c. ”

“ The Fighting Troops consist mainly, as they have for centuries, of what are known as “The Three Arms of the Service”—Cavalry, Artillery, and Infantry. Besides these, however, the introduction of warlike inventions and the increased complexity of modern war have brought into being a fourth Arm—Engineers—as well as varieties of fighting troops for special purposes, which are virtually new Arms, such as Mountain Artillery, Machine Guns, Cyclists, and Mounted Infantry. ”

“ In addition to this increased facility for manoeuvre, the great strength of the local defensive confers upon the assailant the power of .denuding certain portions of his line of troops, in order that he may mass them for offensive action elsewhere. Here again the study of ground and a true knowledge of the capabilities of the various arms are of supreme importance. Well-placed artillery, aided by machine guns, may enable a comparatively weak force of infantry to hold a wide extent of front, provided that each arm is able to use its strength to the fullest extent. ”

“ It is not to be inferred that the modern improvements (as they are called) are copied from the more ancient inventions. Two men of different ages, or even of the same age, sometimes fall upon the same identical discovery, without either's borrowing from the other.
The materiel of artillery employed in modern warfare is divided into two general classes: 1st. Siege Artillery, or such as is employed in the attack and defence of places. 2d. Field Artillery, or such as is used in battle, or in the field-operations of an army. ”

“ A train of artillery comprehends cannon, mortars, and howitzers of all kinds, properly mounted; with horses, carriages, mortar-beds, block-carriages, ammunition-waggons, stores, shells, shot, bullets, powder, and cartridges. ”

“ The infantry tramplings, the heavy rumbling of the artillery, made the earth speak of gigantic preparation. Guns on distant heights thundered from time to time with sudden, nervous roar, as if unable to endure in silence a knowledge of hostile troops massing, other guns going to position. ”

“ In early days the weapon of war was the sword; now it is the magazine rifle. Among the ancients, men fought with javelins and daggers; now they employ shells and bombs. Dreadnoughts are built, torpedoes invented, and every few days new ammunition is forthcoming. ”

“ What must be the dexterity of the arrangement by which a thousand men can be victualled, at the rate of three meals a-day, for four months; a thousand men housed, bedded, clothed, and accoutred; a battery of a hundred and twenty guns—the complement of an army of fifty thousand men, and two or three times the weight of field-guns—fought; this mighty vessel navigated through every weather, and the profoundest practical science applied to her management, through night and day, for years together? ”

“ Ordnance is, as already noticed, of several species, as guns mounted on fortresses, naval guns, siege guns, field-guns, etc., and the size of the pieces under each of those heads is distinguished sometimes in one, sometimes in another of three different ways. We may name it by the weight of the gun itself in tons or hundredweights, as “a 35–ton gun,” etc.; or by the weight of its projectile, as “a 68–pounder,” etc.; or by its calibre, that is the diameter of its bore, as “a 4–inch gun,” etc. ”

“ The amount of cavalry will depend upon the topographical features of the country, being in some cases as much as one-fourth of the infantry, and in others as little as one-tenth. The amount of light artillery depends upon the character of the country. There should be at least two guns to every thousand men. The quantity of heavy artillery, or number of siege-batteries, which enter the composition of an army, will depend to a great extent upon the plan of campaign and the probable use for which they may be intended. ”

“ My curiosity was excited, and I wished to hear all I could about modern arms, from the poniard to the pike, from the cutlass to the carbine, from the hand-grenade to the Congreve rocket, from the six-pounder to the big brass cannon at Bejapoor in Hindoostan, and from the horse-pistol in the houlster of a dragoon to the monster mortar used at the siege of Antwerp. ”

“ In defence, as in attack, machine guns may be employed singly, or in pairs.
2. They should not be isolated, and are not adapted for use against lines of widely extended skirmishers, but are most suitable to protect flanks, to flank salients or portions of the line, to cover obstacles, to deny the passage of defiles to the enemy, or to bring a heavy fire to bear from ground which, owing to its narrow frontage, is unsuited for the deployment of infantry. If employed in the firing line, they should be carefully concealed. ”

“ One of the old, glamorous features of war survives in these glowing braziers, spreading their genial rays among the little houses and lighting the faces of the men who stand or squat in encircling groups around the coals, which dry wet clothes, slake the moisture of a section of earth, make the bayonets against the walls glisten, and reveal the position of a machine-gun with its tape ready for firing. ”

“ Sometimes a tremendous affair, heavies, field guns and trench mortars all pounding away together, creeping barrage, smoke screens and the rest of it. Elsewhere and at other times, nothing, Infantry well ahead of the guns, going forward almost into the blue, with nothing heavier than machine guns to support them. ”

“ Object of study of artillery Except in small engagements in detachment warfare the infantry will have the assistance of friendly artillery and will be opposed not only by infantry but by artillery fire. Some knowledge of artillery, its use, the effects it can produce and how best to utilize the aid afforded by our own and to meet the opposition of the enemy’s, is therefore necessary for the infantry officer and also for the men in ranks. ”