Battleaxe

“ By the saddle-bow hangs a battle-axe, shaped exactly like those axes with which we have been so familiar in Southern and Central Africa, but being distinguished from them by the fact that an iron chain is passed through a hole in that part of the head which passes through the knob at the end of the handle, the other end of the chain being attached to a ring that slides freely up and down the handle. This arrangement enables the warrior to secure and replace the head of the axe if it should be struck out of the handle in the heat of battle. ”

“ In Fig. 10 is shown a Sclavonic horseman's battle-axe which has a handle of wood painted dark gray or light brown; the axe is of steel. The blade is cut from a piece of 1/4-in. wood with a keyhole saw. The round part is made thin and sharp on the edge. The thick hammer side of the axe is built up to the necessary thickness to cover the handle by gluing on pieces of wood the same thickness as used for the blade, and gradually shaping off to the middle of the axe by the use of a chisel, finishing with sandpaper and covering with tinfoil. ”

“ We find at almost every period, however, that a fair blow delivered “au pas de charge” with a well-steeled lance might penetrate every defence; and that no armour could be made actually proof against downright blows from a two-handed battle-axe wielded by a powerful and expert rider.
One of the most marked characteristics of this age of plate-armour was a growing appreciation of the intrinsic beauty of steel, and a new desire to invest steel armour with graceful lines. ”

“ Like a modern field gun, the ballista shot low and directly toward the enemy.
The catapult was the howitzer, or mortar, of its day and could throw a hundred-pound stone 600 yards in a high arc to strike the enemy behind his wall or batter down his defenses. "In the middle of the ropes a wooden arm rises like a chariot pole," wrote the historian Marcellinus. "At the top of the arm hangs a sling. When battle is commenced, a round stone is set in the sling. Four soldiers on each side of the engine wind the arm down until it is almost level with the ground. ”

“ A short, thick, hollow cylinder being cast, may be at once rolled out direct between rollers into a musket or rifle barrel of any desired form; and great guns may be cast hollow, and put under the operation of a tilt or steam hammer, if needed, to consolidate the metal. And these malleable iron guns can be procured at one-third the cost of the ordinary cast-iron guns; and, what is very important, the malleable steel is even cheaper in cost than the malleable iron. ”

“ The power of artillery had shared in the application of scientific knowledge and benefited accordingly. The great battle between the maker of armour plates and the maker of guns and projectiles had begun. Iron, the conqueror of wood, had but a short reign. Where iron was used a few years ago, steel is now invariably employed. The thoroughness of the victory is shown by the fact that in the whole of the British Isles not one iron vessel, large or small, was built in 1909 for war or commerce. ”

“ All guns and howitzers of greater bore, up to the giant 15-inch, were known as Heavy and Siege Artillery.
Regarded from the point of view of mobility, all field guns and that wonderfully useful weapon, the 60-pounder, were horse-drawn, the larger ordnance were tractor-drawn, and the very largest were mounted on railway trains and hauled by steam locomotive.
Finally, as regards tactical utilization, some natures of ordnance were invariably employed for barrage or harassing fire, others for bombardment, others for counter-battery fighting, and yet others for anti-aircraft purposes. ”

“ They are of crucible steel, and the breech, instead of being upon a hinge, or in the form of a block, moves round in a D-shaped socket, the escape of gas being further prevented by rings of phosphor-copper. The manner in which the ordnance of this country is constructed is sufficiently familiar to our readers. A tube of steel is encompassed by jackets of wrought-iron, and in this way the toughness of the latter is combined with the hardness of the former. All our guns, as we have said, load at the muzzle, while those of Russia, Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Turkey, are breech-loaders. ”

“ But a weapon which seemed more particularly adapted to the young barbarian's size, and incapable of being used by a man of less formidable limbs and sinews, was a battle-axe, the firm iron-guarded staff of which was formed of tough elm, strongly inlaid and defended with brass, while many a plate and ring were indented in the handle, to hold the wood and the steel parts together. ”

“ In spite of new infantry weapons that forced cannon ever farther to the rear, artillery was to become so deadly that its fire caused over 75 percent of the battlefield casualties in World War I.
Many of the vital changes took place during the latter years of the 1800's, as rifles replaced the smoothbores. Steel came into universal use for gun founding; breech and recoil mechanisms were perfected; smokeless powder and high explosives came into the picture. Hardly less important was the invention of more efficient sighting and laying mechanisms. ”

“ CONCLUSIONS. The direction of immediate improvement In ordnance for iron-clad warfare appears to be the abandonment of cast-iron, except as a barrel to be strengthened by steel; binding an inner tube with low-steel hoops having a successively increasing initial tension; and the use of spherical shot at excessive velocities by means of high charges of powder in bores of moderate diameters. The rifling of some guns is important, not so much to secure range or accuracy, as to fire elongated shells through armor. ”

“ The men-at-arms of the fifteenth century cased themselves and their horses in iron to resist crossbow bolts, lance-thrusts, and strokes of axe or sword. Fire artillery, which at first aimed at nothing more than substituting powder for the mechanism of engines worked by counterpoise or ropes, and like these discharged only stone balls, becomes improved and uses iron balls and leaden bullets ”

“ From inquiries since made, I find that the brass battle-axe was a bronze celt, so that, if we may assume, as seems most probable, that the iron weapons belonged to the same era, we have here most interesting examples of the weapons of the Teutonic Period. The farmer describes the swords as about two feet in length, edged on the one side to the handle, and on the other for the half length of the blade. Beside them lay some long spear-heads, nearly all broken, and more injured by rust than the swords. ”

“ As children we watched the blacksmith at his anvil, attracted and yet half-terrified by the spark-showers flying from a white-hot horseshoe. And even the adult, long used to startling sights, might well be fascinated and dismayed by the terrific blows dealt on glowing ingots by the mechanical sledge.
A steam hammer at work in Woolwich Arsenal, forging a steel ingot for the inner tube of a big gun. It delivers a blow equivalent to the momentum of a falling mass weighing 4000 tons. ”

“ The projectiles now in use are solid shot, shells, strap-shot, case or canister-shot, grape-shot, light and fire-balls, carcasses, grenades, and rockets.
Solid shot are now almost invariably made of cast iron, [35] formed in moulds of sand or iron. This projectile is used under almost every circumstance, whether in the battle-field or in the attack and defence of places, and is the only one that is effectual against the stone walls of forts. Hot shot are used against shipping and wooden structures of every description. ”

“ The enormous pressure generated by the explosion of the charge forces the projectile down the bore of the gun and out of the muzzle. The body of the projectile, made of steel or iron, being smaller in diameter than the bore, easily passes through, but the driving-band being of greater diameter, and being composed of soft copper, can only pass down the bore with the projectile [Pg 87] by flowing into the grooves, thus preventing any escape of gas, and being forced to follow their twist. ”

“ Yes, those watchful, kind eyes followed his slightest movements; and while the hammer was going in vigorous blows on the planks, or the axe chipping away a timber, his pleasant voice sang Creole songs to the child, or encouraged his innocent prattle. A loaded musket, which, with some ammunition, he had dug out from the wreck of his old quarters, stood leaning against an upright post under the shade, and woe to the man or beast that might have dared to approach the boy! ”

“ We met with stubborn resistance at first, but with the usual American determination and pluck, we soon forced the Boche back.
It was here that I first saw the German minnewafers and trench mortars at work. The shells thrown from the minnewafers are as much feared as any German weapon of war. They are thrown from a large gun with a smooth bore and short barrel. The projectile is shaped like a rolling pin, though it is much larger. In each end, or handle of the shell, is a cap, which explodes as the handle strikes the ground. ”

“ The spear, the arrow from the bow, or the bolt from the catapult and other engines can be driven into the body of only one man, while the iron cannon-ball fired through the air, can go through the bodies of many men, and there is no marble or stone object so hard that it cannot be shattered by the force and shock. ”

“ The old generation would die out, and be buried with the stone war-hatchet and spear, while the younger race were learning to despise such imperfect arms. Necessity also, arising from their costliness and scarcity, would long confine the majority to the primitive and inefficient tools and weapons of their fathers. Even after the flint lance had been entirely superseded by the bronze sword and spear, the missile weapons would still be made of the old material, and the large stone hammer would be retained in use as too bulky an object to be [Pg 206] constructed of the more costly metal. ”

“ The last and most remarkable invention in artillery is a much needed fire-arm, which may supersede our boasted steel mountain ordnance, "the jointed gun" of Sir William Armstrong, which can be unscrewed into three separate pieces, each of which is light enough for conveyance on the back of a horse, and when put together form a powerful and long-range cannon, similar to the present field-piece. ”

“ Large cannon cast in bronze were necessarily of great expense and weight, their discharges were few and far between, they wore rapidly and were thus short-lived, and they possessed the dangerous property of becoming brittle when heated. An increase in power and a reduction in weight were required for the achievement of a portable artillery, and the progress of mechanical science pointed to wrought iron as the material of which such an artillery might be made. ”

“ It is often forgotten that the artillery draught horse has to carry nearly the same weight as a cavalryman's and, at the same time, do his share in dragging along, 'over hill over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar,' a clumsy mass of steel weighing a ton and a half.
A consideration of this fact leads to the conclusion that, if guns are to keep up with cavalry when moving fast and far, certain advantages must be allowed them. ”

“ The field artillery carries batteries of cannon for firing against visible goals and light howitzer batteries, for shooting at objects behind cover and for demolishing light field fortifications. The drivers carry a sword and revolver, the cannoneers a dagger and revolver. Every man of the horse-drawn division is mounted and carries sword and revolver.
The foot artillery has to serve the fort and siege artillery as well as the heavy artillery guns of the field army; in attacking a fortress it must silence the enemy’s heavy fort guns and make breaches in the [Pg 33] fortifications ”

“ As the barrel was lowered again, the breech opened, slow curling tongues of flame licked round the muzzle. Behind each weapon were great stacks of shells. Hurrying men, two at a time, a tray supported on two short poles between them, carried more food to the iron monster, fed its fuming breech for yet another roar. ”

“ Every effort is being made to lighten the enormous weight a cavalry horse has to carry.
The artillery re-armed with a steel breech-loading, chambered, 12-pounder gun, has a very high velocity, and hence a very flat trajectory. This, for many purposes admirable, lessens the “searching” effect of artillery fire, and397 in foreign armies howitzer batteries and even field-mortar batteries are being experimented on.
Quick-firing guns are openly advocated for field service, and high explosives will render iron or steel turrets and stone fortifications both vulnerable, and dangerous to the defenders. ”

“ Spear and arrow-heads could be flaked with the most delicate precision, with no such liability to fracture as leads to constant failure in any attempt to chip even the larger and ruder spear or axe-heads into shape. The hammer-stone only suffices for the earlier processes, including the detachment of the flake from the rough flint nodule, and trimming it roughly into the required form, preparatory to the delicate manipulation of edging, pointing, and notching the arrow-head. ”

“ So, during 400 years, cannon had changed from the little vases, valuable chiefly for making noise, into the largest caliber weapons ever built, and then from the bombards into smaller, more powerful cannon. The gun of 1600 could throw a shot almost as far as the gun of 1850; not in fire power, but in mobility, organization, and tactics was artillery undeveloped. Because artillery lacked these things, the pike and musket were supreme on the battlefield. ”