Firefighting equipment

“ Item by item they went over the details of equipment—the scaling ladders, the jumping sheets, the branch pipes, the suction pipes, the flat roses, standcocks, goose necks, the dogtails, dam boards, shovels, saws, poleaxes, hooks, and ropes. From a consideration of them the two branched off to the generalities of fire fighting. Keith learned that the combating of a fire, the driving it into a corner, outflanking it, was a fine art.
"I say always, get in close," said Taylor. "A fire can be put out as well as just drowned out." ”

“ Nevertheless the rate at which smoke would rise would depend on the conditions in the cargo compartment at the time.
Access to various pallets is made between the pallets and the fuselage which is very restrictive. Under the most ideal conditions fire fighting with the equipment provided would be difficult. During the search for the fire the fire fighter has both hands occupied, one hand carrying the 16 lb extinguisher and the other holding the 10ft wand. ”

“ The fire is, of course, almost always frontal, though enfilade and oblique fire, when opportunities occur for their employment, are more deadly than ever, because of the depth of the cone. As for the general conduct of an artillery action, accurate fire for effect, at a medium rate, is used in most armies, but in the French and, since 1906, in the British services a new method has arisen, in consequence of the introduction of the modern quick-firer and the perfection of the time shrapnel. The French battery (1900 Q.F. equipment) consists of four guns and twelve wagons. ”

“ A total of 557 individual weapons, 207 crew-served weapons, and 2 antiaircraft pieces were either captured or destroyed. In addition, 17 vehicles, ranging from PT-76 tanks to motor scooters, and tons of ammunition, food, radios, and individual equipment were discovered. ”

“ Tank group with carrier folded back to show construction.
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Fig 6. Gun group of portable flame thrower M2-2.
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6. IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION. The words “Chemical Warfare Service,” model numbers, serial numbers, lot numbers, weight, cubage, manufacturers’ names, contract number, and date of packing are indicated on the packing chest or the equipment. The numbers and letters shown on the equipment should be referred to when repairs are required. ”

“ The fire perpendicular to the front will be employed generally on certain necessary points of passage as, bridges, roads, defiles, cuts, roadways, communicating trenches, etc., where the enemy is generally forced to take a deep formation with a narrow front, or where he is in massed formation. Inconspicuousness.—By reason of its small strength the machine gun section can utilize the smallest cover, and can consequently hide from the enemy; the machine gun therefore, more than the infantry, has the chance to act by surprise. The opening of the fire by surprise will be the rule ”

“ Long-range machine-gun fire is an important auxiliary to the artillery in covering and supporting the advance of attacking infantry. Enfilade fire, the most telling of all, is more easily brought to bear than of old owing to the increase in the effective range and in the rate of fire. Supports and local reserves will usually co-operate most effectively with forward troops by bringing fire to bear upon the flank of such bodies of the enemy as are holding up a movement by frontal fire. ”

“ In addition to these factors, the fire from machine guns is always “collective” and “concentrated” unless deliberately dispersed by the firer, while infantry fire is always “individual” and “dispersed” unless controlled by fire discipline under a leader. Fire discipline and fire control are in the hands of one man—there is no need to point out the target to a scattered firing line, and there is no delay in passing orders down the line, or in the setting of 50 different sights for the correct elevation. ”

“ Even amid the booming of the anti-aircraft batteries and the sharper staccato reports of the machine guns from various parts of the field, all blending into an unearthly din, the droning of the motors high in the air could be distinctly heard. Like a pyrotechnic display, luminous bullets, searching for the invaders, shot up into the sky, often piercing the low-hanging clouds; and mingling in with them were vicious little spurts of fire which told of the explosion of shrapnel shells. ”

“ The machine gun is the best weapon for flanking fire. Several emplacements are constructed for each machine gun, but during the bombardment it is kept under cover in a dugout. When the attack develops the machine gun is quickly set up in the proper emplacement. If kept in a permanent emplacement the enemy will soon locate it and put it out of business by artillery fire. ”

“ The observer failed to catch the puffing smoke of the battery's first shot and signalled the code to fire again. Before the next shot came, a stutter of machine-gun fire broke out overhead, and pilot and observer glanced quickly up at the clouds that drifted over and hid the fighters. The machine-gun [Pg 223] fire rose and fell in gusts, and then out of the cloud 1,000 feet up a machine whirled and spun down past them, recovered an instant and shot eastward in a steep gliding plunge, fell away suddenly, and crashed amongst the trenches. ”

“ I went down in time to see giant flames envelop 400 feet of warehouses, filled with forage and rations, while the explosions of ammunition, with the fact that a still larger arsenal laid adjacent, liable to blow up at any moment, caused great consternation among the citizens, women and children fleeing in dismay. But the military were cool and on the ground. Guards spread all over town taking in all within their reach to work on the fire engines. Assembly sounded in all the camp, and the reserve artillery, as indeed all others needed, marched down en masse. ”

“ By the employment of the machine gun economize infantry, reserving a more considerable portion of it for manoeuvre purposes. Fire.—Machine gun fire produces a sheath, dense, deep but narrow. The increase of the width of the sweeping fire gives to the sheath a greater breadth, but when the density becomes insufficient, the effect produced is very weak. Machine gun fire will have its maximum power upon an objective of narrow front and great depth. With the infantry fighting normally in thin lines the preceding conditions will generally only be realized when these lines are taken in the flank. ”

“ Artillery are required to open long-range fire on the enemy's columns and so to cause delay by deployment; and to concentrate upon them while in, or emerging from, a defile. Infantry and Machine-gun Platoons are required for prolonged fire-fights and local counter-attacks, during which sudden bursts of machine and Lewis-gun fire will do the greatest execution. Engineers provide sappers for the creation of obstacles and traps, and for the demolition of bridges and viaducts. Mechanical Transport may be required to add to the mobility of the infantry. ”

“ TRAINING. Effective use of the M2-2 portable flame thrower can be achieved only by diligent practice with the weapon. Untrained firers or assistants should never be sent on a mission.
a. Practice. Firers should practice under varying conditions of wind, range, elevation, depression, and traverse. The shortness of the total firing time (approximately 8 to 9 seconds) demands split-second judgment and coordination.
b. Use of water in training. Water may be used (instead of fuel) for elementary practice firing. Ignition cylinders are not used with water. ”

“ Action. Fuel is propelled into the target by a charge of highly compressed air or nitrogen. As fuel leaves the gun of the M2-2 portable flame thrower (Fig 1) , it is ignited by contact with flame from charges of incendiary mix held in an expendable ignition cylinder. ”

“ They can't, and never will, compete with the artillery, where range and great accuracy are the most important factors. The efficiency of artillery gas shell or artillery smoke or high explosive shell is only one-fifth that of the projector. Hence, for economy and efficiency, the artillery will be used to fire gas, smoke, high explosive, and incendiary materials only at ranges beyond those reached by the gas troops. ”

“ The methods of employing indirect fire have been given at the end of Chapter II., and its success will depend largely upon the careful observation of fire by the section commanders, who must concentrate their attention on this alone—the battery commander giving the signal for opening and ceasing fire, and the target or direction of fire for each section. Machine guns used as covering fire have ample time for preparation ”

“ In defence, as in attack, the fire of machine guns should usually be withheld until the more critical stages of the battle. Premature opening of fire is liable to expose the position of the machine guns to the enemy’s artillery. ”

“ A burning machine is a glorious but terrible sight to see—a tiny red stream of flame trickles from the petrol tank, then long tongues of blazing petrol lick the sides of the fuselage, and, finally, a sheet of white fire envelops the whole machine,103 and it glides steeply towards the ground in a zigzag course, leaving a long trail of black smoke behind it, until it eventually breaks up. ”

“ Men falling in that class were equipped with flame throwers and sent over the top. The German knew, as did the Allies, that each man with a flame thrower became a target for every rifle and machine gun nearby. The flame thrower is very quickly exhausted and then the one equipped with it has no means of offensive action, and in addition, is saddled with a heavy load, hampering all movements, whether to escape or to advance. ”

“ If the enemy has a powerful artillery, it will often be best for the defending infantry to withhold its fire until the enemy offers a specially favorable target. Vigorous and well-directed bursts of fire are then employed. The troops should therefore be given as much artificial protection as time and means permit, and at an agreed signal expose themselves as much as necessary and open fire. ”

“ A great deal more could be done in this way if all guns were not almost invariably placed in trenches, instead of a proportion being placed in suitable positions in rear, and long-range fire employed. All this points to the fact that a Machine Gun Officer should be acquainted with all methods of employing indirect fire, in order that he may be in a position to make the best of any opportunities that may occur. ”

“ The high rate of fire concentration of the bullet-sheaf, and the possibility of bringing several machine guns into action on a narrow front, enable great effect to be produced in a short time even at long ranges. When the front of the target is broken and irregular, the effect is reduced. A wrong sighting elevation or an imperfect observation of fire may render the fire completely ineffective. ”

“ But it must be always remembered that the object of the fire fight is to bring a concentrated and overwhelming fire to bear at the right moment on certain positions of the enemy, and when the moment arrives machine guns can and will use the most rapid rate of fire possible, which will be from 250 to 300 rounds a minute or equal to [8] that of 50 or 100 riflemen. Mere volume of fire, however, is useless without control, accuracy, and concentration, and it is here that the machine gun is so vastly superior to the rifle ”

“ The effective use of small-bore fire-arms against aircraft was made possible by two inventions, produced under the stress of the war itself, that is to say, of the tracer bullet, which leaves behind it in the air a visible track of its flight, and of the incendiary bullet, which sets fire to anything inflammable that it hits. ”

“ Such uncanny accuracy is made possible by the use of those instruments of precision known as fire-control apparatus. The gunner who is not equipped with proper fire-control instruments can not aim correctly and is placed at a serious disadvantage in the presence of the enemy. These instruments must not only be as exact as a chronometer, but they must be sufficiently rugged to withstand the concussion of close artillery fire. ”

“ The parapet is prepared for infantry fire as described for the parallels. The emplacements for guns, the service magazines, etc., etc., are prepared and the embrasures are cut, or the parapet prepared for the overbank carriages at the last moment, under cover of the small-arm and machine-gun fire from the parallels and places of arms, and the artillery fire from batteries, which do not endanger the working parties. ”

“ The pursuit must be continued as long as strength permits. The machine guns will approach to within effective range of the enemy, and hinder every attempt of the adversary to re-form and take up a position. Flanking fire is especially effective. A liberal supply of ammunition must be pushed forward, this being necessary for the energetic maintenance of fire in pursuit. ”

“ In combat, shots which graze the enemy's trench or position and thus reduce the effectiveness of his fire have the approximate value of hits; such shots only, or actual hits, contribute toward fire superiority.
Fire discipline implies that, in a firing line without leaders, each man retains his presence of mind and directs effective fire upon the proper target. ”

“ No one who has controlled the covering fire of infantry, even on manœuvres, will dispute the immense difficulty of timing the opening and ceasing of such a fire, with even a company, to coincide with the advance of the troops covered; while the necessity for observation of fire and its concentration on certain parts of the enemy’s position make it still more difficult effectively to cover the advance of troops with rifle fire at long range. ”