1. (r/JKKir nricficv inonuiii/ 



m)/ 



Machine-gunners learn from artistic reproductions of the terrain iijw to j i<J<ie ol distance 

 and of the interrelation of objects. Art with a capital A helps them to become experts 



trained eyes and in part to their lack of 

 familiarity with the mechanism. 



How many men are there who grasp a 

 description and act at once upon it? The 

 officer gives the command, "Lay on black 

 rock left clump of trees — three fingers!" 

 Instantly the sergeant must repeat this 

 order and see to it that the smooth barrel 

 is so adjusted that it will guide bullets in 

 the direction named. The quick under- 

 standing of the description of objects in a 

 landscape can be developed by the use of 

 the imitation terrain of paint. The 

 firing of machine guns effectively is 

 quick, sharp work and all the training 

 of eye and brain which can be im- 

 parted stands the soldier in good stead 

 in an emergency. 



So exact are these high-art targets, 

 owing to the co-operation of the military 

 authorities and the designers, that even 

 the complicated problems of strategy can 

 be solved quickly by their use. 



Grain Field a " Nest of Death " 



After the marksmen have become more 

 experienced they are assigned to devising 

 ways for routing snipers out of hidden 

 retreats supposed to be in all these mimic 

 landscapes. The purpose is always to kill 

 as many of the enemy as possible with the 

 smallest amount of ammunition. Assume 

 that there is in the center of one of the 

 painted transcripts of nature a waving 

 grain field, all golden in the sun, and en- 

 veloped in a mellow haze, as an art critic 

 might see it. The machine-gun captain 

 considers it as a yellow nest of death in 



the midst of which are certain big and 

 deadly wasps, the stings of which are 

 laying low comrades of another command. 

 He cannot see exactly where the buzzing 

 pests are straddled, but no time is to be 

 lost. He gives the command to "traverse 

 the field," which means that his gunners 

 so divide the whole expanse of nodding 

 stalks among them, that the zones 

 reached by the rain of bullets account for 

 every square foot of the suspected area. 

 The variation of fire is made by causing 

 the individual gunners to tap their pieces 

 gently, so that a difference of two inches 

 at the end of a barrel becomes a large 

 space with the widening angle reached in 

 a distance of a mile or so. The method of 

 tapping can be learned readily in front of 

 one of the brush creations and a man who 

 is quick of eye and hand may soon be- 

 come very proficient. 



Useful in Estimating Trajectories 



The counterfeit countrysides serve just 

 as well as the real ones in estimating 

 trajectories of projectiles intended for a 

 certain locality and in the mastering of 

 much of the theory of gunnery practice. 

 The mistakes of the tyro can be con- 

 stantly corrected. As the canvases are 

 becoming more and more exact in their 

 proportions, they are considered already 

 as among the indispensables. A British 

 officer on seeing some of these examples 

 of American skill at Camp Upton recent- 

 ly, remarked that if the Allies had had as 

 good ones they would have been able to 

 have killed more Germans. 



