ARTILLERY FROM AN INFANTRY OFFICER’S POINT OF VIEW. 267 
latter unless the enemy cannot be reached by the former. 
I should like now to give a short description of the platte, a little 
contrivance which is generally made use of when firing with the tangent 
scale and which renders it possible always to command the same distance 
for the time fuze and for the sights, thus avoiding confusion. 
The time fuzes are marked in yards, not in seconds, the fuzes are 
inclined to burn too long, #.e. if timed to burst at 1500 yards the shell 
is pretty sure not to burst under that distance, but under certain at- 
mospheric conditions will often not burst until the shell has travelled 
1600 yards. 
It was found formerly, when it was occasionally necessary, to give an 
elevation for say 1500 yards and to use a time fuze for 1400 yards that 
mistakes were liable to occur, and in order to obviate this a platte 
is now used. 
Under the above conditions the order would now 
be 1400 yards with two platte. The platte is a 
thin piece of metal which fits round the bottom 700 
of the tangent scale and obscures, roughly speak- ran 
ing, the last 50 yards elevation written on it, 4.e. 1000 
if put into this diagram one platte would obscure | 110 
the figures 1600 and the sight would read 1550 | i300 
yards. One platte is equivalent to about 50 yards soe 
elevation. . meen | Platte. 
The advantages of this method are obvious, as they 
preclude the possibility of a slip of the tongue or of a migunder- 
standing from two distances being named. When using the richt-bogen 
it is also possible to command only one distance. Atmospheric 
conditions or differences in height between the gun and the target 
being made up for by the use of a screw which alters the lie of the 
spirit-level. 
It is not my intention to enter into the much contested questions 
regarding the respective advantages of a small bore high velocity and 
heavy carriage, as against a larger bore lighter carriage and less 
muzzle velocity, but I should like to mention a few of the most salient 
points in which German matériel differs from our own. 
There is about 47 cwt. behind the horses going into action in a 
German field gun, in one of our own about 45 cwt. A German battery 
has nine waggons, two of which contain high explosive shell, each 
waggon contains 75 shell and there is about 45 cwt. behind the horses. 
We have six waggons per battery, each containing 72 shell, and there 
is about 42 cwt. behind the horses. A German battery carries 140 
man-killing projectiles per gun, excluding case, 115 of these are 
shrapnel with time and percussion fuze and 25 of them are high ex- 
plosive. We carry 80 shrapnel and 20 common shell, but the amount 
of ammunition carried is being increased. The bore of the German 
gun is 3°50”, of ours 3”. Our shell and fuze weighs 12 lbs. 8 ozs. and 
contains 180 bullets. The German shell weighs about 18 Ibs. and 
breaks up into 300 pieces. Nothing but smokeless powder is used 
with German field artillery. 
36 
