PRECIS 
AND 
AD 28s a IN PS IL va SE IL) IN 
THE FIELD GUN OF THE FUTURE, © 
AS PROPOSED BY 
GENERAL WILLE AND HIS CRITICS. 
TRANSLATED BY 
CAPTAIN H. A. BETHELL, R.A. 
In 1891 General Wille of the German Army published a book on “ The Future 
Field Gun.” In this he worked out with great thoroughness a complete design, 
including ballistics, gun, carriages and ammunition, for a field gun far more 
powerful than any now existing. This work attracted a great deal of attention. 
Some score of Artillery officers, Engineers, and Gun Constructors published pam- 
phlets and wrote articles criticising the book. Most of the writers proposed rival 
designs of their own. 
In his second book (1892) General Wille replied to those criticisms, eliciting a 
fresh crop of magazine articles. 
In his last book (October 1893) he sums up the results of the discussion. 
The whole controversy constitutes a fairly exhaustive resumé of modern scien- 
tific opinion on the subject, and it is hoped that a brief précis of it will not be 
without interest. 
General Wille (1891) says :— 
(1.)_ The highest quality of a good shooting gun is a deep zone of effect of 
shrapnei bullets. This is attained by high remaining velocity and small angle of 
descent, i.e. flat trajectory. 
(2.) For this we must have high muzzle velocity. This has the collateral 
advantage of increasing the range—a point however of minor importance, 
(3.) To get high remaining velocity and small angle of descent, high 
muzzle velocity is useless without staying power. A high velocity gun firing a 
light shell only smashes its carriage to no purpose. To keep up its velocity a 
shell must have a low os z.e, a high proportion of weight to cross section. 
(4.) ‘The weight of a shell for a given calibre is limited by its length, which 
must not be excessive. General Wille takes the length of his shrapnel at 4:4 
calibres including fuze, which gives a projectile weighing 2°39 lbs, per square 
inch of cross section. 
8, YOU, XXII, Pee any ae ae ee 57A 
