Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/144

 The French projectile, on account of the fuze used, bursts only after it has pierced thin walls or shields.

Time Shell, Model '96.

2. THE LIGHT FIELD HOWITZER.

The realization that the power of resistance of a defender lodged in deep trenches, could not be broken by the fire of guns having a flat trajectory, led to the re-adoption of a gun capable of high angle fire, which had been eliminated from the field artillery upon the advent of rifled cannon.

For both flat trajectory and high angle fire, the light field howitzer, model '98, employs shrapnel weighing 12.8 kg. (500 jacketed bullets, @ 10 g.; time fuze graduated from 300 to 5600 m.) and shell weighing 15.7 kg. (0.37 kg. explosive charge, model '88; time fuze graduated from 500 to 5600 m.). As delay action fuzes are used, it is possible to utilize to the fullest extent the power of penetration of the projectile before it bursts.

A single shrapnel from a light field howitzer produces a greater number of hits, when the point of burst is favorably