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The battalion was a composite one, consisting of officers and men of the Grenadier and Scots Guards from Chelsea Barracks, Wellington Barracks, and the Tower. The programme, which entailed picking up the men at their respective barracks, joining up the three columns at the Crystal Palace at 10 a.m. and arriving at Hastings soon after 1 p.m. was carried through successfully, and within half an hour of arrival the battalion with its full equipment was marched along the sea-front.

The experiment aroused considerable interest in military circles in this country and abroad, particularly so in Germany, where a number of newspapers published full particulars and a plan of the route taken.

In 1908 the German Army Department adopted the scheme which it has since enforced for securing military transport, and from that time onwards annual trials have been held, generally in the late autumn, and over heavy and mountainous roads. In this they have differed from the majority of the annual trials held in France, first of all under the auspices of the Automobile Club of France, and later directly by the military authorities. Our neighbours have shown a tendency to make the routes selected somewhat easy, and not to test the vehicles over unduly severe gradients. The German scheme was re-considered at the end of 1912 as a result of the experience obtained up to that time. The trials of 1912 were over a distance of about 1,300 miles, including roads through the mountains of central Germany. The distance covered each day by the 4-ton lorries drawing additional 2-ton loads on trailers was about 60 miles. Subsequently, the newer regulations prescribed more strict limits of axle weight, in view of uncertainty as to the strength of the roads and bridges which would have to be negotiated. A minimum engine power of 35 h.p. was prescribed, and gradients of one in seven had to be taken with full load and equipment. An interesting point of the new German regulations is the provision of a belt pulley somewhere on the driving shaft for the purpose of operating machine tools. Another point is the stipulation that the brakes of the trailing vehicle shall be capable of being operated from the driving seat of the lorry. A certain degree of standardisation was at the same time introduced.

In the same year, a big step towards the proper utilisation of motor transport for military work was taken by an extensive experiment made in this direction during the British Army manoeuvres. The use of mechanical transport was subsequently referred to by the King as one of the special features on that occasion, and the opinion was very generally expressed that the rather sudden and early termination of the manoeuvres was due to the unexpected effect of motor transport in increasing the mobility of the troops, and bringing the opposing forces into contact with one another with startling rapidity. Even so late as 1912, a certain number of military authorities were still very doubtful as to the advisability of relying on the motor vehicle in active service, but the manoeuvres in question undoubtedly proved the case, although the difficulties of operating mechanical transport for the first time on an extensive scale were increased by the fact that the machines available were of all sorts of makes and types, no attempts at standardisation having been possible. Many of the machines hired for the occasion were in very poor condition, and did not compare favourably with those owned by the Government. Consequently, the difficulties of working in convoy at short intervals were accentuated. All the motor transport was concentrated on one side, and the armies dependent upon it were kept well supplied daily with fresh meat, the opposing forces being dependent on horsed transport and chilled meat. Motor buses were on one or two occasions during the manoeuvres utilised with great success for the rapid movement of fairly large bodies of men. These manoeuvres probably represented the last appearance of traction engines for any military use other than the haulage of very heavy guns, or other kinds of quite abnormal work, not forming any part of the regular system of supply and transport.

During the last few years trials have been held at irregular intervals by the War Department for the purpose of testing the suitability of various specially constructed motor lorries for recognition under the subsidy scheme, the nature of which is explained in detail in a later chapter. The last trials of this kind took place early in 1914. An official report published in June stated that results had been very successful as regards both the number of entrants, and the general standard of excellence of the vehicles submitted. The average speeds both on easy and on hilly routes were well above those specified. Radiators were found to be amply large to be effective even in the hottest weather. The Mechanical Transport Committee reiterated their opinion that one of the two systems of brakes should act upon the propeller shaft. The average fuel consumption of the competing cars was exceedingly good, working out at 52 gross ton miles per gallon. The best result was about 63 gross ton miles per gallon over a distance of about 200 miles. On the whole, it is evident that the cars were very satisfactory, since it was stated that there appeared to be no necessity to make any serious alterations in specifying for future requirements.

The most recent French trials were hardly completed when war broke out. They were as usual well patronised, but not calculated on the whole to try the machines to the utmost. It was intended in subsequent years to introduce new and more stringent regulations, but the opinion was fairly generally expressed among manufacturers that the Government in doing so were differentiating their own needs too far from ordinary business requirements, and that it would be impossible to find a market for the types indicated. Early in the year, another series of trials of considerable importance was held in France, for the purpose of testing new types of four-wheel driven tractors. These machines are needed particularly for the haulage of artillery, and further reference to them will therefore be deferred until that subject comes up for consideration.

EXPERIENCES OF MOTORS IN ACTIVE SERVICE

The South African War--The Italian Transport in Tripoli--The Balkan Campaigns.

Although mechanical transport was employed during the South African war, the experiences then gained must not be applied with too much rigidity to the conditions of the conflict taking place in Europe. In South Africa, a considerable number of traction engines were put into service, while steam motor lorries were also used. Colonel R. E. Crompton, C.B., who was in charge of the British transport columns, has described how "De Wet, knowing the country, destroyed bridge after bridge until the roads and the railways were only islands, disconnected by things called 'deviations'--horrible places, full of dead animals, horse transport, animal transport of all kinds, which had died there, simply because there was practically no road.... The fact that we were able, even though we had broken engines, to repair them from our spares, so that the dead engines became live engines, so impressed Lord Roberts that he felt that we were at the birth of real, practical mechanical military transport with all the advantages it gives."

There can be no doubt that the experience obtained during the South African war pointed directly to the use in the first case of steam tractors, and later--when they could be sufficiently perfected--of internal combustion tractors with a bigger radius of action. These conclusions resulted not only from the inherent conditions of military service, but also from the local conditions of the country in which this particular war took place.

Reviewing the possibilities of South Africa in times of peace, Mr. W. W. Hoy, the General Manager of the Government Railways and Harbours, while approving of the use of light passenger and goods vehicles up to 2 or 3 tons capacity, lays stress on the desirability of the light paraffin tractor for easy services on good roads, and the heavy paraffin tractor for cross-country work with trains of trailers each carrying from 12 to 25 tons of goods. If we admit that a country in which these represent the main normal requirement cannot be safely taken as indicating accurately even the war requirements of other countries, we are reduced for practical experience to the Italian campaign in Tripoli and the recent wars in the Balkans. Italy is one of those countries in which commercial motor transport has not, owing to unfavourable local conditions, made any great progress. As a result the war was begun without any provision having been made in this direction, and the authorities were at first very sceptical as regards the desirability of employing motors at all in connection with the operations of the army. After much discussion, two light lorries, fitted with twin pneumatic tyres on the back wheels, were sent out on trial. These served very rapidly to convince the staff officers of the superiority of the system over horse transport. Consequently, thirty more light Fiat lorries were sent out as promptly as possible, and these were followed by larger consignments, bringing the whole fleet in use up to the number of about 200. Arrived at Tripoli, the cars were slung off the transport ships on to big pontoons, and towed to the quay. From that point they were immediately employed for the transport of all kinds of war material, as well as provisions and forage. They were further utilised for the conveyance of large bodies of troops to the front, and for carrying wounded to the hospitals and dead to the improvised cemeteries. Most of the country over which they operated was entirely devoid of roads, and consisted chiefly of rough loose desert strewn with rocks and treacherous sandy hills. These peculiar conditions account for the type of vehicle selected for employment. Heavier lorries on solid tyres would no doubt have experienced even greater difficulties in negotiating country of this class.

The following extract, from a full account published by the manufacturers of the uses to which their vehicles were put, will serve to give an idea of the varied employment of military motors:

"At the battle of Zanzur, on June 8th, 1912, fifty-four vehicles took part and were divided into four columns under the personal command of Capt. Corazzi. Ten were under the command of an officer at the disposal of the Medical Corps; a second column, under the command of Lieut. Milani, carried a load of barbed wire and netting, sand bags and shovels; a third column, in Lieut. Bosio's charge, carried also 800 spades, 600 shovels, sand bags, and barbed wire; and a fourth column of fourteen lorries, under Lieut. Marocco, took a large quantity of dynamite and other explosives in addition to pioneers' tools.

"The first column to move were the ambulances, which left Tripoli at two o'clock, and at 3.30 came out of the outer redoubt at Gargaresh to follow the fighting column and to work under the instructions of a surgeon-captain. The other columns left Tripoli about three o'clock, and at 4.15 at Gargaresh, about 5-1/2 miles from Tripoli, they formed up in a square about 350 yards in front of the redoubt under cover of a hill, waiting for orders. At 5.30 they advanced, and leaving cover of the hills, moved forward about 2-1/2 miles beyond the batteries. The nature of the ground changed as the columns approached a sandbank, which had until then protected them from the enemy's fire. The passage over this sand dune was extremely difficult, as the cars had to proceed in single file at walking pace, exposed to a violent rifle fire. Proceeding round the extreme north of the Arabo-Turkish trenches the columns reached the Marabotto of Abd-el-Gelil shortly after the arrival of the third battalion of the Fortieth Fusiliers, mountain artillery, and a company of pioneers, and proceeded with the work of fortification. When the columns returned to Gargaresh, and while the Rainaldi Brigade was engaged against overwhelming forces of the enemy, one of the motor columns, acting under Lieut. Milani, was ordered to load provisions, whilst the other two were told off to join the ambulance section. In the very line of fire the motors brought succour to the wounded, conveyed some seventy disabled soldiers to the temporary hospital at Gargaresh, and carried forty dead to the cemetery. At Gargaresh the order arrived to convey to Marabut the provisions and luggage of the 6th and 40th regiments of the line. The three motor columns therefore re-formed, one going to Tripoli to load provisions and returning to Marabut, the other two being loaded up with luggage. The three columns then returned to Tripoli."

After two years of incessant service, and notwithstanding the "emery" effect of the fine sand which was carried in clouds by the wind and penetrated everywhere, it is generally understood that the Italian military motor fleet maintained reliable services throughout the war, and that the individual machines were in surprisingly good condition when their service was completed. Results were, at any rate, sufficiently satisfactory to justify the Italian Government in placing considerable further orders, with a view to increasing their motor columns. This war was probably the first event which enabled the motor vehicle to prove itself in practice absolutely essential as a military implement. A Tripoli newspaper summed up the value of the experience obtained:

"Many people will have asked themselves how it was possible for the Lequio Division to live, march, fight, and win with a base of operations distant from 70 to 200 miles, with rapid and long deviations which were almost of daily occurrence, in a country so barren and inhospitable that man and beast would perish if they were left for only two or three days without provisions.... The motor lorry provided the solution of the problem; by its use in a few hours provisions were brought from the stores and bases to the fighting column, having been conveyed possibly hundreds of miles, and, further, by its means not one day passed without the troops having bread, wine, and coffee. The motor lorry was ubiquitous; it transported ammunition or succoured the wounded, fetched fodder for the horses and other animals, or money for the troops and for the Arabs; it brought new boots for the soldiers or delivered urgent messages, as well as being used for the transport of troops from the various bases right up to the first fighting line in battle. Only the advent of the autocar rendered possible many of the daring moves of this war, as it solved the difficulties of desert transport."

After the fall of Salonica, the Greek objective was Janina, connected with the port of Preveza by an excellent road about sixty-three miles long. Directly Preveza fell into Greek hands, the authorities were faced with the problem of provisioning an army, in the first instance consisting of 15,000 men and gradually augmented to 60,000, operating against a fortified town in a totally barren country intersected by huge mountain ranges. The front of the army extended for about a hundred miles, and only one good road was available from the base to the centre of the advanced positions. Under these conditions, the authorities realised the possibilities of motor transport, and about thirty motor lorries, mainly obtained from Italy, were shipped to Preveza and put into service. It was found that each lorry could, in three hours, carry to the front about enough food for 1,000 men. This, however, was not the only problem. The army was absorbing on the average one ton of ammunition per day for every thousand men. The lorries were only capable at the best of handling 2-ton loads, and consequently were kept more than fully occupied. Moreover, the road, though good in certain portions, was in others particularly dangerous, being very winding and hewn for the most part out of the side of a precipice. Heavy traffic and heavy rains contributed to make the conditions yet worse, and under the circumstances, it is not surprising that very serious accidents occurred, and that by the end of the first six weeks only nine out of the original thirty lorries were still upon the road. It then became necessary to replenish the supply, which was managed in one way or another, and the service was maintained with enormous difficulty under conditions of false economy, which dictated considerable purchases of unreliable secondhand machines. Even so, the results served completely to convince Captain Trapmann that motor transport was the only solution of the supply problem in warfare.

It seems that a similar opinion was forced upon the Greek military authorities, since one of the first moves when the second campaign became inevitable in 1913, was the purchase of one hundred motor lorries. This step, while good in itself, was inadequate, since no real provision was made for the supply of competent and responsible drivers, for adequate supervision, or for completely equipped workshops. Many of the drivers were well-to-do enthusiasts who had volunteered for service, and who very soon came to regret that they had done so. It is one thing to drive a good touring car and to fall back upon professional assistance whenever trouble occurs, but quite another to handle and maintain a heavy motor lorry without competent backing and under thoroughly bad conditions of service. Some 50 per cent. of the motor fleet was usually out of commission, and the staff of the repair shops were so incompetent that it was seldom that a car once taken to pieces was ever fit for the road again. The following extract from Capt. Trapmann's account gives some idea of the difficulties which had to be overcome:

"The strategy and tactics of the campaign against Bulgaria landed the Greek headquarters at Doyrani on July 8th, and there nearly two-thirds of the Greek motor service was concentrated on July 10th. Greek headquarters decided to move sixty miles west to Hadji Beylik along the railway, and the vital question was how the cars for the service of the staff, and the lorries for the army service were to accomplish the journey. The single-line railway track was impossible on account of unbridged gaps, and also because the railway was in urgent demand for transport. The only semblance of a road was a mule track two feet wide, which led for the most part through a tangle of vegetation, and occasionally amidst a wilderness of rocks and stones. Eventually it was decided literally to force a road by sheer weight. The lorries took turns at leading, raced full speed for twenty yards, and then bashed their way through the jungle. After fifty yards or less the lorry would be brought to a standstill by the accumulation of rubbish piled up in front. This would be cleared away, the car would back, then start on a fresh charge. When a lorry got seriously damaged it would be replaced by another and taken in tow by a third. Sometimes explosives had to be used, and small rivers were bridged by the simple expedient of placing tree trunks in them until a car could cross. It was bumpy work.

"In Macedonia a road of any sort was a luxury, the best roads could not compare as regards surface with a fourth-class English roadway, whilst as often as not the motors had to make their own road as they went along. It must be remembered, also, that driving in war time is very different from under peace conditions. Bridges and culverts have usually been destroyed, telegraph lines sag across the road, and at night time are apt to get entangled in the driver's neck with dire results. I, myself, have seen a goodly number of motor smashes, one when a temporary bridge gave way under an overloaded lorry, another when a contact mine exploded. The worst accident I remember, however, took place soon after the fall of Janina. A very old and depreciated lorry was being used to convey passengers down to Preveza, a distance of sixty-three miles, by a mountain road which for half its length was cut on the edge of a precipice. At one of the awkward places on the road the steering gear broke, and the car with its human freight dashed over the cliff and fell into the river."

The conclusions reached by Captain Trapmann as a result of very exceptional opportunities of observing military motor transport under active service conditions should be of considerable value. His catalogue of desirable features is as follows:

Clearance from ground in order to enable a car to pass over rock-strewn stretches.

An adjustable cow-catcher in front for use at night on good stretches of road, on which, however, dead or wounded horses or men may be lying.

An inclined bullet shield of light steel to protect the front of the radiator from casual sniping.

A stout iron hook or ring in front and behind for towing purposes, especially when a river has to be negotiated, the bridge over which has been destroyed.

Solid tyres with a set of non-skid chains which can be fitted when occasion arises.

A wire grappler to preserve the driver from the danger of sagging telegraph wires hanging across the road.

While the experiences detailed in this chapter are, comparatively speaking, on a very small scale, and consequently results cannot confidently be applied in anticipation to a war of immensely greater magnitude, they have at least served to show that even unavoidable lack of experience, or avoidable lack of competence, cannot prevent the motor vehicle from being a very valuable asset behind an army in the field. The Tripoli and Balkan campaigns proved not only the necessity of employing motors for the work of the transport and supply columns, but also the possibility in so doing of saving the lives of very many wounded men who, when dependence was placed on slower methods, frequently died from exposure on their way down from the front to the base.

MOTOR AMBULANCE WORK

Considerations of Design of Emergency Ambulances--Points to be borne in Mind--Some Examples of Practical Designs now in Service--The Work of Motor Ambulances at the Front--Scouring the Battlefields--How the British Red Cross Society gets its Fleet.

Among military uses of motor vehicles, the motor ambulance probably comes next in order of importance after the transport and supply waggons. Evidently with the motor ambulance must be grouped cars suitable for use in carrying wounded men who are not obliged to be transported in a recumbent position, and even ordinary touring cars when employed, as they are being somewhat extensively at the present moment, for taking convalescent men on health-giving motor trips. This last is a quite useful class of work in which even those motorists can participate who are only able to offer their services and those of their cars in the vicinity of their own homes and at specified hours.

In times of peace, the motor ambulance proper is, so far as its chassis is concerned, more akin to an industrial vehicle than to a touring car. The heavier examples, in some cases, run on solid rubber tyres, and in others on twin pneumatics, while the lighter types are fitted with single pneumatics of heavy section. In detail, the chassis is simple and strong, and well adapted to be put under the charge of a driver of only average mechanical ability. The principal points are that the vehicles should be silent in running, not liable to derangement and extremely well sprung. Owing to the first consideration, worm-driven chassis are particularly suitable for this class of work, and owing to the second a slightly modified light van chassis is generally to be preferred to the highly-refined but more complicated touring car.

In time of war, the ambulance chassis is, roughly speaking, anything big enough and sufficiently reliable that can be made available. For example, motor omnibuses can be without much difficulty adapted to this class of work, while touring cars are often quite suitable. The qualifications in the latter instance are fairly ample engine power, thorough reliability and strength for working over rough road surfaces, very strong springs and ample wheelbase, so that the ambulance body shall not overhang the rear of the chassis to too great an extent. To form the complete vehicle, what is wanted at such times is not necessarily a luxuriously-equipped conveyance, but is rather a quite light and simple body sensibly constructed to bear its load, and capable of standing any amount of jolting without either its component parts shaking loose among themselves, or the body as a whole becoming insecure in its connections with the chassis.

As regards the interior equipments, in most instances all that is needed is provision for readily fixing in place two or four stretchers as the case may be, and also for loading the stretchers on to and unloading them off the body without difficulty, and without unnecessary discomfort to the patient. The standard types of ambulance body approved by the British Red Cross Society consist of simple but stout wooden frameworks with all the joints reinforced by angle irons held by bolts through the wooden members, and not merely by wood screws, which are liable to work loose. Over this framework is stretched a cover of waterproof canvas that has been treated with rubber, while the front and back of the vehicles are covered in by waterproof curtains of similar material, capable of being drawn aside or raised quite easily so as to enable attendants, with the minimum of difficulty, to lift the loaded stretchers into the vehicles. Medical experts who have experience in the carriage of wounded men do not appear to be entirely in agreement as to whether the stretchers in a motor ambulance should be rigidly secured to the vehicle body, or should be carried by some form of springing supplementary to that of the car itself. In some examples of ambulances in regular use in this country, additional springing is provided by suspending the body from the chassis by means of semi-elliptical or complete elliptical springs. In many others, no springing other than that of the vehicle itself is interposed between the stretcher and the ground. One point at least on which there is universal agreement is that on no account must any rolling motion of the stretcher relative to the vehicle body be permitted, as motion of this kind causes acute discomfort to the patient, and often leads to physical effects similar to those occasioned by the rolling of a vessel at sea.

Probably side loading is the ideal method of getting stretchers on to an ambulance car, but it is difficult to realise the ideal in the case of a simple and fairly cheaply constructed body. Consequently, the system of end loading is far more common. In this case, the stretcher is generally slipped in along the floor of the vehicle, and when right inside the car, is raised to the necessary elevation to allow it to be secured in position. The lower stretchers are afterwards slipped in and similarly secured. A design in which this is possible is more convenient than one in which the upper stretchers have to be raised to their full height before the operation of sliding them into the car can be attempted.

It is impossible to lay too much emphasis on the desirability of using for ambulances, chassis with long wheelbase, in which the stretchers are as far as possible carried between the wheels, and the patients thereby protected from direct road shock. It is not to be expected that short wheel-based chassis carrying ambulance bodies with a big overhang at the rear, will prove durable over the broken roads of the countries in which war is taking place. If wheelbase is not sufficient to allow of the fitting of a four-stretcher body without these grave disadvantages, the only thing to do is to put up with the smaller accommodation of a two-stretcher body. The usual arrangement in this case is to extend the body right forward towards the dash on the left of the driver, and so to push the stretchers a couple of feet further forward, the space inside the body behind the driver serving for the carriage of luggage, for an attendant, or for one or two wounded men who are not very seriously injured. One of the great dangers in this arrangement is that of obstructing the view of the driver towards his left. This is particularly serious when the car is for use in countries where the rule of the road is the reverse to our own, and where traffic in the opposite direction has to pass on the side upon which a free view is obscured. A possibility is to take in the space below the driver's seat and that alongside of it, and to run in the patients on their stretchers, feet first, alongside of one another on the floor of the conveyance. In this way, about a foot of length can be economised, and with a two-stretcher body of this type it is of course not necessary for the super-structure to be either strong or high.

Another important point, if the cars are to go abroad and to be used under bad conditions of road surface, is that any ordinary simple method of attaching the body to the chassis must be very carefully examined before it is approved. Something more than average security is needed.

A fair number of touring cars are being changed into motor ambulances, not by replacement of the body but by its adaptation. This method has the disadvantage that it renders the old body subsequently useless for other purposes. Further, it is likely to cause delay, since every case has to be considered on its individual merits. Also, unless the chassis is a long one, the adaptation will almost certainly involve a big overhang.

These notes will serve to give the necessary information to those who may wish to equip motor ambulances for any kind of use during the war, and there does not appear to be any need to go into details of all the various other varieties of ambulance body, many of them very beautifully fitted and designed, but also very expensive. One other type may, however, be mentioned, since it is being employed extensively by the French and Belgian Governments. This consists essentially of a stout floor carrying two iron frameworks of inverted V shape. Between these two and stretching fore and aft is an arrangement similar in principle to a squirrel cage, or to a water-wheel with four floats. The place of each float is taken by the necessary apparatus for the support of a stretcher, provision being made that all the four stretchers retain their horizontal position whatever the position of the framework supporting them. The stretchers can be loaded in from the side to the bottom position, and the apparatus swung round so that this operation is continued, the stretchers after being loaded being subsequently raised by the rotation of the frame. It is stated that in Antwerp and elsewhere this type of ambulance has been used extensively, and is found to be very comfortable and very easy to construct.

Turning to the work for which the ambulances are being employed, much of this is of an obvious character. Ambulance services are evidently needed both at the military hospitals, and also further back at the big base hospitals of the Red Cross Society on the Continent. They are wanted again at all the various hospitals in this country to which wounded men are brought. They are employed, for example, in London, to meet the hospital trains and carry from the stations those men who are not able to be conveyed in ordinary cars.

The requirement of motor ambulances nearer the front is almost limitless. In the system of the R.A.M.C. in service, wounded men are first removed by regimental stretcher-bearers to the "aid post," where medical attention is first given to them. Thence, they are carried by the bearer sections of the field ambulance--and possibly, if roads permit, by motor ambulances--to the advance dressing stations, whence after treatment they are taken by the military ambulance waggons to meet conveyances from the clearing hospital, which is usually situated somewhere near the railhead. Upon this hospital falls the duty of avoiding all overcrowding nearer the front, and this must be done by employing all available means of transport. Evidently, motor ambulances are the most suitable kind of conveyance for this work, since they afford a reasonable degree of comfort to the patient, and even if their speed capacities cannot be utilised to any great extent while they are carrying wounded men, advantage can be taken of them while returning empty towards the front for further load. Once the patients have been taken as far back as the field hospital at railhead, their subsequent conveyance to the Red Cross hospitals, or any other required points, can be carried out by train supplemented by local motor ambulance services from the termini to the hospitals.

Another and less obvious type of service is that which involves thorough patrolling of all those districts in which battles have taken place, with a view to ascertaining whether any wounded men are still remaining in the villages and along the country-side, where they may be given thoroughly kind, but possibly somewhat unskilled, attention by the civilian inhabitants. Another duty of the drivers of the ambulances carrying out this work is that of setting on foot minute inquiries with a view to finding out whether any men killed in battle have been buried by civilians without any record having become available which would serve as a basis for certain information which can never be so terrible as an almost hopeless state of suspense. This class of work, of course, has to be carried out over roads which have in many cases been badly broken up by heavy military traffic, and possibly even intentionally destroyed by a retreating enemy. Consequently, it puts a very severe strain on every portion of the chassis and body of the ambulance, and makes the fact that the whole of the motor vehicles at present employed by the Society have been freely given or lent by their owners without reservation and without charge all the more noteworthy.

For some time past, the Society has been shipping ambulance cars, and also touring cars, to the Continent as rapidly as means of transit have permitted. The requirement seems to be enormous, but even so there does not appear to be any likelihood of the supply falling short of it. Many motorists have placed not only their cars, but their own services ungrudgingly at the disposal of the Society. The usual practice is for the Society, after accepting a car for service, to undertake to have a suitable ambulance body put upon it in place of its own. In some cases, however, motorists have even taken this charge upon themselves, and whatever may be the disadvantages of dependence upon volunteer service, it can at least be said that in this case such dependence has served in some measure to show how many men, unable for one reason or another to take up military duties, are only too anxious to expend their energies and their money on any object of national value in connection with which they are able to be of use.

THE TRANSPORT OF AMMUNITION AND ARTILLERY

The System of Ammunition Supply--The Traction Engine--French Four-Wheeled Tractors for Hauling Guns--German Gun-Carrying Motors.

The system of maintaining ammunition supplies for troops in the field is very similar to that already described in connection with the supply of food. Stocks of ammunition are kept at dep?ts of the Army Ordnance Corps at various points between the base and railhead, to which they are forwarded as required. From railhead they are brought forward daily by the motor lorries of the divisional ammunition parks to a convenient re-filling point, where they are transhipped on to horsed ammunition carts for distribution in detail. With the troops entirely dependent on the motor vehicle for the maintenance of their supplies both of food and of ammunition, there is no need to labour the enormous importance of mechanical transport in modern warfare, or the terrible consequences which would follow anything approaching a general failure in the reliability of the machines used.

For the haulage of very heavy guns some form of engine power is of course essential, and the ordinary steam traction engine provides the most obvious solution, since it is to be assumed that if the roads and bridges to be traversed are sufficiently strong to bear the gun itself, they will also bear the engines which haul it. The big traction engine is a very British product, and it is interesting, if not quite satisfactory, to note that the huge siege guns of the German army are stated to be hauled by engines of British origin. For lighter guns, the steam tractor, or small traction engine, can be employed, but very many efforts have been made to dispense with its service in favour of an internal combustion tractor, less dependent on constant renewal of fuel and water supplies.

In the brief sketch already given of the principal trials and manoeuvres in which motor transport has figured, some indication has been afforded of the attempts made by the British Government in this direction. The most consistent, and probably the most successful, efforts have however been made by our neighbours, the French, who have for this special purpose given much encouragement to the development of internal combustion tractors driving all four wheels. The movement dates back about three years, and owes its origin to the need for hauling 155 m/m siege guns along roads and across country. The first type of tractor produced to meet the requirement was the Chatillon-Panhard. The weight of the first type with full load was in the neighbourhood of 22 tons, and more recently efforts have been made to evolve lighter types weighing about 14 tons with their load, the belief being that these rather smaller machines would be of great general utility. Some very important trials in this connection took place in France early in 1914, four types of tractor participating, namely, the Latil, the Schneider, the Chatillon-Panhard and the Renault. The first-named is a development of the Latil type of lorry, in which the engines drive the front wheels, and the whole power plant is concentrated on to the fore carriage, the back wheels and the platform being really nothing more in principle than a two-wheeled trailing vehicle. An extension of this system involves the use of three differential gears, one for each pair of wheels, and a third as a balance gear half way along the vehicle from which the drive is taken fore and aft through longitudinal shafts and worm gearing. All four wheels are steered as well as driven.

In the Schneider, the drive is taken from a gear box containing two sets of sliding gears through cardan shafts to the front and back axles, and alternatively, when required, to a capstan enabling the engine to haul through the medium of a wire rope. In the Chatillon-Panhard, the transmission is so arranged as to involve no universal joints, and only one differential gear. This is mounted on a transverse countershaft, and the power is taken to the wheels through bevel gears at the ends of the countershaft, and four diagonal shafts driving in their turn auxiliary shafts upon which are bevels engaging with similar bevels on the wheels. The Renault is a very simple machine of its type. The drive is taken fore and aft from the gear box by cardan shafts leading to differential gears on the front and back axle. Either one of the differentials can be locked when desired to help the machine to find its way out of difficult positions. Yet another machine which is available to the French Government, though it did not take part in the trials mentioned, employs electrical machinery in place of the usual mechanical transmission gear. The engine drives an electric dynamo, which supplies current to four electric motors, one for each wheel. On the whole, the French four-wheel driven tractors have performed very well under severe tests, and it is stated that approximately 300 tractors of one or other of the types mentioned are available for military service, though it is possible that this estimate is somewhat exaggerated.

For the rapid transport of light artillery various special machines have been devised, providing either for the carriage of a gun upon the platform of a motor lorry, or for the construction of a gun-carrying vehicle forming one complete unit. In this branch of development the Germans have shown the most initiative, and Krupps have got out several interesting designs. In all of these strong motor lorry chassis are used. A usual system is to fit, by hinging to the back of the chassis, strong ramps up which the gun may be hauled, either by the power of the motor engine or by other means. When on the platform, the gun wheels sink into depressions formed to take them and also bear up against shaped vertical stops. When the gun is in place the ramps are swung over, and are so designed that their ends can then be conveniently attached rigidly to the vertical stops, the ramps themselves also bearing against the gun wheels and holding them quite secure; or in an alternative method, the ramps are arranged to grip the axle of the gun carriage.

Special designs are for motor vehicles capable of a good turn of speed, and arranged to carry guns especially intended for fighting against aeroplanes or airships, and consequently so arranged as to allow of their muzzles being swung up until the gun assumes a vertical position.

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