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In the course of the day's fighting the British captured over 7,000 prisoners and a large number of guns of all calibers. The Germans, it was estimated, had about 30,000 casualties, and the British less than a third of that number.
There was nothing in the action taken to direct attention to one sector more than to another. The Vosges, the Meurthe and Moselle, Lorraine and the Woevre, the Argonne, Champagne, the Aisne, the Somme, the Arras sector, Ypres and the Yser, and the Belgian coast where the British navy had joined in, all were subjected to a heavy, deliberate and effective fire from guns of all calibers.
After a deadly bombardment that literally flattened the countryside, and in which shells of all calibers as well as asphyxiating gas bombs were hurled against the French positions between the Binarville-Vienne-le-Chateau road and the Houyette ravine in the Argonne, the German infantry dashed from their trenches in great numbers and close formation and charged across the intervening ground.
Up to to-day we have disembarked twenty-four pieces of bronze guns of different calibers, of which the least weighed fifteen hundred weight.
On May 14, 1917, on the Julian front from Tolmino to the sea the destructive fire of the Italian artillery, directed against strong Austrian positions, reached great intensity and was vigorously answered by numerous Austrian batteries of all calibers.
On the morning of July 13, 1915, soon after sunrise, a tremendous cannonade was let loose from guns of all calibers. Although the weather was rainy and not well fitted for observation the German guns seem to have found their marks with great accuracy.
Lastly, it may be broadly stated, that with suitable powders, a charge of one-third the weight of the shot demands for most profitable use a length of bore equal to about twenty-six calibers; a charge equal to half the weight of the shot should be accommodated with a bore of about thirty calibers; while a charge of two-thirds the weight of the shot will be best suited by a bore thirty-five calibers long.
The following day, April 23, 1916, Austrian artillery of all calibers violently shelled the trenches occupied east of Selz, obliging the Italians to evacuate a small section north of the Selz Valley, which was especially exposed to the Austrian fire.
Some idea may be had of the variety of artillery in use on the French front when I mention that there are at least eleven calibers of guns, howitzers, and mortars, ranging in size from 9 inches to 20.8 inches, in action between Switzerland and the Somme. All of these, with a very few exceptions, are mounted on railway-trucks.
There was a chain with a dog-collar attached to it, a hip-pocket pistol and a huge forty-five, and not less than a hundred cartridges of indiscriminate calibers scattered loosely about. At one end, bundled in carelessly, was a pair of riding-breeches, and under the breeches a pair of white shoes with rubber soles. There was neither sentiment nor reason to the collection in the chest. It was junk.