Size and Power of the German Howitzers Startling
The one big surprise for military experts thus far developed in the European war is the effectiveness of the heavy guns of the German field artillery, says the November Popular Mechanics Magazine, in an illustrated article. Never before have such terrible engines of annihilation been carried by an invading army as those used in the assaults upon the forts at Liege.

It had long been realized that more powerful guns would be needed in the field if modern inland fortifications were to be made to fall before an army, but there was apparent security in the fact that guns large enough for such a purpose would be too large to be transported from point to point. Even were motive power available, the enormous weight of the guns would make all but the hardest paved highways impassable for them. But the development of the internal combustion tractor solved the transportation problem, while that of hauling heavy weights over soft ground was solved by the invention of a detachable tread for the rims of gun-carriage wheels. With these for use on bad roads, it has been possible for the Germans to rush to the front their enormous 11-in. howitzers, which are nearly as great as the American coast-defense guns and weigh 20 tons.

The ingenuity of the Krupp engineers did not stop here. They succeeded in building a gun able to hurl projectiles through steel and concrete walls, such as those at Liege, almost as easily as if the works were of lath and plaster. The story of carnage and destruction wrought by a single shell from this masterpiece burdens the imagination. Profound secrecy has clothed the details of the construction of the machine, which was invented some eight years ago, tested, and for obvious reasons, pronounced a failure. It fires a 16.1-in. projectile, and when used at Liege against Fort Loncin was mounted on a base of concrete having a 100-foot radius. A tunnel leading to a subterranean chamber was excavated some distance at the rear, from which the gun was fired by electricity.