When they strike the
objective the bursting charge breaks up the shell, releasing the
contents, and simultaneously ignites the combustible.
Another shell is the smoke-bomb, which, up to the present, has
been used only upon a restricted scale. This missile is charged
with a certain quantity of explosive to burst the shell, and a
substance which, when ignited, emits copious clouds of dense
smoke. The scope of such a shell is somewhat restricted, it is
used only for the purpose of obstructing hostile artillery fire.
The shells are dropped in front of the artillery position and the
clouds of smoke which are emitted naturally inter fere with the
operations of the gunners. These bombs have also been used with
advantage to denote the position of concealed hostile artillery,
although their utility in this connection is somewhat uncertain,
owing to the difficulty of dropping the bomb so accurately as to
enable the range-finders to pick up the range.
Dropping bombs from aloft appears to be a very simple operation,
but as a matter of fact it is an extremely difficult matter to
strike the target, especially from a high altitude.
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