It throws
a shell weighing 8.8 pounds with an initial velocity of about
2,066 feet per second.
Although the German armament manufacturers were among the first
to enter the field with an anti-aircraft gun of this character
they were speedily followed by the French, who devised a superior
weapon. In fact, the latter represented such a decisive advance
that the German artillerists did not hesitate to appropriate
their improvements in sundry essential details, and to
incorporate them with their own weapons. This applies especially
to the differential recoil system which is utilised in the small
anti-aircraft guns now mounted upon the roofs of high buildings
of cities throughout Germany for the express purpose of repelling
aerial attack.
The French system is admitted by the leading artillery
technicians of the world to be the finest which has ever been
designed, its remarkable success being due to the fact that it
takes advantage of the laws of Nature. In this system the gun is
drawn back upon its cradle preparatory to firing. In some
instances the barrel is compressed against a spring, but in the
more modern guns it is forced to rest against a cushion of
compressed air contained within a cylinder.
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