I shall deal with this question in a later chapter.
During the early days of the war anti-aircraft artillery appeared
to be a much overrated arm. The successes placed to its credit
were insignificant. This was due to the artillerymen being
unfamiliar with the new arm, and the conditions which prevail
when firing into space. Since actual practice became possible
great advances in marksmanship have been recorded, and the
accuracy of such fire to-day is striking. Fortunately the airman
possesses the advantage. He can manoeuvre beyond the range of
the hostile weapons. At the moment 10,000 feet represents the
extreme altitude to which projectiles can be hurled from the arms
of this character which are now in use, and they lack
destructiveness at that range, for their velocity is virtually
expended.
Picking up the range is still as difficult as ever. The practice
followed by the Germans serves to indicate the Teuton
thoroughness of method in attacking such problems even if success
does not ensue. The favourite German principle of disposing
anti-aircraft artillery is to divide the territory to be
protected into equilateral triangles, the sides of which have a
length of about six miles or less, according to the maximum
effective range of the pieces at an elevation of 23 1/2 degrees.
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