After a lengthy delay in finishing the piece, the fourth article in the series Artillery in the First World War has now been published.

Artillery in the First World War: Russia – The Tsar’s Cannons

Summertime distractions on the Chesapeake have given way to requisite autumn maintenance tasks in the garden; cleaning out dead foliage from the flower beds, raking leaves, putting away the kayak, preparing the house for the onslaught of Nor'easters. While there is much to be done, this time of year also brings a lot of rain. And rainy days are made for research. A couple wet days in a row gave me just the time I needed to finish writing the Russian piece. Part of the challenge in writing this article was finding sufficient detailed resources in English, particularly regarding the period between the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 and the start of the First World War. This challenge reinforces one of my main purposes for writing these articles in the first place - that is to bring together scattered nuggets of gold into single ingot.

Interestingly, several New York Times articles of the period painted a very optimistic image of Russian artillery and its expected performance in the coming war. Perhaps that was born of optimism for a future ally against what was becoming increasingly seen as a vile enemy in Germany.

100635182.pdf
"Russia's New Army"

301761392.pdf
"Will Try Our Siege Guns"

106727247.pdf
"Russian Guns Deadly"

This article shows the reality was somewhat different. Perhaps the benefit of hindsight and analysis after the war allows reality to be clearly seen.

Either way, taken together here, both the view of contemporary news articles or the view of historical reflection, hopefully represent a useful ingot in the treasury of information regarding Artillery in the First World War.

Special issues regarding artillery at the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Tannenberg are planned next in the series, as well as starting work on the "Kaiserlich und Königlich" artillery of Austria-Hungary.

106727247.pdf

301761392.pdf

100635182.pdf