I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 186 Test Firing

Chapter 186: Chapter 186 Test Firing

The test firing took place on the base’s shooting range.

It was quite spacious here, about a thousand meters in length, far exceeding the mortar’s maximum range of 700 meters.

To better simulate real combat, the instructor had a trench dug 600 meters ahead.

Dominic ordered the officers to fire at this trench as their target.

Of course, no one would be in there to report the targets!

The artillery officers played their role at this moment; they knew they needed to stabilize the gun and keep it level, then calculate the firing data based on the initial velocity of the shells and the target’s distance, and adjust the angle accordingly.

This saved the instructors a lot of effort; they just needed to occasionally remind them of new issues to be aware of.

In fact, mortars often don’t focus on this; after using them on the battlefield for a while, it becomes a matter of intuition. Fire and then run, regardless of whether it hits. Sometimes they don’t even bother to mount the gun and just use their hands to fire.

Dominic repeatedly shouted, "Gentlemen, if a shell fails to fire, do not attempt to extract it. Lie down and move away from it! Please remember this!"

At this point, mortar shells were still newly invented and not safe enough. Sometimes the primer would get damp and fail to ignite.

If you tried to extract the shell, the result would be a "boom," blowing yourself and the gun up together.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

A row of shells burst out of the barrels and exploded near the trench.

An officer observed the impact points and shouted to Shire, who was watching nearby, "Major, the accuracy doesn’t seem too good!"

They seemed more willing to talk to Shire than to the instructors and teachers.

Before Shire could respond, an artillery officer immediately replied, "The key is it can fire 25 shots per minute, Beltrand!"

The other officers chuckled understandingly.

Beltrand understood the meaning of this, that if the accuracy was insufficient, just use quantity. Firing 25 rounds a minute, whether by shrapnel or luck, after a minute, the target would likely no longer exist.

After comprehending this, he shouted to Shire, "Major, can we try it? 25 rounds a minute!"

The instructors only issued one shell to each of them; once fired, there were no more.

"No, Lieutenant Colonel!" Shire loudly responded, "This is what you will learn in the coming week. It is not as simple as you imagine. I do not want any of you to ’graduate early’!"

The officers chuckled again, understanding what "graduate early" meant.

But Beltrand still didn’t believe it. He looked at the mortar and asked, puzzled, "Major, what danger could there be? We just need to drop the shell into the barrel!"

"Are you sure your shell has been fired?" Shire retorted, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Did you actually hear the shot? If it was someone else’s shot that misled you, what would you do next?"

The officers paused, and soon someone chimed in, "He would load another shell into the barrel, and then... ’graduate early’!"

This time, the officers did not laugh. They all looked serious, including Colonel Kristin.

None of them had thought of this issue, and they finally understood the purpose of this training.

If these mortars were handed directly to the soldiers and they were told it could fire 25 rounds per minute, a series of accidents more terrifying than grenades could occur.

Dominic glanced at Shire unexpectedly and leaned in to whisper, "You’re right, Major. I was just about to tell them about this danger. Did you just... figure this out by imagination?"

"Yes!" Shire nodded.

In fact, this is one of the safety precautions for modern mortar operations. On the battlefield or even during training, due to tension or other factors, multiple shells have been loaded into the barrel, giving rise to a specialized term: "repeat loading."

"An excellent lesson, Major!" Dominic looked at the officers deeply pondering in the drizzle and said with admiration, "You successfully captured their interest and made them realize the importance of the mortar with just a few words. I had never thought it could be explained that way!"

Shire responded calmly, "It’s not difficult, Colonel. You just need to know what your ’students’ care about the most, what interests them the most."

Dominic nodded thoughtfully and replied, "What they care about the most is the battlefield, their own and their subordinates’ lives and deaths, and what interests them the most is the equipment that can help them survive. So you start from that angle!"

Shire nodded. This instructor had good comprehension and seemed to be a good teacher.

...

Upon returning to the headquarters, Shire immediately reported to Gallieni, "The training is going very well, General. The officers unanimously believe that the frontline troops need this equipment!"

As he spoke, Shire handed Gallieni an organizational chart and a quote, "Given the current situation, I think each battalion may need six mortars."

This is the customary setup for modern forces, with a mortar company at the battalion level.

In actual combat, if a company needs reinforcement, such as a primary attack company, the battalion commander can assign several mortars under their command to strengthen their firepower.

Gallieni voiced approval with a simple "Hmm," mostly because he saw the unit price of this cannon wasn’t expensive, 700 francs each. Six would be just 4,200.

Gallieni casually asked, "Does every unit need them?"

"You can do a follow-up visit with the officers," Shire answered confidently, "or purchase a small number first, equip one division for a trial, and then consider equipping the other units!"

"Good idea!" Gallieni agreed with the second suggestion, "Let’s first equip one division!"

Shire seemed to have anticipated this answer and responded straightforwardly, "Seventy-two, if regimental headquarters also need strengthening, I suggest ninety-six, plus a few spares, making it an even one hundred!"

(Note: During World War I, the French Army’s organization was one division with two brigades and four regiments, each regiment with three battalions, thus a division had twelve infantry battalions.)

"Let’s make it a hundred!" Gallieni nodded. Seven thousand francs were a negligible amount for the military.

As Gallieni was about to sign, Shire smiled slightly. The old guy was about to fall into a trap again. Each shell cost 20 francs, and this was the key point!

Unexpectedly, Gallieni’s pen suddenly hovered in the air for a long time without coming down. After hesitating for a while, he unexpectedly asked, "I heard that your cannon can fire 25 rounds a minute? You’ve compared it to a long-range grenade?"

Shire thought, this old guy has learned from experience.

Sure enough, Gallieni opened the quote again and pointed at the shell price, saying, "Then shouldn’t this 20 francs be reduced a bit?"

Shire looked troubled, "General, it can’t go any lower. If you’re not satisfied, you can compare prices with others..."

The underlying meaning of this was that only I could manufacture this cannon, at this price, take it or leave it.

Gallieni raised an eyebrow, "A grenade costs only 1.5 francs each. If this mortar is a long-range grenade, 3 francs should suffice, right?"

Shire was stunned. Is this how the pricing works?

Shire then retorted, "Then if throwing a grenade doesn’t cost anything, should the mortar be free?"

Gallieni nodded earnestly, "Excellent idea, it seems quite reasonable!"

He said this with a straight face, no blush, no heartbeat.