biles, several score of
searchlight automobiles, or night scout cars, probably 8000 motorcycles
and more than 500 motor-driven field guns, besides the big tractors used
to draw the heavy howitzers. Aside from this, practically all the motor
vehicles in the country were commandeered, numbering upward of 75,000.

While they are stationary devices, the forts which were stormed by the
Germans at Liege and Antwerp are properly part of the military equipment
used in the war. These forts, known as turret forts, are described on
preliminary inspection as looking like a row of huge tortoise or turtle
shells rising a few feet above the ground. The shell is, however, a
shell of chilled steel. Through it the guns protrude and are operated
very much like the guns on a battleship, the turret revolving. Under the
dome are vaults and the compartments of concrete, containing the
mechanism for moving the turrets, operating the guns, lifting the big
shells and handling the ammunition generally.

The fortifications, which at Antwerp included nine intrenched sections,
were regarded as almost impregnable; but when they were built there were
no such field guns as the famous 42-centimeter guns which the Germans
brought to the attack. The forts themselves had no guns larger than a
7-inch caliber.

FRANCE'S ARMORED FIGHTING MACHINES.

In the matter of movable guns, the French and Germans both had them
mounted on armored trains. One such train used by the French included
armored locomotive, flat cars on which were mounted the guns in
"barbettes," or steel turrets, and completely protected armored cars,
used to transport troops or detachments of men.

A feature of the train was the observation tower. It was mounted upon
what would ordinarily be the cab of the locomotive. Such towers have in
one form or another become very common in the war. One type resembles
the motortruck ladder and platform devices used by the man who repairs
electric lights and wires in our city streets. Another is patterned
after the hook and ladder truck of the fire department. The tower, or
ladder, is raised after the fashion of the ladders in fighting a fire. A
couple of soldiers turn a crank, and the ladders are raised to a
perpendicular position and extended high into the air on the sliding or
telescope principle.

The German and Austrian engineers also utilize observation ladders of a
less complicated mechanical nature. In use, and with a soldier perched
on top