a scab; after three weeks they were covered by fresh skin and a part of the wounded were then able to return to the front. The remainder, irrespective of the number of wounds received by any one individual, were ready for duty in seven months. Wounds in which bones were perforated without splintering, healed in four to six weeks, so that the men could return to duty within four or five months after receiving the wound. When bones were splintered the cure was, of course, considerably retarded.
The ballistic advantages of a small-caliber projectile (undesirable from the military surgeon's point of view) have been obtained by the adoption of a pointed-nose bullet (called the "S" bullet in Germany and the "D" bullet in France).[1]
A further advantage of these bullets is that they produce serious wounds on account of their tendency to tumble. These wounds, while not inhuman, instantly disable the man struck, or, at any rate, postpone his recovery indefinitely.
The Effect of "S" Bullets on Corpses.
======================+=====================================
| THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN
Of the Total Number +-+-+-
of Men Hit | Fatally | Instantly | Incapacitated
in Each Case. | injured.| disabled. | for some time.
| % | % | %
+-+-+-
Flesh wounds 800 m | | 36.4 | 27.3
produced at 1350 m | | 43.8 | 37.3
+-+-+-
Bones struck 800 m | 20.3 | 79.2 | 75.0
at 1350 m | 11.1 | 88.9 | 88.9
|-+-+-
Average | 7.97 | 62.07 | 57.12
+-+-+-
- ↑
Rifle Rifle
mod. '88. mod. '98; Lebel rifle;
"S" bullet. "D" bullet.
Caliber 7.9 mm. 7.9 mm. 8. mm.
Weight of bullet 14.7 g 10. g. 13.2 g.
Initial velocity 640. m 860. m. 730. m.
Remaining velocity at 800 m. 270. m 362. m. 377. m.
Maximum ordinate of
trajectory at 700 m. 3.80 m. 1.85 m 2.10 m.Militär-Wochenblatt, 1906, No. 53; Vierteljahrshefte, 1907. II, p. 281.
