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Open now to officers stationed at the University, is a miniature section of the terrain around the Battle of Gettysburg which is being used by Harvard ROTC students in their field artillery firing.
Located on the top floor of Sever, the exhibition is usually open between 7 and 9 o'clock, at which time Lt. Colonel Richard C. Ware '04 is usually around. Colonel Ware, who is doing most of the work on the model, has been aided by the staff, students, and enlisted personnel of the Harvard ROTC unit.
Historic Spots Included
The section of land after which the model was constructed includes Cemetery Ridge, Big Top, Little Top, and the place where Pickett made his charge. However the model has been constructed according to army maps and air photos that have been taken recently. All roads, brooks, trees, bushes, railroad tracks, houses, barns, and side wall paintings have been made to scale with utmost accuracy.
Colonel Were, who began his work last year, has been using ten feet to a mile so that the over-all length is about eight yards with a width of two yards. The contour interval is 20 feet, allowing accurate elevations on the model. Colonel Ware has used a ply-wood base which he has covered with special cloth. Lightly sprinkled over the cloth is sand and artificial grass which makes a puff or hole when an shell lands on it.
Shrubbery and tress have been imitated by dyed sheep's wool. The roads have been traced by cloth strapping and houses, placed exactly where ones now stand, have been built of wood and painted. Metal strips have been mailed down to resemble railroad tracks and strips of dark cloth represent the brooks and streams.
The suggestion that this be built was made by Colonel Francis A. Doniat, who was impressed by a like model that men of the former 301st and 388th Field Artillery had built in Boston. Colonel Doniat saw its use in teaching his students firing precision.
Stationed about ten yards from the model are miniature guns that shoot a small lead pellet. The guns, designed by Colonel Edward P. Hamilton '18, as accurate as the 75's and 105's that the students will use. They are flatted out with regulation machine gun sights which line the muzzle up with the target. The students can load the guns and fire. The projectiles, when they hit the model, make a mark which can be observed by another student. Working together the two can bring the gun to fire 50 per cent of its shots within the first probable error area.
The important feature of the whole thing is the fact that the guns so resemble the real ones in firing and the floor is laid out in grid squares so accurately with relation to the model that the most realistic flaring conditions are obtained.
Financed by Officers
The materials have been financed by Brig. Gen. John H. Sherburne '99. Colonel Francis T. Colby '05, Lt. Colonel Ware, and Captain Arthur Drinkwater '00, all of whom are trustees of the Saint Harbara's Trust.
ROTC students are urged to use the guns and model as much as possible before they leave. The model will probably have a great part in the training of field artillery officers if a group should ever he stationed here at Harvard.
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