701 



WAR, SCIENCE OP. 



WAR, SCIENCE OF. 



703 



at a considerable distance from each other. The French made a 

 charge with two strong columns, one of which advanced towards the 

 British centre, and the other attempted to turn its right : in order to 

 take this last column in flank, a part of the British array was placed 

 obliquely to the line ; and its fire, together with that of the reserve, 

 which was moved up to the support of the right wing, prevented the 

 success of the manoeuvre. At the battle of Eckmuhl (1809), Napoleon 

 with his right wing attacked and defeated the left of the Austrians : by 

 this success he cut them off from Vienna, and compelled them to retire 

 towards Bohemia. Again, at the battle of Borodino, in 1812, the 

 French attacked the Russian army at its centre and on its right wing, 

 and succeeded in gaining the height* in that part of the position, after 

 having suffered immense loss in storming a redoubt which protected 

 them, and which was gallantly defended by the elite of the Russian 

 nfantry. 



Whatever be the order of battle, a strong reserve of troops ia 

 necessary, in order that any part of the army may be succoured by it 

 when weakened by losses, or when in danger of being overpowered by 

 numbers. At the battle of Albuera, the timely bringing up of the 

 reserve, when the first line was destroyed, was the means of the victory 

 being gained; and at the battle near Bayonne, December, 1813, two 

 British regiments having been improperly withdrawn from an import- 

 ant position, that position was in danger of being lost, when General 

 Hill brought up the reserve and maintained the action. Strong re- 

 serves are particularly necessary when armies engage on a plain, as 

 then the whole line may be forced into action, and in the event of 

 being defeated, its ruin would be inevitable without the support of a 

 numerous body of troops. 



When cavalry commence an action, ito charge should be preceded by 

 a fire of horse-artillery placed on one of its wingg. The fire of that 

 artillery should at first be directed against some part of the enemy's 

 line which is at a distance from the point to be attacked ; and if the 

 latter point should be weakened by troops being withdrawn from it to 

 strengthen that point against which the fire is directed, the artillery 

 and cavalry immediately move rapidly forward : the former, having 

 discharged some rounds of grape-shot, retires, and the cavalry is left to 

 execute its charge. Should the artillery become mixed with the com- 

 batants, it would be in danger of being taken by the enemy, whereas, 

 being kept in reserve, it may after the charge either join in the pursuit 

 or protect the retreat. 



Infantry generally commences an attack by a fire of light troops ; 

 and these are accompanied by a part of the artillery, which joins in the 

 firing, the rest remaining in reserve. If the skirmishers retire in order 

 to allow the first line of the army to engage the enemy, the reserve 

 artillery is brought up with that line, and it disposes itself by the side 

 of that which had previously been in action, or it goes to one of the 

 wings. Should the enemy's line become disordered, the horse-artillery 

 gallops up to within range of grape-shot and completes the victory. 



The stations of artillery in position should, if possible, be such that 

 the fire of the guns may converge towards some battery of the en^my, 

 in which case the fire of such battery against those guns is necessarily 

 divergent. In general, when an army acts on the offensive, the lines of 

 fire from batteries in position should form nearly right angles with the 

 front of the position, in order that the attacking columns may have 

 room to form in the intervals between those lines of fire ; but if the 

 enemy I* the assailant, the lines of fire may form acute angles with 

 the position, in order that he may be thereby annoyed when nearly in 

 contact with the troops ; the fire of the artillery being directed against 

 the points where the enemy's troops are in masses, as against the heads 

 and flanks of the columns of attack. The guns should not, however, 

 be placed in position till they are wanted, in order that they may bo as 

 little as possible exposed to the fire of the enemy ; and if any battery 

 is subject to a heavy cannonade, another should be immediately placed 

 in a situation where its fire may cross that of the first battery on tlie 

 ground occupied by the enemy's guns. When placed on elevated 

 LTiniud. the guns in a battery should be able to defend all the slope of 

 the height up to them ; and when that is not possible without bringing 

 them so near the brow an to be exposed to the view of the enemy, 

 other guns should be placed where their fire may flank the ascending 

 ground. 



Artillery consisting of 9-pounder guns is found most convenient for 

 the batteries which are placed with the troops : such guns are capable 

 of serving to defend the position, and they may be employed to 

 destroy walls, displace abatis, or ruin field intrenchments. Howitzers 

 are also used in the field for the purpose of throwing shells into 

 redoubts or villages, or among troops protected by hedges, hollow 

 ways, Ac., where the shot from gun-batteries could not take effect. To 

 must now be added rifled guns. [UHIIXANC E, RIFI.KD.] Horse- 

 artillery should be kept with the reserve, and be ready to advance 

 wherever it may be required, either to support a part of the line which 

 is likely to be forced, or to gain the flanks or rear of the enemy ; and 

 when it is required to get possession of a position before the enemy 

 can arrive at it, the horse-artillery, on account of the rapidity of its 

 motion, may be employed for the purpose. 



The batteries by which an army is protected in its position consti- 

 tute a sort of bastions, being usually placed a little in advance of the 

 Infantry of the line. If the army receives the attack of the enemy, 

 tliu artillery commences the action by a cannonade while the enemy is 



at a distance ; and if the army acts on the offensive, the artillery sup- 

 ports the columns of attack. It is usual, when guns are fired in 

 position, to direct them so that the shot may strike the ground ill 

 front of the enemy's line, and afterwards, by rebounding, make a 

 series of grazes among his troops. When the ground is hard and even, 

 these ricochets are very destructive ; but if soft, or much broken by 

 inequalities, the shot plunges in the ground and does comparatively but 

 little execution. It is doubtful if ricochet fire is practicable or likely 

 to be efficacious with rifled ordnance. 



The best proportions for the quantity of artillery in an army ia one 

 gun for every 600 men (infantry), and one gun of the horse-artillery for 

 every 250 men (cavalry) ; but this will vary much with the country in 

 which it is to be used, hilly country requiring much less artillery than 

 level country. 



Armies, whether on the offensive or defensive, are generally kept in 

 columns till the proper moment for deploying has arrived ; for by this 

 disposition both parties are enabled to conceal their projects from each 

 other till one of them has determined to commence the action, and 

 each is in a condition to make such movements as may be necessary in 

 order to give him an advantage over hia opponent. The Spanish 

 general, Cuesta, is blamed for having, at the battle of Medellin (1809), 

 in which he was defeated, advanced towards the French army in one 

 weak line three miles long, when, by keeping the troops in columns, he 

 might have moved them between the enemy's divisions, and thus, by 

 separating them from each other, have destroyed them in detail. If a 

 position is such that the army occupying it is exposed at several points 

 to be attacked, those points should be occupied by small bodies of 

 troops, the bulk of the army being kept behind in columns ready to 

 inarch to any point where their services may be required. Thus the 

 enemy will be embarrassed from the impossibility of determining the 

 force of the army at any one point, and his only chance of success will 

 lie in the quickness of his movements. The circumstances which may 

 determine a general to attack a position at any particular point are, the 

 appearance of that point being weak on account of troops or artillery 

 being withdrawn, from the ground being there more easy of access 

 than elsewhere, or from its capabilities of affording cover to troops in 

 their advance. 



If an army, as A B, in position on level ground, is to be attacked on 

 its left wing, B, the army acting against it is usually placed en echelon, 

 aa at M, N, r, Q, each division consisting of a battalion or a brigade ; 



i ; M' 



and thia formation may be accomplished by moving up the different 

 columns, as at M', N', K", <j', to the places which, when deployed, they 

 are to occupy during the engagement. It would be advantageous, 

 however, that the heads of the columns should remain till the moment 

 of deployment in a line parallel to that of the enemy, in order to keep 

 the latter as long as possible in suspense respecting the real point of 

 attack. A favourable moment is then chosen for bringing the greatest 

 mass, as M', to the wing at B, which ia supposed to be the weakest part 

 of the line ; but it should be observed that this intention will succeed 

 only when the different columns can be moved to their stations with 

 great rapidity, for if the enemy has time to perceive the manoeuvre he 

 will not fail to take measures to counteract it. The (Schelons must 

 always be so near one another as to allow them to be mutually sup- 

 ported, yet not so near to the enemy aa to be in danger of being forced 

 into action. In order to explain the process of turning an enemy's 

 position, let it be supposed that the left wing (B) of his line is in a 

 plain, and not well protected by works, and, consequently, that it may 

 be turned, while the right wing (A) is covered by woods. Strong 

 columns are formed at M in order to perform the manoeuvre of turning 

 the flank B. The divisions at N and i> constitute the centre, and may 

 be supposed to bo on elevated ground, so as to be refused to the 

 enemy ; while Q may consist of a small division extended along the 

 skirts of the wood merely to keep the enemy in check. 



Should the enemy reinforce his left, B, by drawing troops from his 

 right, A, and should this circumstance become known after the troops 

 M have set out on their march towards B, the infantry of the column 

 M may then change their route and proceed towards N and f, conceal- 



