68 TARGET PRACTICE IX FOREIGN COUXTRIES. 



to exercise these men that there shall be no confusion, mis- 

 understanding, or loss of time at the moment of opening fire 

 upon an objective chosen by the group or battery chief. It 

 is also to develop skill in making rapid changes of objective, 

 concentrating the fire of several batteries or groups on a 

 point, or again distributing it. They commence first with 

 the officers, then with the sergeants and pointers. Especial 

 attention is given to teaching the staff officers (or noncommis- 

 sioned officers), who would be the bearers of messages from one 

 battery, group, or brigade to another, to carry in the eye the 

 objective which it is desired to shoot at, so that they may 

 unfailingly indicate it to the officer to whom the order is 

 sent. To this end, also, they teach the use of a little deflec- 

 tion scale, held at arm's length and enabling the aid to fix the 

 relation of an obscure target to some conspicuous landmark. 

 2. Actual Practice at Targets. — This is held on the 

 ranges or camps of instruction spoken of on page 60. 



(a) The jjreparatory firings are executed under simple con- 

 ditions, slowly and in such manner as to show up every 

 mistake. This practice is preferably interpolated with the 

 outdoor instruction above described in 1 (6) and (c). 



When the battery is already well instructed, these firings 

 may be omitted and all the ammunition used for — 



(b) The ivar practice. — Besides the captain, each lieutenant 

 must command one of the war practices. The exercise is 

 made by every possible means to resemble actual service. 

 The simplest work of course comes first, but instruction being 

 the object and not hits, commanding officers do not hesitate 

 later in the practice to place the batteries in difficult positions, 

 select indistinct objectives, use indirect fire (pointing on an 

 auxiliary target), and come into battery and open fire with 

 the utmost rapidity. The whole of the preceding and rather 

 tedious work having been a preparation for this practice, the 

 desire is to prove just how effective the artillery would be in 

 actual battle, using the methods taught it, while at the same 

 time receiving excellent training in using these methods. 

 The targets and ranges for the various exercises are arranged 

 with great care and at considerable expense. They consist 

 of panels or canvas-covered frames, silhouettes, single and in 

 rows, dummies, etc., of the shape and dimensions of the dif- 

 ferent arms of the service and formations in battle. Only 

 small use is made of disappearing, moving, and mechanical 



