450 
R.A.I. PRIZE ESSAY, 1876 . 
them along with it, and the whole mass—skirmishers, supports, and 
main body—is to rush with cheers right in upon the defender's position, 
which the second line, arriving afterwards in good order, is then to 
secure. 
Some writers suppose the advance to get within 200 yds. before the 
final rush, others not so near; some recommend more noise and 
patriotic cries, some less; but they all agree in collecting the three 
lines of the attack near to one another, at a general distance of between 
500 and 1000 yds. from the position, and in checking the advance of 
this crowd, shortly afterwards, until the rear of it shall have reached 
the front. It is to this crowd, or swarm, or succession of swarms, that 
the application of the artillery fire of the defence will be exactly appro¬ 
priate ; no nicety is requisite, no error possible (if the ground be open), 
no missile but what must meet its man. Under these conditions, 
unless the guns can be opposed by some other fire, the effect must, 
whether acting directly and simply to the front of the attack, or still 
more if it include some enfilading of its lines, according to the latest* 
experience and experiment (in war and on the practice ground), be 
annihilating. 
There is, however, one form of attack upon artillery which, well as 
the arm has recently maintained its reputation for being sufficient to 
the defence of its own front, it would find it very difficult to coun¬ 
teract independently : viz., the skilful and persistent application of 
skirmishers—whether in the stealthy approach of scattered, barely 
seen, surely hitting, infantry sharpshooters, or in the rapid onslaught 
of galloping cavaliers coming in from all directions. But artillery 
ought never to find itself thus in independent action ; its whole 
purpose is to help the needs of the other arms, from which, in turn, 
it will derive its security. If it disregard the purpose of its creation, it 
must, like all the creatures of the universe, suffer accordingly. 
Dresden, 
March, 1876. 
* By the actual records heretofore extant; hut already a fresh advance is being realised by the 
artilleries of Europe, and the signs are that the movement is not yet drawing to a close. 
