THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
333 
2500 yds. 1 2 Under exceptional circumstances, they may commence firing 
at 3000 yds.; but practice ought not to be carried on beyond this limit, 
not because the guns cannot reach greater distances, but because it is 
impossible even with a good telescope to ascertain the effect of projectiles 
at longer ranges. 
Frederick the Great directed that in case the general of the brigade 
or division ordered the artillery to open fire before the enemy came 
within effective range, the order was to be obeyed, but the guns were 
to be fired as slowly as possible. 3 No well-ordered battery, as Decker 
remarks, 3 should pay attention to the outcries of staff officers who, 
while the enemy is still many thousand yards distant, gallop wildly 
among the guns, shouting out amain to open fire. There is not an 
artillery officer in France, says the Marechal de Peretsdorf, commenting 
on this sentence, who has not a hundred times witnessed such humi¬ 
liating scenes. I dwell on this subject, because staff officers destitute 
of all knowledge of artillery tactics and of all control over their own 
feelings are not confined to Germany and France. It is so much the 
more necessary for artillery officers to bear in mind that success in 
battle depends now more than ever upon the efficacy of their fire, and 
that the efficacy of that fire depends almost entirely upon the gunners 
preserving their self-possession and calmness. 4 
I have laid it down that if the atmosphere be in a favourable state, 
and if there be means in the battery of accurately finding the range, 
fire may be opened at 2500 yds. Nothing remains to be said on the 
first of these conditions, but I must strongly insist on the importance 
of the second. The probable, errors in judging distances from a fixed 
spot by the eye are, practically speaking, directly proportional to the 
distance of each object from the observer; the greater the distance of 
the object, the greater being the probable error. It is therefore of 
the greatest moment that a range-finder of some description be issued 
to the field artillery without delay; because the campaigns of 1866 and 
1870 prove clearly, as Boguslawski says, that while the importance of 
artillery fire at long ranges has been largely increased by the recent 
improvements in guns, its value at short ranges has considerable fallen, 
partly from the diminished calibre of the guns and the proportionally 
1 See the sensible and excellent remarks of the Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Commandant 
of the Artillery of the Prussian Guards, in his “Ideen fiber die Verwendung der Feld-Artillerie,” 
Berlin, 1869, p. 10, et seq.; Taubert’s “ Gebrauch die Artillerie im Feldkriege,” Berlin, 1870, 
p. 23; Boguslawski’s “ Entwickelung der Taktik,” Berlin, 1869, p. 124; Witte’s “ Artilleristisches 
Taschenbuch,” Berlin, 1870, p. 231; Field-Marshal von Moltke’s “ Bemerkungen iiber den 
Einflusz der verbesserten Schutzwaffen auf das Gefecht,” in the “ Beilage zu Nr. 27 des Militair- 
Wochenblattes, fur den 8 Juli, 1865;” “ Aide-Memoire portatif de campagne a l’usage des officiers 
d’Artillerie,” Paris, 1864 (the last edition), p. 174. 
2 Taubert’s “Field Artillery” (Maxwell’s Trans.), 1856, p. 78. 
3 Decker’s “ Cavalry and Horse Artillery” (Begbie’s Trans.), p. 82. 
4 “ In order to take advantage of the increased powers of modern firearms, the following con¬ 
ditions are necessary;—the object aimed at should be well defined, the range accurately determined, 
and .the fire delivered with calmness and deliberation.”—Field-Marshal von Moltke’s “ Bemerkungen, 
&c.” Translated by Lieut. H. R. G. Craufurd, R.A. See also von Hoffman’s “ Feld-Kanonier,’ 
Berlin, 1869, p. 265, 
