340 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OE 
nothing can be more certain, if my facts be indeed facts and if my 
reasoning be correct, than that the action of modern field artillery 
ceases just where the action of infantry begins. For example, if AB 
represent the enemy’s infantry, in Fig. 10, then onr artillery wonld, as 
a general rule, open fire at EF, and wonld gradually advance to CD , 
beyond which line it could not advance, without the risk of annihilation, 
as long as the enemy’s' infantry stands firm. 1 2 On the other hand, CD 
is the extreme position at which infantry could commence firing upon 
AB, without risk of wasting their ammunition. It is therefore clearly 
evident that if our infantry and artillery are to fight with effect they 
cannot fight in line, and that, although co-operating to effect the same 
end, they must for the future act far more independently than in the 
past. 
The independent action of artillery, necessitated by the introduction 
of arms of precision, makes it the more important that guns should be 
accompanied on all occasions by strong and well-instructed escorts. 
The duty of an escort, be it cavalry or infantry, is a simple one—to 
protect the battery from sudden attacks on its vulnerable parts, its 
flanks and rear. With the front of the battery it has nothing whatever 
to do; Yet at the present day, it is not unusual to see the escort in 
the intervals between the guns, impeding and obstructing the move¬ 
ments of the officers and gunners, occasionally putting a stop to the 
fire altogether by getting in front of the muzzles, 3 and, worse than all, 
absent from the positions where its presence is really required—the 
flanks and rear of the battery. Far from being in the battery, the 
escort should be well in its rear, and well to a flank, as in CD (Fig. 11). 
Kg. ll. 
ill Hi 
It should be well to the rear, in order to be able to take in flank any 
1 The Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen’s “Ideen liber die Verwendung dev Feld-Artillerie,” 
p» 5 et seq. “ L’Arfcillerie de campagne Beige,” par Capt. Nicaise. Bruxelles, 1870, pp. 40, 41. 
2 This happened to the horse artillery at the battle of Vittoria. See Frazer’s “ Letters during 
the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns,” p. 160. 
