THE liOYAL AllTILLEJJY INSTITUTION. 
311 
body of the enemy, such as AB, which endeavours to outflank the 
guns ; and well to the flank, in order to watch and give notice of any 
attempt on the part of the enemy to creep round the flank of the 
battery and attack it in rear. 1 2 
A cavalry escort should lose no time in charging an enemy who 
attacks the flanks or rear of the battery, but it should never pursue. 
If the gunners are annoyed by sharpshooters, the escort, of whatever 
arm, should endeavour to drive them off, or at least to occupy their 
attention. In case the enemy attacks the battery in front, the escort 
should form in line immediately in rear of the limbers, and there await 
the result of the attack. If it be successful, the escort will rush in 
to protect the defenceless gunners and save the guns. 3 If it be un¬ 
successful, the escort will resume its former position. It is almost 
needless to say that in posting an escort every advantage should be 
taken of the accidents of the ground. 
If it be necessary to subdivide a 6-gun battery, it should be broken 
into divisions, 3 not half batteries; for the half battery formation violates 
every principle on which the formation of a 6-gun battery is founded. 
In 4-gun, and 8-gun batteries, half batteries are, on the contrary, con¬ 
venient and useful. 
On the formation of guns when manoeuvring it is not necessary to 
say much. The nature of the ground will occasionally necessitate the 
use of column, but as a general rule, line at full intervals is the best of 
all orders. 4 
What I have endeavoured to prove in the foregoing pages may be 
summed up in a few words. 
As regards the mobility of field artillery, its movements in action, 
although made at the maximum speed which its equipment renders 
possible, ought to be minimum in number, and executed beyond the 
effective range of the enemy’s infantry. 
As regards the fire of the guns, field artillerymen require time to 
choose their position ; they require time to determine their object; 
they require time to select their ammunition ; they require time to find 
their range ; they require time to load their guns; and they require 
time to lay their guns. They require time to do these* things; and 
unless time be given to do them, it is vain to hope that, in our next 
war, our batteries will gain that superiority over those they will 
encounter which, from the excellence of our materiel and the stubborn 
courage of our gunners, we might reasonably expect. 
1 Giustiniani’s “ Essai sur la Tactique,” pp. 80, 206. The directions given in Eobins’ “ Cavalry 
Catechism” for the position of an escort are absurd, and it is unsatisfactory to iind them quoted 
with approval in Sir Sidney Cotton’s “ Field Exercises of the Peshawur Brigade,” p. 104. 
2 An excellent example of this principle is afforded by the conduct of the cavalry escort 
(15th Hussars) of the guns attacked in the action fought on the 2nd Dec. 1799 in Holland. See 
the C£ British Military Library,” Vol. II. 
a “ Les deux canons d’une meme section ” (division) “ sont des camarades de combat qu’on ne 
doit jamais separer.”— <£ Instruction du General Le Boeuf pour le camp de Chalons.” 
4 The reason is explained by the Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen in his pamphlet before 
quoted, p. 42. 
