THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
495 
The pit may also be made so that the limber and horses will stand 
at right angles to the line of fire; but unless some rise or inequality of 
ground, the direction of which may favour this method of construction, 
be at hand and be taken advantage of, the plan shown in the drawing 
would seem the more preferable of the two. 
The addition of four short planks to the equipment of a battery 
would be of great advantage in damp, marshy positions, where the 
wheels and trail are liable to embed themselves. They would be used 
—one under each wheel, one under the trail and at right angles to it, 
and the fourth over this last in the direction of the line of fire. These 
would greatly facilitate the traversing, and could be easily carried 
strapped to the trail without materially increasing the weight. 
On attentively considering the subject, the question will arise: is 
not the present allotment of carbines rather in excess of the require¬ 
ments of a battery ?* Two per subdivision would seem ample for 
everything; indeed the number of men equipped with cartridge-pouches 
would point that two per subdivision, or twelve per battery, is the 
proper number that should be carried. The two others now carried 
could be replaced with two spades, at a saving of about 11 Jibs, less 
to carry per subdivision. Two shallow leathern baskets might also 
be carried as earth trays, as the gun buckets are too clumsy to be useful 
as earth carriers. 
The necessity for adopting entrenchments as proposed may not be 
so seriously felt with batteries armed with rifled guns, whose long 
range enables them to have a greater choice of ground, and to take 
advantage of any intervening cover that may occur; but, as already 
remarked, it must be remembered that a very large portion of our 
batteries serving in the Bast are still armed with S.B. guns; and 
taking our very intermittent and uncertain energy of production into 
consideration, these batteries will remain so armed, or unarmed, for 
many years yet to come; and should in the meantime any emergency 
arise in which it may be necessary to place a force meeting the modern 
requirements of magnitude in the field, we will be sadly deficient in 
power; and unless some expedient to ensure the safety, and thus 
increase the effective fighting value, of our gunners be devised, we will 
lay ourselves open to the risk of having a great portion of our artillery 
arm paralysed by an enemy who, in addition to being better armed, 
may also be superior to us in many essential points, although perhaps 
inferior in the observance of the petty and trifling details towards 
which we have directed so much of our attention, to the detriment of 
those of more vital importance. 
June, 1871. 
* Perhaps some readers of the above would kindly inform the writer, through theso pages, when 
and where have field batteries been reduced to the use of their carbines, and what was the result ? 
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