THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
33 
therefore, that the train and the number of wagons and carriages which 
accompany the artillery be reduced to a minimum, the column will still 
be of such length that it would be a matter of difficulty to bring the 
guns in the rear into action on the same day as the head of the column 
was engaged. Colonel Reinlander, in his “ Vortrage iiber die Taktik," 
a work recently published at Vienna, calculates that an Austrian army 
corps complete in everything requires 38,000 yds., or about 21 \ English 
miles, of roadway. Colonel Borbstaedt, in his account of the war of 
1866, states that a Prussian army corps takes up about 27 miles of 
roadway—18 miles being occupied by the troops themselves, and 
9 miles by the ambulances, baggage, &c. Colonel Lewal, of the French 
army, in the “ Conference sur la marche d'un Corps d'Armee,” enters at 
great length into this subject. He estimates that an army corps 
consisting of three divisions, or 39,323 men, marching on a single 
road, would take up 54,133 metres (33 miles, 1120 yds.), if the carriages 
were placed one behind the other, and 42,924 metres (26 miles, 1184 yds.), 
if the road were sufficiently broad to allow the carriages to march two 
abreast. I have not the requisite data at my command to calculate 
accurately the length of roadway which would be required by an 
English army corps, but I find, by a very rough calculation, that the 
infantry, cavalry, and artillery only of an army corps consisting of 
about 36,000 sabres and bayonets and 108 guns, would take up about 
17^ miles of roadway. 
If, therefore, the length of a column of route be compared with the 
ordinary rates at which experience has shown that troops are capable of 
moving, it will become at once apparent that to burthen large bodies of 
troops with an unduly great proportion of artillery is useless, from the 
impossibility of bringing the guns up to the scene of action within a 
reasonable period of time. Colonel Reinlander estimates that an ordinary 
day's march for an army corps is thirteen or fourteen miles, which will 
be performed in about eight hours if the roads are good; if, however, 
the road passes through hilly country, if the metal be bad and easily 
destroyed, or if the weather be unfavourable, a considerably longer 
time must be allowed. In 1866 the Austrian 8th Army Corps took 
14 hours to march from Kasow to Nedelist, near Koniggratz, a distance 
of about 12 English miles, and the same corps in retreat took 16 hours 
to march 13 miles—namely, from Zadwersitz to Boikowitz; in the latter 
case the road was through a very hilly country. On the day of the 
battle of Sadowa, every effort was made to hasten the march of the 
Crown Prince ; the weather was bad and the country hilly. The advanced 
guard of the 1st Division of the Guard, moving across country, marched 
from Doubrawitz to Jericek, a distance of 6 miles, in 2| hours. Of 
this corps a French officer said, “ Qu'il marchait a une allure extraor- 
dinairement acceleree." The main body of the army of the Crown Prince 
marched considerably slower. The 1st Corps, which bivouacked on the 
night before the battle at Chranstow, took, according to Colonel 
Borbstaedt, 9 hours to march 8 miles; and the 2nd Division of the 
Guard, which bivouacked at Bettendorf, marched 11-| miles in 10 hours. 
Cases have, indeed, occurred in which small bodies of well-disciplined 
troops have been moved with great celerity. The celebrated march of 
