THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
29 
It has been incorrectly stated in some newspapers that the battery of 
Eevolver-cannons took part in the action at Orleans on October 11th. 
This was not the case; one or two rounds were fired at Artenay, but 
the value of the battery cannot be said to have been put to any prac¬ 
tical test until November 9th. On that day Count Thurheim was ordered 
to take part in the defence of the village of Culmiers. During the 
action the battery was divided into two detachments of two guns each, 
acting to a certain extent independently of each other. That detach¬ 
ment which Count Thurheim commanded in person came into action 
in a meadow, surrounded by hedges and ditches. The French infantry 
occupied ground about 700 or 800 yds. distant; they were forced to 
retreat under the fire of the Eevolver-cannons. Count Thurheim then 
opened fire on a French battery of artillery, distant about 1200 yds., 
which also retired after a short engagement to a position out of range 
of the Eevolver-cannons. Count Thurheim further claims to have driven 
back the advancing columns of French infantry three times. Eventually 
he retired, partially on account of the general retreat which was effected 
before the superior numbers which the French brought into the field, 
and partially because several barrels of his guns had become unservice¬ 
able by reason of the mechanical arrangements for loading and firing 
having got out of order. On leaving the village of Culmiers, one gun, 
which had still two barrels serviceable, was brought into action against 
infantry at 300 yds., but was almost immediately obliged to retreat, one 
of the two barrels becoming unserviceable after a few rounds. Count 
Thurheim does not give any details of the conduct of the detached 
division in action. 
In conclusion. Count Thurheim states that the opinion which he had 
formerly expressed on the value of the Eevolver-cannon in the field has 
been strengthened by the experience of the war. Six of such guns are 
capable of discharging 1800 bullets in a minute; a highly-trained rifle¬ 
man, armed with the Werder rifle, can fire 24 shots in a minute. If, 
however, it be assumed that an average infantry soldier fires 9 shots 
per minute, it results that the fire of a battery of six Eevolver-cannons, 
manned by 5 officers, 109 gunners and drivers, and 87 horses, may be 
regarded as equal to that of a company of 200 infantry soldiers. The 
fire of the infantry, Count Thurheim considers, will usually be much 
more effective than that of the battery, owing chiefly to the greater 
ease with which the individual rifleman can take advantage of the 
nature of the ground to get under cover. The Eevolver-cannon will, 
therefore, be of little use in war, except in those cases in which, from, 
insufficiency of cover, infantry cannot be deployed; for instance, in the 
defence of defiles or for flanking the ditches of fortresses. The effect of 
the fire of a 6-pr. battery of artillery will, in Count ThiirheinFs opinion, 
be always (“immer und immer”) far greater than that of a battery of 
Eevolver-cannons. If, however, it be thought advisable that weapons of 
this nature should accompany an army in the field, Count Thurheim 
thinks that they should not be formed into separate batteries, but that 
they should be attached to the ammunition columns, and used only in 
the event of the army being obliged to act strictly on the defensive, 
and to occupy some entrenched position. 
