10 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OF 
Advance 
guard attack- 
ing unaided. 
Advance 
guard keep 
dispositions are made with the other arms for attack. Suppose first, an 
unaided attack is determined on. The commander of the 
artillery being informed of this decision, as well as of the 
point selected for the attack, the batteries advance to the 
shorter ranges, try to dismount the enemy’s guns and shatter 
his troops wherever visible, and thus prepare for the assault of the other 
arms. 
Suppose next, that either before the advance guard engages 
or while it is engaged, the enemy is found too strong for it to 
mgtheenemy cope with single-handed. The commander of the division, by 
tke^lv^sion 11 ^is time on the field, will have to make the further disposition, 
comes up. and he will find himself forced at once to bring up more 
artillery to strengthen that of the advance guard already 
engaged, in order to keep his more powerful enemy in check and gain 
time for the deployment of his infantry—a step the more necessary should 
the advance guard have become already seriously engaged, to enable it 
to hold out without exposing itself to a serious check before the larger 
masses can come up. 
Attack of divi- The attack of the division commences as that of the 
ttmt of advance a( ^ vance guard, by bringing the artillery to shorter ranges 
guard/ against that part of the enemy’s position to be attacked. 
Attack by a An attack is made by a whole corps in a similar manner 
whole corps, to that laid down for the division and the brigade; there 
is, however, the modification that its advance guard is preceded by 
a vanguard of its own, accompanied by artillery* and standing in 
the same relation to it as the advance guard itself does to the corps. 
In the case of the corps, the res’erve artillery is brought up to 
aid that of the advance guard in covering the deployment as well as 
in preparing for the attack of the other arms, while each division 
retains its own artillery for local protection. Should, however, either 
the nature of the ground or the order of battle render it desirable to 
attack at a different place to that at which the advance guard is 
engaged, its artillery may be retained for local purposes, while that of 
the divisions is massed with reserve artillery on the decisive point. 
The actual attack is carried out with columns of infantry 
formed under cover of this fire, which advance against the 
enemy as soon as he appears sufficiently shaken, the artillery fire being 
directed upon his infantry as long as it is possible to do so without 
endangering the attacking columns, and then diverted on to his artillery 
and such of his reserves as may be within range. Cases may occur 
where the advancing columns will totally mask their own artillery, 
forcing it to cease firing. Let it then remain prepared either to open 
fire on columns of the enemy who may threaten a flank movement, 
to advance into the position should it be taken, or to cover a retreat 
should such become necessary. 
In an engagement conducted as above, the artillery coming 
xposc an t. action on the flank of the advance guard will itself 
expose one flank, which will want protecting at first, but will soon be 
covered by the infantry deploying on both sides of it, as they almost 
invariably do, the only exception being when the ground suitable for 
Attack. 
