24 
THE AUSTRIAN MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY IN THE CAMPAIGN 
IN BOSNIA, 1878. 
BY 
LIEUT. J. M. GRIERSON, R.A. 
The Occupation of Bosnia by the Austrians,, in fulfilment of the 
treaty of Berlin, has just been brought to a successful conclusion by 
the occupation of Novi Bazar; and everyone who has followed the 
movements of the soldiers of the Kaiser cannot but have been struck 
by the patience and heroic endurance, as w^ell as courage, displayed by 
all arms of the service. Among the artilleries of Europe, that of the 
Austrian army has always held a high place, and well has it sustained 
its reputation in the late campaign. During the war, I had an oppor¬ 
tunity of seeing some of their batteries, and was kindly permitted to 
examine the materiel , &c. I had hoped that abler pens than mine 
would have directed attention to their achievements in the field, as 
there are many useful lessons in mountain warfare to be learned from 
a careful study of this campaign against enemies who, from their 
thorough knowledge of the country, their warlike disposition, and the 
presence of a large number (25 battalions) of regular soldiers in theii 
ranks, were by no means to be despised. After a short sketch of the 
organisation, equipment, mobilisation, and distribution of the mountain 
batteries, I propose directing attention to the tactics employed, in the 
hope that the study may be of interest to my brother officers. 
I.—Organisation. 
In the Austrian service, as in our own, mountain batteries are 
furnished by the garrison artillery. In time of peace only five exist— 
three in the 9th (Innsbruck) and one each in the 11th (Pola) and 
12th (Carlstadt) Battalions—each of four guns. The peace strength 
of a battery is 1 captain, 1 first-lieutenant, 2 lieutenants, 3 staff- 
serjeants, 4 serjeants, 6 corporals, 16 bombardiers, 1 trumpeter, 
54 gunners, 4 officers^ servants, 1 shoeing-smith, and 1 collar-maker; 
or 94 of all ranks, with 4 riding horses, 1 spare and 8 pack mules. 
On the war footing the regulations prescribe that each battery shall 
be doubled, and thus 10 batteries formed, each with 1 captain or 
first-lieutenant, 1 lieutenant, 3 staff-serjeants, 2 serjeants, 5 corporals, 
8 bombardiers, 1 trumpeter, 77 gunners, 2 officers'’ servants, 1 farrier, 
1 shoeing-smith, and 1 collar-maker; or 103 of all ranks, with 5 riding 
horses, 46 pack and 2 spare mules. 
