THE EQUIPMENT OE FIELD ARTILLERY. 555 
we may, perhaps, admit that their arrangement of the spokes of the wheel 
is a good one, by which it is provided that the lowest spoke shall be 
vertical in that wheel upon which the greater strain is thrown; as, 
for example, on a sloping road, the lowest spoke of the lower wheel 
would be vertical. 
15. It would be well if the trail were fitted with a box to carry 
ammunition, the lid of which would form a seat to be used upon an 
emergency ) thin plates of metal being used in the construction of this 
and all other ammunition boxes; an iron handspike should be per¬ 
manently attached with provision for the application of the wooden 
spare one carried underneath ; the trail hook in use with the Italian 
gun is worthy of notice,* * * § admitting as it does either of a rigid or loose 
connection between the limber and the carriage; the former being 
admissible on good ground, the result being less weight on the horses, 
the latter being only necessary when moving over rough ground. 
Should we adopt pole draught this would be more than ever desirable. 
16. The length of the guns we are now likely to have render it 
necessary to “ elevate ” before limbering up, and it is desirable that 
little time should be lost over this operation. The elevating arc fitted 
to the new 13-pr„ works quickly, but it is liable to go out of order,f 
and does not seem to bear rough usage. The double elevating screw 
in use in Austria is simple and quick in action, and appears well worth 
a trial. J 
17. It is also imperatively necessary that the gun should be pro¬ 
vided with a shield to afford cover to the gunners; it has so often been 
brought forward, and its necessity is so evident, that it is strange no 
steps have been taken in the matter, and it hardly is necessary to refer 
to our latest sad experience at Ingogo in South Africa, where it was 
“ death to stand up beside the guns/' to emphasize this necessity. Three 
years ago the question was mooted by a writer in the “ Nineteenth 
Century ” from a practical point of view; but the idea has often 
cropped up under various forms, and is as old as 1444, in which year 
the gallant Swiss gunners of Bale held their own against seven-fold 
odds, being protected by wooden shields fixed on to the gun carriages. 
In Plate I. is shown a shield upon a machine gun, which is constructed 
so as to fold up and afford seats for two gunners. A steel shield capable 
of resisting a Martini-Henry bullet, fired at a range of 100 yds, 
would weigh under 1^ cwt. It seems useless to insist on the use of 
these shields, the subject has been so often treated ;§ we all know the 
terrible losses suffered by the Prussian Artillery in their chivalrous 
support of the other arms in the contests round Metz, and it is a 
* Vide Dr. Beckerheim, “ Field Artillery of Austria, Germany, Russia, Italy and France,” p. 48. 
f Vide “ Short Notes ” on tlie 13-pr. M. B. gun, Tby Major Nicholson, R.H. A. 
J Vide Dr. Beckerheim’s “ Field Artillery,” p. 9. 
§ Colonel Brackenbury in “Nineteenth Century,” 1878. Gold Medal Prize Essay, R. A. I., 
1878. Silver Medal Prize Essay, R. A. I., 1879. Major Nicholson in “ Short Notes,” R. A. I. 
Papers, Vol XI., No, 2. 
The trail. 
Elevating 
apparatus. 
Shields. 
