222 
GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1880 . 
trench, for supports form the exception to the rule, percussion common 
shell alone being applicable against them ; though, in the present state 
of field artillery projectiles, it can be with little promise of success. 
We have pointed out, with regard to frontal and oblique line of fire, 
that with common shell the former is most advantageous, but with 
shrapnel, if circumstances permit of it, the latter; it remains now 
to make a few remarks upon enfilade and reverse fire. From the 
great extent of modern positions, the opportunity for such fire will 
seldom be presented; when it is, unless the entrenchment is well pro¬ 
tected by traverses or parados, it must be open to be fully searched 
out and if so, evidently, time shrapnel is the proper projectile, and 
should be burst according to the ordinary rules for its use in the open. 
If the entrenchments are traversed, the same rules will apply as laid 
down for frontal fire. Even if a work is traversed, &c., there is an 
advantage in enfilade and reverse fire over frontal, in their greater 
moral effect and in their taking the defenders in a direction in which 
they cannot so readily reply, while, further, in the case of enfilade fire 
the target is taken in its greatest depth. 
From what has been said on our subject, the following deductions 
may be made :— 
For the attack of entrenchments, more particularly of hasty entrench¬ 
ments in which the thickness of the covering earth is limited, the 
shell thrown from field guns should have as high remaining velocity as 
may be* * * * § at ordinary fighting ranges, so that they may be able to pass 
through as great a thickness of earth as possible, and deliver the 
bursting effect for the most part on the inner side of it. 
For the attack of entrenchments of strong profile, also of field case¬ 
mates and other blinded cover, in order to their sufficient searching 
out, pieces throwing powerful shells with high angles of descent are 
necessary—in other words, field howitzers.f 
The limits of effective strike of percussion common shell being in all 
cases very restricted, it is absolutely necessary that the guns throwing 
them should be very accurate in their shooting, J and it is hardly necessary 
to mention that in order to utilise such accuracy to the full the gunners 
must be accustomed to lay upon and observe the effect of shell fired at 
entrenchments. § 
high, angle of drop for searching—while, even if the fire was hurtful any slight over-head cover 
would nullify it. 
It is a pity that the results of such-like instructive experiments are not made more public to the 
Eegiment; if they were so, it would tend much to increase the desire for and the attainment of 
practical technical knowledge. 
* This, it is hardly necessary to say, is a desideratum when firing against troops in the open, 
and in the later field guns has been much increased—that is, in the experimental 13-pr. and in 
the sometime approved foreign guns. 
f Such pieces would be equally useful to the defence for searching out natural cover taken 
advantage of by the assailant and, also, in the close attack for sweeping the ground with large 
shrapnel. 
+ An additional reason for high velocity. 
§ To assist their vision in laying, Nos. 1 might carry in a pocket on their belt a telescopic 
magnifying glass, 2 or 3 ins. in length and for use rest it against a shoulder formed on the tangent 
sight. A regular telescopic sight we consider unfit for ordinary purposes, though it would be useful 
on special occasions, 
