ARTILLERY FROM AN INFANTRY OFFICER’S POINT OF VIEW. 47 
Roads are good in most civilized countries, and artillery can quickly 
be trotted up. Besides it being essential that all batteries should 
open fire simultaneously, and should work in conjunction, there is 
seldom any advantage in having two or three batteries a mile and a half 
in front of the rest of the artillery. 
With regard to the remarks on p. 274 it is perfectly possible to con- Page 274 
centrate your fire by means of indirect laying. Again, I have often 
seen 76 guns in position without more than the muzzle of a single gun 
being exposed. 
Before 1806 some few German officers, more advanced in thought 
than the rest, advised making use of ground and of cover, but the 
majority, instigated by the same spirit with which some of the officers 
taking part in the discussion seem to be imbued, answered, “ What ! 
shall the army of Frederick be made a school for cowardice ! No, 
never.” They refused to practise the use of the ground and the result 
was Jena and Auerstedt. 
To say that to make use of ground in any way destroys “ der geist 
der waffle 33 (the spirit of the arm) is nonsense. I have already said that 
<c wirkung geht vor deckling 33 (effect comes before cover), but this is 
1896, not 1870, and the effect of infantry fire must be multiplied by 
four or by six in comparison with what it was in 1870, and what is the 
good of artillery coming up close if by doing so the effect of their fire 
is not greater. The effect of artillery fire is equally great at 600 or at 
1200 yards, but if under infantry fire their losses at the latter distance 
would be enormously greater; another point to consider is that if you 
come too close you cannot feed your guns, for your ammunition carriers 
will all be shot. 
That great authority, General von Goeben, says : “ Artillery is a 
fine instrument which must not be put into the first line except under 
most exceptional circumstances.” 
There are two ways of training men, you can teach them to be 
“ dumm dreist ” (bold through stupidity), to disregard cover and to 
believe there is nothing to fear if they keep a bold heart; the other 
system is to teach men what dangers there are and how to avoid them, 
just as a sailor or a steeplejack is taught how to appreciate and how 
to avoid the dangers of his trade. Men trained on the former system 
find out on the first day of battle that their teachers have lied and lose 
all confidence in them. Such training may sound excellent in peace, 
but will not stand the strain of war. The second will stand any test. 
It is quite true that it can only be a surmise that the effect of the 
enemy’s fire decreases 50 per cent, directly he hears bullets whistling 
about his own head. This is quite true, but still, those who have been 
under fire for hours at a time, as I have been on several occasions, are 
able to make a pretty good guess. 
In the third act by all means concentrate your fire upon the point of 
assault; but, as I have said before, at the beginning of an action, the 
only sensible rule is to keep all the troops firing at you under fire and 
to trust by better fire discipline to obtain an ascendancy. 
We have to reckon with human beings of flesh and blood and not 
