62 
ARTILLERY POSITIONS AND SCREENING GUNS. 
apt to get stale with perpetual laying, what about his officer ? Have 
there not been some cases of otherwise good regimental officers not 
being able to stand the monotony of the job ? 
However, our officers and men, thanks to the incentive of com¬ 
petition, have as a whole overcome all these difficulties. We now 
quite enjoy our long mornings at the laying, our men never (?) lay on 
the wrong dummy and the skilled layers hardly ever put on 1000 yards 
more on the sights than has been ordered by the battery commander. 
But, to speak seriously, we are now “ past masters” of the art of u fire 
discipline” in all its branches. Can we rest on our oars and be 
satisfied ? Is there nothing for us to learn and are we fit to face a 
continental artillery in the great gun duel which ushers in the modern 
battle ? 
The Artillery Duel. 
The artillery Let us examine the conditions of the battle of the future. What is 
duel ‘ the first step ? The artillery commander rides on and reconnoitres 
the position of the enemy. He knows he is there or thereabouts, 
because the cavalry scouts have told him so. But he cannot see the 
hostile artillery. Why ? Because in the German and other armies 
the guns are concealed either behind the ridge or other cover, 
unlimbered and ready to be run up the moment our guns shall appear 
The artillery above the sky-line. 1 What is he to do? Being an Englishman our 
us^i e artillery commander decides to open the ball. He selects his position, 
method. g e a d vances his batteries sufficiently forward to lay on the enemy's 
guns when they shall appear above the opposite crest; and he trusts 
that his majors will open fire first and that he will establish his 
superiority by sheer force of British pluck and endurance, if not by 
weight of metal. He may use the “ direct 33 or the “ deliberate ” 
method of bringing up his guns. But in any event he feels sure that 
when the last signal to advance is given, no one battery will be much 
behind the other in the race for the crest and for the honour of the 
first shot. I think that most of our artillery officers would carry out 
some such method as this if placed in command of several batteries on 
service. 
I will now proceed to analyze these tactics in detail. 
No doubt the advantage generally lies with the offensive. The 
enemy is expectant and quiescent. The exact time and place of the 
attack are unknown to him. Our men, on the other hand, are keen 
for the fray and the sharp sprint into action warms the blood. We are 
elated and we assume that the enemy will be unnerved by the long 
The enemy’s waiting and therefore unready. Let us look at the situation from the 
procedure. enem y' s point of view for one moment. His cavalry are driven in. 
He sees the dust clouds of our advancing guns. In spite of all regu¬ 
lations to the contrary, colonels, adjutants, range-takers, majors and 
section commanders often appear one after the other preceding the 
advance of the batteries like the peacock, the jungle-fowl and the 
1 Vide page 46, January 1897, No. 1 of R.A.I. “ Proceedings.” In “ A criticism by a German 
general officer ” of Captain Pilcher’s lecture on “ Artillery from an infantry officers’ point of 
view,” it is laid down that “ Only the muzzles of the guns should show above the crest.” 
