ARTILLERY POSITIONS AND SCREENING GUNS. 
63 
monkey, winch invariably “ show up ” before the tiger in a jungle beat. 
He is at once on the “ qui vive.” He knows by experience that our 
artillery invariably comes into action on the crest or immediately behind 
it on the reverse slope and he takes his measures accordingly. Every 
tree, bush, or rock on the crest is marked down and the ranges to 
these objects are accurately measured beforehand. His guns are either 
run up; or, what is more likely with smokeless powder, they are 
unmasked ; or perhaps they even open fire from the forward slope and 
shoot over or through their screen ; whilst all the time our unfortunate 
majors, section commanders and layers are having an invisible target 
pointed out to them and are perfectly fogged as to the actual position 
of the enemy^s guns and the distribution of fire required for each 
battery. 
How, under these circumstances, are we to establish the superiority ? The difficui- 
I defy any man to range a battery if he cannot see the target. He is ^artmery* 
in a much worse case than i£ he failed to observe the burst of his shell, commander * 
because he cannot open fire into space. Everyone who has examined 
layers knows how difficult it is to point out a particular target and to 
get each layer in a battery to “ distribute 33 correctly. The enemy 
opens fire at once because he knows the range and sees each gun of 
ours standing up at 20 yards interval on the crest against the sky, “ like 
quills upon the fretful porcupine.” Consequently I make bold to assert 
that the odds are we shall get the worst of it in the first 10 minutes of 
the artillery duel. 
I have attempted to depict our usual method of advancing into 
action. I have not gone into the merits of the <( direct” or the 
et deliberate 33 occupation of the position. That is a matter of drill. 
But in nearly every case (except where the guns are run up by hand or 
when firing from behind cover with the aid of aiming posts) there is a 
final rapid advance by the batteries on to the position before un¬ 
limbering. During this movement the gun teams and detachment 
horses are fully exposed for a longer or shorter period, according to 
whether the forward slope, crest or reverse slope is to be occupied. 
The Position on the Beverse Slope. 
Let us first examine the reverse slope when employed as the site for 
an artillery position. 
I think it was Major (now Major-General) Tyler 1 who first pointed Exposure of 
• . t~» i d i Li 1 detachments 
out m the Jti.A.l, papers 10 years ago that the less the height of the withB.L. 
axis of the piece above the ground the greater would be the exposure guns.' 
of the detachments. This is because when the axis of the gun is not 
far from the ground, the gunners would have to run up a great deal in 
order to enable the line of sight to clear the crest. Every inch taken 
off the height of the axis of the gun means that the gunners must be 
exposed for another inch of their height. Thus with a mountain gun 
we have the greatest exposure of the men. 
The 7-pr. of 150 lbs. has the height of the trunnions, 1 ft. 10 in. 
1 “ Shield or Shelter,” by Major T. B. Tyler, R.H.A., “ Proceedings ” R.A.I.. No. 11, Yol. 
XIV,, 1886. 
