72 
ARTILLERY POSITIONS AND SCREENING GUNS. 
On forward 
slope at long 
ranges holes 
must be dug 
in the 
ground. 
Fear of 
umpires 
decisions. 
Germans it 
1870-71 in 
forward 
slope. 
Objections 
to Scott’s 
sight on 
service. 
If the range arrived at as above were less than 3,500 yards, it would 
show that the shell would not carry as high as 600 ft. 
I have worked the whole thing out with a gun in the field and also 
on paper, and I find the two agree. 
On looking at my section (Fig. 5) you will perceive that the table of 
heights falls rapidly between 3,000 and 4,000 yards, from 750 ft. to 
about 150 ft. 
This defect would not be so bad in the Mark I. carriage which has a 
maximum elevation of 15° 45', as measured by me with a clinometer. 
It would be non-existent in the old 9-pr. with a maximum elevation 
of 22°. 
It would be fatal if a brigade division or a larger force of 15-pr. 
(Mark II. carriage) guns were ever to be brought into action on a for¬ 
ward slope of 5° against a mass of guns occupying a position with a 
command exceeding 300 ft. at a long range of 3,750 yards, or 750 ft. 
at 3000 yards. The guns could not be fired and the men would be 
swept away whilst attempting to dig holes for the trails. Each new 
carriage is worse in this respect than its predecessor. 
With a 15-pr. gun, in the battery to which I belong, firing on a 
forward slope of 5° on Mark II. carriage, the maximum range is only 
4,100 yards when the gun and target are on the same level. When 
the carriage stands on level ground and the gun and target are on the 
same level, the maximum elevation is only 5,100 yards, as I measured 
it—latest hand-book says 5,500 yards. 
One reason why artillery come into action on the reverse slope for 
choice is because umpires are instructed to note the “ visibility or 
otherwise of the guns, the choice of position as regards effective fire 
action and cover, and the difficulty for the enemy to observing the 
effect of his fire.” {See p. 261, Part X. Infantry Drill, 1896.) 
In other words, officers commanding mounted batteries get into the 
way of thinking that the only place where they will escape criticism is 
behind a piece of rising ground. 
Naturally they would select the crest, and when driven off that by 
fear of the umpire ruling, they take refuge behind it, never thinking 
to make a bold advance to the lower ground in front of it. 
In 1870-71 the Germans almost invariably had to come into action 
low down on the forward slopes, so as to be able to bring all their 
batteries into action. (Vide Colonel Maurice's lecture, Artillery in 
1870-71 and quotations therefrom later on in this paper.) 
There are many things we do now which we doubtless would omit 
on service. 
For instance, there is Scott's sight. Major W, N. LLoyd (who 
recently left the Regiment, after having pulled off the top score at 
Competitive Practice three years in succession) told me the other day 
that he attributed his success to the way he trained his layers to use 
Scott's sight. By so doing the personal error or the nerves of the 
gun-layers were partly eliminated and the men acted mechanically 
when setting their sights. On the other hand, if he had to go on 
service, he said he would never attempt to use “ Scott's sight,” because 
