382 
FIELD ARTILLERY POSITIONS. 
presume lie calculated up to “time shrapnel/’ but it is not stated 
whether this was so or not. I believe our artillery is efficient and so, 
I am sure, is that of the Germans, but, in the face of these figures and 
allowing for the difficulties of a battle-field in a strange country, I do 
not think it is just to impute rashness to a soldier who accepted such 
risk as is here indicated if he wanted his guns to be of opportune service, 
or to call his opponent “ anything but efficient/’ even if he did not, in 
the fleeting seconds at his disposal, hit a single man or horse. Many 
batteries at the long range, if the light be bad, never really find the 
short bracket at all, even at Shoeburyness, in double the times quoted 
and,occasionally hardly a hitwould be recorded to them were the friendly 
ricochets off the sands eliminated. You cannot confidently rely on a 
range-finder, even in peace time, and even if you did, “the error of the 
day ” has still to be discovered. Nor do I believe that to measure dis¬ 
tances on a map in an unknown country would often be feasible. It is all 
very well when you know the exact spot you stand on and the hill the 
enemy must occupy, as is the case sometimes at our manoeuvres, but 
without trial shots on unfamiliar ground, it will be more good luck 
than anything else that can give you a “ target ” at the first shot or 
two. To teach batteries that they are to fear risking their safety 
when there is so little on the cards against them, would be as bad as 
to encourage them to recklessly or needlessly expose themselves in the 
open where the limbers and horses would have to remain fully revealed 
to view. Batteries so trained would soon begin to think more of their 
own safety than of the general interests of the army and would meet 
with the contempt which was heaped on the Russian batteries at 
Plevna, who plumed themselves on having done their duty and retired 
satisfied after they had lost three per cent, of their strength, while the 
infantry they should have supported, suffered in some companies to the 
extent of sixty per cent, of their numbers. 
But, when speaking of positions, I must not overlook those which 
are completely covered and from which indirect laying will be neces¬ 
sary. I believe that these will be extremely useful on occasions, but 
I do not believe that they will ever be used when it is possible, with a 
reasonable amount of cover or concealment, to lay directly. I am sure 
we have all seen occasions when we could have turned them to account, 
and certainly we should all be prepared to utilise them if need be, but 
there are very serious objections to them which are sometimes lost 
sight of by those who, in Germany especially, have taken them up with 
an enthusiasm which only a hobby can arouse. Theoretically, they are 
most fascinating, but in practice I fear would scarcely win so much ad¬ 
miration as they do on paper. 
Their advantages are, I believe, well known to us all and are fairly 
obvious, but it is sometimes forgotten that it is not easy to change from 
one target to another when you cannot see either or when the situation 
is altering as it does in the course of a fight. You can very likely 
make excellent practice while your foe stands still, but you will not 
hit him at all as he keeps moving on to you, nor can you concentrate 
your fire as circumstances may demand. 
