Field Artil¬ 
lery Drill, 
p. 93, 
390 FIELD ARTILLERY POSITIONS. 
(a) Is it Advisable, when Occupying the Main Artillery Position to 
take up a Position Completely Under Cover ? 
Unfortunately, the term iS indirect fire " is used with various mean¬ 
ings. Such looseness of expression renders useful discussion very 
difficult. Field Artillery Drill defines indirect laying as follows :— 
“ In indirect laying the elevation is obtained by the use of a clino¬ 
meter or spirit-level, instead of by laying direct on the target with 
tangent or telescopic sights. It may be used in the following cases : 
“ (i). When the target is indistinct; 
“ (ii). When the target, though visible from the battery, can¬ 
not be seen over the sights of some of the guns ; 
“ (iii). When firing from behind cover 33 
And yet anyone reading Major Keir’s paper would think that 
" indirect fire " and “ fire from behind cover 33 were synonymous 
terms. 
Against indirect laying in cases (i.) and (ii.) I have nothing to say, 
except that you cannot use it against a moving target, as I will show 
later. If the circumstances mentioned are unavoidable—as they must 
sometimes be—it is the best way out of the difficulty. 
Against occasional uses of (iii.) (Fire from behind cover) I have also 
nothing to say. It is legislated for in our text books, practised by all 
batteries coming to Okehampton, .and, no doubt, there will be occasions 
on service where such fire will be most useful. What I do maintain, 
however, is what I said at Captain Pilcher's lecture :— 
“ To the use of such practice on the battle-field I believe there to be 
such strong objections as to render any general employment of it 
absolutely out of the question." 
My reasons I gave as the following :— 
I.—It is very rare to find ground where you can carry on the 
practice with more than a single battery. 
II. and III.—You cannot change your target or concentrate your 
fire without making elaborate arrangements. 
IV.—You cannot fire at moving targets at all. 
V.—Moral effect. 
Major Keir has taken these in order. At the risk of being tedious 
I must attempt to do the same. 
L—It is very rare to find ground where you can carry on the 
practice with more than a single battery. 
No doubt positions can be found easily enough when firing blank, 
but when the question of the shell clearing the crest of the cover has 
to be taken into account difficulties crop up. That this point is not 
attended to when firing blank is proved by the frequency with which 
batteries do take up such positions at Okehampton, and are only stopped 
from firing into the covering ground in front by the Commandant 
interfering. At manoeuvres such positions would often be much 
admired. 
More than this, every gunner will admit that to get any effect from 
