257 
V 
JUN a61894 
NOTES 
OK 
OUR MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY ESTABLISHMENTS, THEIR 
TRAINING AND PERSONAL EQUIPMENT. 
BY 
MAJOR H. 0. 0. D. SIMPSON, R.A. 
The first point to consider is : have we a sufficient number of trained 
Mountain Artillerymen in our service ? A study of our minor wars of 
tlie last quarter of a century, in Abyssinia, on our North American, 
West and South African frontiers, in our Eastern Colonies, and in the 
Egyptian Soudan; together with a contemplation of what may happen 
in the future in Armenia or Eastern Europe, should, apart from all 
Indian requirements convince us of the necessity of maintaining at Home, 
and in our Eastern Mediterranean Stations, a sufficient number of trained 
Mountain Artillerymen for service with a field force operating in a 
theatre of war where the employment of mountain guns would be, as in 
the past, imperative. 
The value of organising in times of peace a force of Mountain Artillery 
for service in a country where pack transport is, if not altogether com¬ 
pulsory, a necessary adjunct to any force, has been fully recognised by 
most of the Continental powers, and the advance made by France and 
Russia in the past few years in this respect, is very striking. 
Up to very recently, Russia as an example, although possessing a 
large number of Mountain Batteries for service in Asia, had practically, 
no permanently organised batteries in Europe. Now she has a fine 
regiment with its head-quarters at Kieff. 
Austria, Italy, the Balkan powers, Switzerland, and Spain, have all 
increased their Mountain Artillery force of late years, and the latter 
power has made full use of their services in its engagements lately with 
the Riff Kabyles. 
Now, our Indian and Colonial frontiers are of equal, if not greater, 
importance to us, as their European frontiers or Colonies are to other 
European states. It is not at all clear, moreover, bearing in mind the 
close nature of the country of England which prevents Field Artillery, 
except in rare instances from operating off the roads, that a role could 
not be found with advantage, for guns capable of monoeuvring over any 
ground (that an infantry soldier can work with his rifle), in the scheme 
of home defence. 
The definition of Mountain Artillery has to embrace a more compre¬ 
hensive meaning with us, than Mule Batteries operating in the 
mountains. 
6. vol. xxr. 
35 
