346 
GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1894 . 
Method of 
bringing bat¬ 
teries into 
position. 
Difficulties 
of bringing 
several bat. 
teries into 
action by 
personal 
command. 
Guns only to 
be placed 
where they 
can be 
worked. 
The acci- 
dental battle. 
It will rarely happen that in positions where good cover is available, 
a large number of batteries will be brought into action simultaneously 
under personal command, as the old argument that single batteries 
coming into action will be crushed by superior fire no longer holds good. 
A single battery which has been brought up under cover, and which 
is firing smokeless powder, no longer draws upon itself the concentrated 
fire of a number of guns, while, on the other hand, it can range much 
more rapidly when firing alone than when part of a line of guns in 
action. 
Anyone who has watched a line of 3 batteries being brought into 
position, by sign or word of command from its Brigade Division Com¬ 
mander, on an at all cramped or difficult crest line, will be convinced 
of the difficulty of the task, and of the unnecessary exposure to view 
which it entails. By moving batteries in echelon, or refusing one or both 
flanks, the evil may be mitigated, but the best plan would appear to be 
to give Officers Commanding batteries a free hand, and not to hamper 
them, at this moment, by distracting their attention from more impor¬ 
tant matters to the details of drill. 
In the absence of cover the deficiency must be counteracted by rapid 
simultaneous movement. 
When the last of the batteries has come into position the time should 
be noted, and the opportunity would seem a favourable one for the di¬ 
rector of manoeuvres to inspect the general position. 
To avoid the perching of guns on razor-topped crests, where they 
could not remain in practice, no gun should be allowed to be placed in 
a position where it has not room to recoil at least two complete revolu¬ 
tions of the gun wheels. 
This brings us to the conclusion of the second tactical exercise. 
The case in which two forces come into contact when both are on the 
move, will present more difficulties to the Artillery Commander than 
either of the preceding ones, on account of the uncertainty of the task 
before him. The greater distance between the advanced guard and the 
main body, in case of the attacker, will require great quickness of de¬ 
cision and rapidity of movement if the retiring enemy is to be brought 
to a stand in time for the infantry to arrive and fight a decisive action 
before night. 
As the conditions of such a fight must be dependent on the move¬ 
ments of the enemy, opportunities for the practice of this kind of 
engagement will be best afforded in tactical manoeuvres in combination 
with other arms. This brings us to 
PART II. 
Tactical Exercises in Combination with other Arms. 
Being now in the position of having an enemy, we shall be able to 
continue our examination of the conduct of artillery in masses beyond 
their first encounter with him. 
Now, although our text-books sketch out a form of procedure for the 
action of artillery during the so-called phases of a fight in a modern 
