374 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1894 . 
guns; and secondly, because it would seem to imply that masses of 
guns must concentrate their fire always on one and the same target. 
Unless this latter dictum be intended in its broadest sense, it cannot 
be entirely accepted, and it is open to misconstruction. Masses of 
guns, it may be assumed, will at certain stages of the fight, bring their 
lire to converge on an objective which might correctly be described as 
one target, but often that objective will only be relatively small, and a 
concentration on any one portion of it restricted enough to be regarded 
as what we are accustomed to speak of as a target would be an error. 
For example, a mass of guns might be formed to enable a village to be 
carried. Some of the batteries would fire on its borders, and the space 
to be cannonaded would be distributed amongst them; others would 
assail the principal buildings, others watch the hostile guns and pre¬ 
vent, if possible, their deployment; while the majority, we may assume, 
would bring a heavy and converging fire to bear upon that portion 
which had been specially selected for assault. The mass here is directed 
on the same objective, and yet upon one that offers several targets. 
It will be better to avoid pedantic niceties and to state generally, that 
a mass of artillery means the concentration of a greater number of pieces 
than are contained in the tactical units of the day for the attainment of 
some definite end. 
The tactical unit, we must remember, varies with the improvements 
which have been effected in the arm. Formerly, the battery was thus 
regarded; 1 2 now, and for some years, in all armies, the Brigade Division 
has taken its place, wdiile the battery is left as the technical or fire 
unit. In Continental armies, moreover, a tendency to accept a still 
larger tactical unit is noticeable, due to the growth in importance of 
Field Artillery, but for our purpose the definition we have given will 
fully suffice. 
And now, with reference to the objects with which such masses have 
already usually been formed. They have been used :—• 
To crush the enemy^s resistance and force a way for the columns 
of attack (Wagram, Waterloo, Gettysburg). 
To make or repel a flank attack (Rossbach, Bautzen, Manassas, 
the employment of von WitticlTs guns, in the evening, at 
Loigny-Poupry, and those of the French Guard, during the 
morning, at Wagram). 
To cover the issue from a defile, or the passage of a river (Hanau, 
Fredericksburg, where Burnside brought 147 guns to bear.) 3 
To fill a gap in a weak or shaken line (Wagram, Beaugency, Noisse- 
ville). 
To enable a beaten army to retreat (Koniggratz). 
But the advances in artillery science have given the arm such inde¬ 
pendence that during the Franco-German war it dared more greatly, 
and it is not unreasonable to assume that we may see it again aspiring 
1 Even in 1892 the writer of the “Duncan ” Gold Medal Prize Essay wrote : “ The battery of 
six guns is the unit for Horse and Field Artillery,” Yol. XIX., p.490, “ Proceedings ” K.A.I. 
It was then and is now the fire hut not the tactical unit. 
See also the paragraph from Duncan’s “ History of the Regiment,” quoted on the same page. 
2 147 guns were employed, which fired 7356 rounds of ammunition, and according to an eye¬ 
witness, “100 guns per minute were frequently discharged.” “Life of General R. E. Lee,” by 
John Cook, p. 176. 
