ATTACK OF A MODERN LAND FORTRESS. 
473 
howitzers, when it is not desirable to waste the heavy shell of the 
latter on minor tasks. 
To employ it for shrapnel fire is to sacrifice a proportion of its use- Field 
fulness. The engineer of the defence will be wise if he provides both ^.r^pneT 
guns and Infantry with efficient protection against shrapnel fire, and 
high-angle shrapnel is not efficient against loop-holed wails and parapets, 
though percussion shrapnel from high-velocity guns is. In any case,, 
the high explosive common shell of this howitzer has great power as a 
man-killing projectile, and is probably more to be relied on for that 
purpose than a low velocity shrapnel. 
Batteries will not have to be constructed for these howitzers, although 
some form of light splinter-proof and also platforms are certainly desir¬ 
able for those in the more permanent positions, assuming them to be, of 
course, in concealed situations. As their objectives will be various, and 
their handling have to conform to the exigencies of the Infantry attack 
and the ever-changing development of the defence, their fire will have 
to be directed by visual observation, as with Field Batteries, though 
instruments might be employed if occasion served. The question 
whether platforms of some description should not be provided for 
Field Howitzers when acting with a Siege Train is one that certainly 
requires careful consideration. 
III .—General Method of Carrying Out the Attach. The Attack, 
The fact of a siege being undertaken assumes the absence or retreat Advance of 
of a hostile army. The advance of the Field Army would generally t5 Armyf d 
be on a broad front in two or more columns, the flanks being protected 
and concealed by Cavalry screens. 
The Defender is not likely to undertake offensive operations at any 
great distance from the fortress; at Danzig such operations were dis¬ 
astrous to those engaged, and at Belfort they failed to delay an advance 
made with very weak forces ; experience proves that they should not 
extend beyond the effective range of the guns of the fortress, except in 
the way of Cavalry observation, at a distance of not more than a day’s 
march. 
The besieger will then enclose the place by a blockading line to cut Preliminary 
off supplies and communication with the surrounding country ; the pSon! 
question whether he shall at once close in his forces and complete the 
“close investment” will depend on— 
(1.) The strength of the works and power of the ordnance of the 
defence. 
(2.) The character of the Infantry defence, and whether his ad¬ 
vanced posts are pushed far to the front. 
(3.) The besieger’s own strength, and the power and number of 
ordnance of the Auxiliary Armament present with the 
Field Army. 
Belfort may be cited as an example of the danger of too close an close invest, 
investment with an insufficient force of Artillery. ment * 
Assuming the conditions to be favourable, the investment line will 
be closed in by a general advance on the fortress, strongly supported 
63 
