2 
The elision from the drill-book of all that is superfluous and the retention only 
of what is indispensable will enable the artillery to most thoroughly grasp the 
latter, and so to perfect its preparation for war. The frequent use on future 
battle-fields of artillery in large masses demands from this arm :— 
1. —Ability to carry out long rapid marches. 
2. —Formations adapted to every kind of ground. 
8.—Pliable and rapid evolution, combined with fighting unity, i.e.> the ability 
of a battery to pass the numerous obstacles which will be found in cultivated 
country. Again, the wide development of the artillery fight requires such a 
system of ammunition supply as will at any given moment secure the replenish¬ 
ment of ammunition boxes however great the expenditure may have been. 
Hence follows the necessity for satisfying the requirements enumerated so that 
in no case and under no conditions shall the effect of artillery fire be limited by 
their non-fulfilment. 
The condition of simplicity points to the adoption only of drill movements, the 
nature of which will impose on the most subordinate commanders duties that can 
easily be carried out. The condition of flexibility is fulfilled by the application 
in manoeuvre of those principles which enable artillery to move in every direction 
without being delayed when it encounters unexpected obstacles. Thus the front 
- of a line of batteries must be elastic so that they may adapt themselves to every 
kind of ground, and, moreover, must also allow the possibility in cases of neces¬ 
sity of lessening its vulnerability by increasing the intervals between the guns. 
Eapidity in manoeuvre is obtained by rapid pace and choosing the shortest way; 
as regards long rapid marches it is limited by necessity of using a gentle trot 
which can be kept up for a long while without exhausting the horses. The 
security of ammunition supply requires :—(1) The proximity of the rear echelons 
of the ammunition wagons to the fighting line without exposing them; (2) such 
an organisation of these echelons as will enable them to follow their batteries at 
all paces ; (3) the maintenance of constant communication between the wagons 
and the fighting line ; and (4) keeping the echelons of wagons complete in am¬ 
munition, men and horses. As regards the replenishment of the expenditure of 
ammunition and the replacing of losses in men and horses, our regulations must 
undergo a radical reformation. This follows from the necessity of embodying 
the above-mentioned first echelon of wagons in the fighting line of a battery. 
At practice the feeding of the guns with ammunition is carried out from the 
wagons which with this object must be brought on to the position. At present 
in carrying out service practice in peace time only one wagon per half battery is 
brought into the position, the other two wagons of the battery composing a first 
echelon are generally placed near the fighting line, either apart or in the same 
place as the gun-limbers. It is clear that the supply of eight guns from two 
wagons cannot satisfy the requirements of actual war. At critical moments 
the expenditure of ammunition may exceed the available supply in the two wagons, 
while the exchange of empty wagons in this case always runs the risk of not 
being carried out simultaneously. It would seem better to place in the fighting 
line one wagon per section which would require for an 8-gun battery all the 
wagons of the first echelon. Hence it follows that the present division of our 
batteries at war strength into the fighting line, and the first and second echelon 
of wagons must be altered to a division into the fighting line (guns and limbers 
and one wagon per section) and an echelon of wagons. 
The drills in peace time must be directed to the ceaseless preparation of artil¬ 
lery for their work in war. This principle must be the fundamental one of the 
drill-book. From the conditions of employment of masses of artillery we must 
draw up the regulation for the action of such groups of batteries as are adopted 
as the tactical units of Field Artillery. In our Field Artillery there does not 
yet exist an artillery unit suited to be the tactical unit of artillery. The 6 or 
