72 
DISCUSSION ON ARTILLERY. 
blind and so on. I am averse to changing charges because it 
requires ranging again,—you have to range afresh. 
The detonation is the next point, and about that it is very difficult 
to give an opinion. The explosions that I saw and heard were tre¬ 
mendous,—tremendous explosions took place ; but I saw also on every 
occasion enormous clouds of smoke mingled with dust which was so 
thick that on the 2nd of September, it completely prevented our firing 
except at very slow rates. There was a light air which blew to¬ 
wards us, and again and again we could not see the objective for a 
considerable time owing to these clouds of smoke and dust; and I do 
not think that points to what we call detonation having taken place. 
At the same time the effects were exceedingly good, and so I think it 
does not much matter what you call it. I saw very large flashes 
occasionally but what they meant I do not know. I never saw any¬ 
thing set on fire. With all those shells that fell into that place some 
of them must have hit something inflammable, but I watched carefully 
to see if anything was going to begin burning and I saw nothing—I 
do not think any fire was lighted by all that bombardment and that 
also made me think that a few incendiary shells would be a valuable 
piece of additional equipment,—something that you could be sure 
would set the place on fire if you wanted to do so; because it is con¬ 
ceivable that you might be asked to set a village on fire and it would 
not be at all satisfactory if you could not do it. 
The Chairman :—If you will forgive me for interrupting you once 
more, on the subject of detonation, could you observe the colour of the 
smoke ? 
Lieut.-Colonel Elmslie :—Yes Sir, it appeared to me to be yellow or 
grey. I saw no black smoke that I remember; there may have been 
a little now and then; but there were great clouds of smoke and dust 
there, and I did not see any black at any rate. 
The accuracy was excellent so far as I was able to judge. We got 
the ranges very quickly, and when the ranges were got we got a very 
large number of hits. I felt personally quite satisfied with the guns; 
I thought they were shooting well. A great deal of course depends, with 
howitzers, upon the ground on which the guns are standing and I was 
fortunate enough to have officers who understood what they were 
doing, so that when the ground got a little cut up, they shifted the gun 
to a better piece and by watching it and working it as we always do 
with the greatest care, the accuracy was very great. I have no idea 
how many hits we actually got at different objects but we got a very 
large number. When we fired at the walls, we got hit after hit. 
As to the effects of the fire, I am only able to say what I 
saw from the guns during the firing. I had not an opportunity, 
unfortunately, of getting into the town, which I am sorry for, 
and always shall be, but it cannot be helped. To take first of all a 
prominent object, the dome of the tomb, we very quickly got on to 
that; at the third shot I think we got a hit and after that we got a 
great many hits. Some of the first shells knocked holes in it; at one 
time I saw a dozen holes I suppose in the dome; and then there came 
