402 
COMMENDED ESSAY, 1899. 
4. That all officers should have a sufficient knowledge of siege 
work, to enable them to take their place in the siege train 
with a very little extra training. 
CHAPTER II. 
What training is necessary to enable them to carry out 
THEIR WORK EFFICIENTLY ? 
In the foregoing chapter we have tried to show the various kinds 
of service that Garrison Artillery may be called upon to perform, and 
mentioned generally what would be required of officers in each case. 
Ought we to expect all to be equally well up in each class of work, or 
should there be any difference in the training of coast and siege artill¬ 
ery officers ? 
We think there should be a difference. 
In our present day of high technical knowledge, everyone becomes 
more or less a specialist if he wishes to thoroughly master his particular 
work, and the more science enters into modern warfare, the more is 
this bound to be the case. The time when a man could be equally 
good as a Horse, Field, Mountain, Coast defence or Siege Artillery¬ 
man, besides being an infantryman or cavalryman on occasion, is past. 
The introduction of intricate mechanisms, delicate observing instru¬ 
ments, and above all of tactics which were previously almost non¬ 
existent, has made coast defence a separate science of war, requiring 
specially trained and able officers ; while siege artillery has of late 
years been greatly improved, and the introduction of breech-ioading 
howitzers will necessitate a higher standard of training on the part of 
all concerned. There are also differences in the characteristics which 
officers should possess. 
A Coast Artilleryman should be particularly quick of action and 
decision, able to adapt himself to all conditions, trained to independ¬ 
ence and self-reliance. He should have a knowledge of the sea and 
of ships, and a turn for mechanism. He should be more practical than 
theoretical in his ideas, and above all, smart and clear headed, for 
“ imagine an officer in command of a work defending a channel against 
an enemy’s squadron coming up at full speed. That officer would 
need to be possessed of a promptitude of decision and a quickness 
and energy in acting, to which there would be no parallel on field 
service.”* 
The Siege Artilleryman on the other hand should do his work 
deliberately and quietly, on a well considered and carefully thought 
out plan. He should be a good mathematician, understand modern 
fortification and the construction of batteries, be particularly well up 
in gunnery and ballistics, and have a general knowledge of the work¬ 
ing of the other arms in attack and defence. 
We think therefore, that officers should, as far as possible, be kept 
to the particular branch of Garrison Artillery to which they are best 
* Report of Committee on Organization, 1888. 
