206 
SHRAPNEL EIRE, 
impracticable. • The experience of the Franco-German war shows how 
insignificant such injury is even under the heaviest fire; and the 
Okehampton experiments tend; as far as they go, to confirm it. It 
is to shrapnel then that we must look to effect our purpose. 
When the battery attacked is in action, and the aim is to keep down 
its fire, shrapnel with time fuzes are undoubtedly the most effective. 
If the line of fire is at right angles to its front, not only are the gun 
detachments likely to suffer, but the whole of the ground in rear is 
covered with an effective fire, the result being that the supply of ammu¬ 
nition to the guns becomes a service of danger; besides which, should 
such a formation as that laid down for a battery in action by our “ Field 
Exercise" be adopted, the limbers would, unless they could be retired a 
considerable distance or find effective cover, be exposed to most of the 
bullets ranging beyond the guns. It will, of course, always be advan¬ 
tageous if, by moving towards a flank, the attacking battery can get 
more than one of the enemy's gun detachments into the ground covered 
by the cone of dispersion; but it is often, or indeed generally, difficult 
to manage this, and much or all of the effect on the limbers just 
pointed out would then be lost. 
When the aim is to destroy the mobility of the battery, every effort 
should be made to reach the limbers with time shrapnel. The difficulty 
of gaining any advantage from the use of percussion is patent from the 
results of the Okehampton experiments. 
The position of all others in which a battery may have of necessity 
to expose both men and horses to a very great extent, though only 
for a short time, is when it is coming into action. Such an oppor-^ 
tunity should never be thrown away by the opponents. An officer 
with a battery on the defensive, has an especial advantage in this respect 
when the ground is at all open; he can foresee with something like 
certainty the positions which the enemy are most likely to occupy, and 
his range-finders should have every such range carefully found before¬ 
hand. A few shells should be kept ready for them, and the quickest 
fire possible delivered at the critical moment. For such a purpose 
time shrapnel will give the best results, but if time does not admit of 
the preparation in advance just recommended, percussion should be 
used rather than throw away the opportunity. 
Artillery will naturally take advantage of every possible species of 
cover, and this will necessitate the use of time rather than percussion 
shrapnel. The Okehampton experiments at a gun on the reverse slope 
of a small knoll and in a gun pit show this fact so plainly that it need 
hardly be insisted upon. 
When a battery is on the reverse slope of a hill, it may often seem 
unnecessary to retire the limbers very far from the guns, since the 
height of the ground will generally appear to give perfectly ample 
shelter. Time shrapnel is, however, most effective under such circum¬ 
stances; its angle of descent—especially that of the lower portion of the 
cone—is quite sufficient to sweep the face of most hills that a gun or 
limber could stand on, especially at the longer ranges. Even percussion 
shell would be very effective, since they would have a comparatively 
very low angle of ascent after graze; when they have been used, there 
