208 
SHRAPNEL EIRE, 
effective at such an object when the major axis of tbe figure corresponds 
with the line to be attacked, and that the nearer they approached a right 
angle to one another the more effect would be lost. It would appear, 
therefore, that if batteries could turn their attention to lines either to 
their right or left rather than to those in their immediate front, and this 
even at the risk of having to act at longer ranges, they would increase 
their effect; the drawback to such a recommendation being, of course, the 
difficulty under such circumstances of obtaining a fire evenly divided along 
the line of attack from a number of batteries in the line of defence. 
When a particular point of a line of defence is threatened with a serious 
attack, it will often be advisable, if the ground and other conditions render 
it possible, to trust to batteries on the flank rather than in the position 
itself. They will not in the earlier portion draw a fire which must 
seriously incommode the other troops in the position; and as the attack 
advances the greater will become the effect of their fire. 
The batteries actually in the position attacked will do best to turn 
their attention as soon as possible to the supports, especially while these 
latter retain the company column formation, leaving the infantry to 
keep down and draw off the fire of the enemy's first line. In the first 
place, the supports offer a much better object; and in the second, a 
great point is gained if they can be checked or seriously weakened. 
Supports will nearly always push on however great may be the losses 
in the front; but they are not so ready to do so when they are them¬ 
selves shaken by an effective fire. Those in front will generally press 
on against very heavy fire if they feel they are strongly and actively 
supported; but as a rule they soon lose heart when the contrary is the 
case, and at the best do little more than maintain their ground in the 
hope of assistance arriving. Even should they still press on, the attack 
must be delivered with a weak line unsupported; and this, since it 
must certainly fail, is really a gain to the defence. 
When infantry avail themselves of such cover as described above, or 
lie down, shrapnel shell with time fuzes has, from the searching effect of 
its angle of descent, an infinitely greater chance than percussion. It 
must be remembered that when the cover affords considerable protection, 
it is necessary, as already described in the matter of gun pits, to burst 
the shell rather high, so as to obtain the greatest possible angle of 
descent for the bullets without throwing away too much of the effective 
portion of the cone. In the case of shelter trenches, the remarks on lines 
given above will also apply. 
Against infantry holding such a position as the outskirts of a wood 
it would seem best to use shrapnel with time fuzes as long as it may be 
inferred, from the amount of fire or other causes, that they are in force 
on its outskirts, and when therefore the only cover they could have is 
a small depth of brushwood. As soon as there is reason to believe that 
they have retired further into the wood, and have such cover as trunks 
of trees and a large depth of brushwood, shrapnel would be no longer 
effective and common shell should take its place. 
The above remarks have reference more especially to the action of 
the artillery of the defence. They will, however, apply equally to the 
attack. The latter, however, will always do well to have some rounds 
