SHRAPNEL EIRE. 
211 
g . In a retreat, when fhe range is constantly lessening, and it is 
of importance to keep the batteries as long in action and as much ont 
of the road as possible. 
When the position of the enemy is such that he can by simply shift¬ 
ing his ground quickly avoid the fire—as for instance, a regiment of 
cavalry in case d —it will be necessary to make the fire as much a 
surprise as possible. With this view, the range having been carefully 
ascertained, and every allowance which pre-experience of powder, fuzes, 
&c., may suggest having been carefully made, a salvo should be fired 
and be followed immediately by shells previously prepared and ready 
at the guns themselves, in order to save time. 
When however this is not the case the range should, after having 
been carefully ascertained, be verified by one or two common shell, 
and, the necessary allowance being made, shrapnel should then follow 
as soon as possible. 
Percussion fuzes must be used, as the present time fuzes are too 
short to be available. This is to be regretted, since in the Oke- 
hampton experiments when the experimental time fuzes used were 
successful, their effect was so much greater than those of percussion as 
to give every reason to believe that they would prove as far superior 
in actual practice as the theory of their action would lead one to 
suppose. 
The great loss of power, and consequently of effect, which shrapnel 
suffer from increase of range is so great that the responsibility of the 
officer who uses them at distant objects must be considerable. In any 
of the cases above stated opening fire early may be absolutely neces¬ 
sary; the only responsibility remaining will then be that it is not 
continued one moment too long. If however there is no such 
absolute necessity, surely some very sufficient reasons should be 
demanded from an officer who in the earlier and comparatively unim¬ 
portant period of an engagement, when the effect produced could from 
the length of the range at best be but small, should expend ammu¬ 
nition which later on would be capable of exerting the enormous 
power that shrapnel at ordinary and short ranges has been shown to 
possess ; and which might, if reserved for really critical periods, 
exercise a deciding influence on the fortunes of the day, 
2. To long ranges the foregoing remarks will apply to a modified 
extent. The possibility of verifying the range with shrapnel is greater, 
the loss of power in the projectile is less, and there is therefore less 
chance of wasting ammunition. Time fuzes are available up to a 
certain point; they should therefore be used when other conditions are 
favourable. 
It need hardly be insisted upon that firing at moving objects at 
distant and long ranges is a matter of great difficulty. If such a cfourse 
should seem really necessary—as for instance in the last of the cases 
contemplated above—the range of some well defined spot which the 
enemy must pass should be ascertained, and if possible verified by a few 
rounds. Fire can then be opened when they are at a distance from it 
sufficient to compensate for the allowance due to the time of flight of 
the shell. 
