222 
REPORTS ON THE BELGIAN ARTILLERY. 
batteries still going on,-and from what we then saw and subsequently 
ascertained, the following remarks are taken :— 
Siege bat- Each siege battery goes down in marching order to a work representing 
form S du e ties a portion of the ramparts of a fortress, and there performs the duties for 
a S perma- m 24 hours, exactly as though it were on duty in a front of fortification in time 
nent work, 0 f war> ]q mounts the guns, brings up stores and projectiles, and fills the 
expense magazine in the reverse slope of the ramparts. It mounts guard, 
and has its look-out man always in his place, as he would be in war. 
Practice At an uncertain hour a petard is exploded in one or other of the batteries 
teryat*" in the parallels of the siege works thrown up against the fortress battery; 
siege works. ^h en another representing the fire of guns. The officers have then to open 
fire upon the battery thus indicated, and if guns are mounted there to 
endeavour to dismount them, whether in embrasures or behind a solid 
parapet. The first shot should be fired within a quarter of an hour of the 
explosion of the petards. The range may or may not be known, but the 
exact elevation and deviation required must be found, and it is recognised 
that on no two days will these be precisely the same, in consequence, 
probably, of changes in atmospheric conditions. These the troops are taught 
to find by their fire, which should always commence short of the object fired 
at, the elevation being gradually increased. When the exact elevation is 
apparently attained, it is recognised that according to theory of probabilities 
one shot in a certain number will fall short, and if this does not happen the 
elevation is apparently too great, and a trial shot is fired at a lower elevation. 
System of Pickets painted white are placed in the line of fire in the covered way, 
pmifets b m and when the real elevation is ascertained, and the gun laid by it, the tangent 
covered scale b ar | s raised, and the elevation noted to lay on a mark on the picket. 
After this, the laying is always on the pickets, which offer an easy mark, 
instead of on the scarcely discernible object which a low siege battery presents 
at a range of from 1000 to 2000 yds. Eire is continued at night, the gun 
being laid on a light placed on the picket. We saw good practice at 1800 yds. 
System of 
laying with 
“ ligne de 
mire ren- 
vers^e.” 
Practice 
from coast 
battery at 
moving 
tffrget. 
Siege bat¬ 
teries go on 
duty in the 
trenches. 
Practice 
from siege 
batteries at 
concealed 
targets. 
Practice 
varies 
yearly. 
There is another system of laying the gun taught—viz., that known as 
“ ligne de mire renversee.” The No. 1 lays from a small wooden eye-piece 
placed on the muzzle, the bar of the tangent scale serving as a sight, at a 
mark on a picket placed on the line of fire, in rear of the battery. We saw 
excellent practice of this kind at 1200 yds. 
Eiring is also carried on from a coast battery at a movable target 
representing a ship in motion. 
A battery sent on trench duty brings up through the trenches its siege 
guns and mounts them in the night. Its programme includes firing to 
destroy targets concealed behind a glacis, by curved or indirect fire at various 
ranges. 
The practice for each battery varies each year, 
for the year 1876. 
I append a programme 
Examples As examples of the system of teaching the field artillery, the following may 
artillery be given 
practice. 
