224 
REPORTS ON THE BELGIAN ARTILLERY. 
EXTRACT FROM REPORT ON THE BELGIAN FIELD ARTILLERY, 
BY MAJOR AND BT.-LT.-COL. H. BRACKENBURY, R.A., 
DATED 16 th OCTOBER, 1876. 
Practice 
cai’ried on 
at Brass- 
chaet. 
Only 20 
rounds per 
gun allowed. 
Programme 
for 1876. 
“ Eegu - 
lating 
practice. 
“War prac¬ 
tice. 
“ Practice 
with re¬ 
duced char¬ 
ges. 
In a report recently made by me upon the Belgian garrison and siege 
artillery, I drew attention to the practical nature of the practice carried on 
each year by the batteries both of siege and field artillery. I may, perhaps, 
before closing this report, be again allowed to draw attention to the practice 
of the field artillery. 
Every battery carries on yearly practice at the Polygone of Brasschaet, 
where it passes three weeks for this purpose. Economy being of great 
importance, the object is to get'the greatest amount of instruction out of the 
smallest amount of ammunition. 
I find that in 1876, 20 rounds per gun only were allowed. 
The following are extracts from the orders for the year 1876 
“ Each field battery and battery of horse artillery will carry out the following 
programme 
“ 1. Practice for the purpose of regulating the guns, with shells not filled. (Tir 
de reglage a obus d’exercice.) 
“2. War practice. 
“3. Experimental practice with reduced charges. 
“The ‘regulating practice* will be carried out by all the six guns of each battery, 
with 10 rounds per gun, at a range of 1400 metres (1531yds.) From the results 
of this practice, as compared with those obtained in 1875, the Commandant of the 
School of Practice will decide whether the existing classification of the guns 
according to their shooting should be retained or modified. 
“ This regulating practice precedes the war practice. 
“ The war practice will be carried out after a march of about 9 miles, with 4 
guns per battery, and 10 rounds of common shell or shrapnel per gun. This practice 
will be at objects as nearly as possible resembling what would have to be fired at in 
war, including moving targets; and officers commanding batteries will not know 
the nature of the object to be fired at until they arrive on the ground. 
“The ranges will vary between 800 and 2500 metres (875 and 2734 yds.) 
“ The practice with reduced charges will be carried out with 2 guns per battery, 
and 10 rounds of unfilled shells per gun. This practice will be conducted according 
to a programme made out by the permanent Committee of Experiments, with a view 
to ascertaining, as regards field guns, what are the probable deviations with reduced 
charges, in order to complete the range tables for these guns. If possible, practice 
with reduced charges will be carried on consecutively on the same day by the three 
