345 
EMPLOYMENT OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
direct its fire entirely on the infantry, and maintain its positions in spite 
of all losses sustained from infantry fire. Under no circumstances 
should it limber up and retire before the decision of the combat. 
Guns must not be moved to the rear except by orders of the officer 
commanding the troops, or officer commanding artillery (officers com¬ 
manding divisional artilleries). Cases where single divisions* are 
forced to make slight changes of front to avoid flanking fire are 
exceptions. 
An attacking enemy must be fired upon until he actually enters the 
battery; and the possibility of losing guns is no excuse for leaving a 
position. 
If an enemy is repulsed, the artillery must, by directing its fire on 
such larger bodies of his troops as retain their formation, try and break 
down his power of resistance completely. 
Breaking off an Engagement. 
The officers commanding the artillery (officers commanding divisional 
artilleries) must be guided by the relative positions at the time, and by the 
directions they have received from the officer commanding the troops, 
in determining which division* is first to retire, and in what succession 
the others are to follow in echelon, and which is to remain with the 
rear-guard. 
As a rule the division* least engaged will be at once directed to take 
up positions in rear, and facilitate the withdrawal of the troops out of 
fire by checking the enemy’s pursuit. 
The positions most suitable for this purpose are those in rear, and to 
the flank of the position about to be vacated. 
Retirements must always be commenced at a walk; at an increased 
pace only under imminent danger, when the unmasking the positions 
already prepared in the rear becomes necessary. 
Fights for Localities. 
In an attack on localities (farmhouses, villages, woods), the role of 
the artillery, in most cases, is confined to supporting the infantry. The 
instances where an enemy can be induced to quit a locality by the fire 
of guns alone will be few. 
As soon as the objective point has been indicated to the artillery, it 
must prepare for the attack of the infantry by destroying with its fire 
all impediments likely to waste their strength in trying to surmount 
them. 
This preparatory artillery fire must, on the one hand, be continued 
long enough to give time for it to create a real effect, while, on the 
other, it must cease before it becomes dangerous to the advancing 
* Three batteries. 
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