348 
EMPLOYMENT OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
troops with its fire, and hindering them from deploying, effectively 
prepare for the attack on them. 
Hence horse artillery should be so placed in the column of march 
that it may readily move out and take up a position, frequently, and 
perhaps generally far out on the flank and in advance, from which a fire 
can be kept up for a considerable time, without interfering with the 
deploying of the cavalry or being itself masked by their advance. 
Flanking, though at times exposed, positions must generally be taken 
up, giving as they do the artillery the command of the battlefield, 
without the fear of its getting entangled in the cavalry melee 
Under no circumstances should the artillery come into action in front 
of its cavalry, nor, as a rule, must it be divided. 
The continually changing nature of a cavalry fight puts it out of the 
power of the officer commanding the artillery to await orders in every 
case; he will here, more than in any other position, be called upon to 
use his own judgment. And to be in a position to do this he must be 
perfectly cognisant with the intended operations, consequently he 
should not quit the side of the officer commanding the troops until his 
batteries are actually going to be brought into action. 
When once the cavalry has commenced to attack, the time remaining 
for effective action of artillery is short, and if missed, irrecoverable. 
The artillery will, however, efficiently perform its part, if it succeeds in 
firing a few effective shots against the enemy’s cavalry; which, however, 
should, if circumstances admit, be allowed to approach to within effec¬ 
tive shrapnel range. 
When no longer able to fire without endangering its cavalry, the 
artillery must limber up and await the course of events. 
If the attack succeeds, the artillery must hurry forward and assist 
in the pursuit; should the attack prove unsuccessful, the guns must 
endeavour to gain a position from which they can check the enemy’s 
pursuit. 
In attacks of large bodies of cavalry on infantry, the artillery 
attached to the former must strive to get as near as possible to those 
detachnlents which, from their position, allow of a searching fire being 
brought against them, and these will then also become the object 
of the cavalry attack. 
Escort for Artillery. 
Officers commanding troops are ordered by the imperial regulations 
for the evolutions of cavalry to provide the artillery with suitable 
escorts, whenever necessary, and these regulations also detail the duties 
of officers in command of such escorts. 
When artillery marches alone, an escort is always desirable. 
Its strength, and the arm of which it is composed, must depend upon 
the particular duty upon Avhich the artillery is to be employed, and 
upon the number of guns to be escorted; care, however, must be taken 
that the troops from which the escort is furnished be not unduly 
weakened ; it follows, therefore, that in the course of an action an escort 
may be changed, or even withdrawn. 
