264 
FIELD ARTILLERY FIRE* 
is now possible to get some clear idea of tbe principles that should not 
be violated. 
1. The system must be simple and should be capable of applica¬ 
tion without the aid of pencil and paper or note-book, and, if 
possible, without the aid of a range-table (the latter can be 
avoided by having every scale on fuze, tangent scale, clino¬ 
meter, and range-finder, all marked in yards). Complicated 
systems always break down, or, like the Belgian, which involves 
the use of note-books and tables of fire and takes two men to 
carry it out, are inordinately slow at a time when rapidity 
means salvation. 
2. All orders should be repeated and not interpreted. 
3. A round, about the observation of which there is the least 
doubt, should never be taken as a basis for corrections. 
4. All guns should take the initial elevation and all alterations 
ordered in order that a doubtful round may be repeated as 
often as necessary. 
5. To avoid creeping up all alterations both of elevation and fuze 
should, during ranging, err if anything on the side of bold¬ 
ness. 
The short bracket having been established , at what elevation should the 
verifying series be fired ? 
In the French and German services the verifying series is generally 
fired at the lower elevation of the short bracket. In our service it is 
fired at the mean of the two elevations of the short bracket. 
The French short bracket is so small that at short ranges almost the 
whole, and at long ranges more than the whole, of it is contained 
within the probable rectangle of the rounds fired at this lower elevation. 
With the German and accepted English short bracket this is not the 
case, so we will compare the relative merits of each of the two latter 
methods of procedure. 
As a datum from which to start we will take the 12-pr. B.L. gun. 
This piece has a 50 per cent, rectangle, the length of which varies 
with the range from 19 to 31 yards, so, for purposes of investigation, 
we will take the mean of 25 yards. 
<- 25 YARDS- X - 25 YARDS-X-- 25 YARDS-> 
SHORT BRACKET 50 YARDS 
Example.—If the short bracket has been established by two rounds, 
A and B y 50 yards apart, it is evident that the target may be in any 
position between A and B. 
If the lower elevation of the bracket be taken for the verifying 
series the space covered by these rounds will be that represented by 
