319 
FIELD ARTILLERY EIRE. 
BY 
CAPTAIN W. L. WHITE, R.A. 
(School of Gunnery Shoeburyness). 
CHAPTER VII. 
Distribution and Concentration of Fire. 
The systematic distribution of fire with a given object and in a 
regular manner has been developed pari passu with improvements in 
projectiles and increased accuracy in the shooting of guns. 
When solid shot were fired from smooth-bore weapons the practice 
was so inaccurate and effect so difficult to obtain that the concentra¬ 
tion of a large number of pieces against a single gun or against a very 
small portion of the enemy's line was always resorted to whenever the 
ground and the position taken up permitted. But with the introduc¬ 
tion of shrapnel shell, the effect of which is not so local as that of solid 
shot, commenced the distribution of fire, in order to obtain a good 
effect over a large portion of the enemy's front at the same time. 
The effect that it is desired to obtain is not only the material effect 
of killing, but also the moral effect which brings about unsteadiness of 
aim and slackness of service of guns and rifles; the following extract 
will show how great the influence of this moral disturbing effect is : 
“ During the war of 1877 the Turks made great use of repeating arms. 
They inflicted loss at ranges over 1500 yards. The greatest losses 
inflicted were between 1500 and 500 yards, after that less as they 
would not show themselves above the parapet."— Kroupatkin . 
Foreign authorities appear to be agreed that, if two artilleries 
engage one another, the one which first finds the range and com¬ 
mences a distributed fire will so derange the shooting of the other 
batteries that they will never properly find the range at all. 
To arrive at this desired effect rapidly it has been determined that, 
when a ranging point has been selected, fire shall be distributed from 
the time of firing the first shrapnel. No doubt it is rather more diffi¬ 
cult to observe for length of fuze when the fire is distributed over an 
extended front, but at this critical phase of the fight everything must 
be subordinated to the pressing circumstances of the moment. When 
no ranging point is required, that is to say against targets with ex¬ 
tended and continuous fronts, where observation is easy, the fire may 
be distributed from the very first round. 
The amount of front that may be covered by thoroughly effective 
fire from a six-gun battery is about 150 yards. That is to say, the 
breadth of the cone of dispersion is, on the average, about 25 yards 
where the axial bullet strikes, and six times this amount gives the front 
7 . VOL. XIX. 43 
