619 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
BY 
MAJOR E. S. MAY, R.A. 
PART III.— Chapter II. 
The Transition Period. 
The next occasion on which artillery was opposed by hostile g'uns, 
under conditions such as might lead us to draw valuable and trust¬ 
worthy conclusions from its action, was the campaign in Northern Italy 
of 1859. Bat with reference to it we are confronted with an insuperable 
difficulty. In the first place the armament, as regards artillery on both 
sides, were by no means equal, for whereas the French guns were rifled, 
those of the Austrians were not. Conclusions drawn from the premises 
afforded by such a state of things are not of value, nor need artillery 
claim credit for achievements effected where the conditions under which 
both sides fought were not the same. 
Moreover, although at Solferino the French artillery did excel¬ 
lent service and were handled in the orthodox fashion, impartial 
observers do not even here report their effect as destructive as it 
might have been. Major Miller 1 2 says that although the new rifled 
cannon was said by the French to have produced magnificent results, 
the Austrians did not endorse the story, and that their real power 
could hardly be observed in the first battles. At Solferino their 
effect was marked, but their fuzes acted badly, and the results were 
thus diminished. Taubert on the other hand criticizes the manner in 
which, at Solferino, the Austrian guns were handled. No combined 
effort was made, their reserve of 100 guns never fired a shot, and out 
of 800 pieces on the ground, but 360 were brought into action. 
Nor does the French official account 3 speak with much enthusiasm of 
what their artillery achieved. At Majenta 3 it is stated that General 
Auger so shattered the centre of the Austrian line with a battery of 
40 guns that he prevented their reforming, and that the columns 
hastened to get beyond the scope of his searching fire, while at 
Solferino we read of guns correctly handled in masses and taking 
their due share in the fighting, while the single Austrian batteries 
which attempted to engage them were destroyed. But we hear of no 
brilliant blows, no headlong enterprise, and no splendid results. The 
1 “ A study of the Italian Campaign of 1859,” by Major Miller, It. A. 
2 “ Campaigne de l’Empereur Napoleon III. en Italie, 1859.” 
3 Miller throws doubt on the authenticity of this achievement . 
12. VOL. XIX. 
