ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
653 
The persistance which guns have shown in facing superior odds 
undauntedly, the unselfishness in which they have stood between their 
defeated comrades and the pursuit, or the fearless enterprise with which 
they have gone forward to their assistance or to the attack, have all 
been exemplified in the previous pages, and it is on achievements carried 
through by spirit, skill and courage, rather than those rendered possi¬ 
ble by superior strategy or materiel , that we would here rather dwell. 
We trust however that we shall be able to show that, if the German 
gunners played a winning game well, they did not on many occasions 
fail also to evince qualities which would have been equal to a less one¬ 
sided contest. 
An idea is, in fact, somewhat widely spread in this country that the 
Germans always fought with the “ big battalions ” on their side, and 
that their victories did not therefore demand the same devoted sacri¬ 
fices that are usually called for. This, however, was by no means the 
case, as we shall presently point out, and in the majority of the battles 
we shall deal with, the odds were considerably against them, while in 
all, at certain localities the invaders had to face superior numbers. 
The guns which played so conspicuous a part were at times called on 
to make unusual exertions to restore the balance rather than preserve 
it, and had, moreover, habitually to contend against an infantry armed 
with a weapon which was immensely superior to that of their own side, 
and, as a military fire-arm, left little to be desired. 
It is these occasions that we would chiefly emphasize, and we will 
pass over therefore what was effected by the 66 guns with which, at 
Weissenburg, the Germans hammered their opponent’s position, nor 
will we pause to accurately weigh the precise value which the con¬ 
querors at Woerth derived from the great mass of 108 1 cannon which. 
1 24 guns of the advanced guard of the 11th Corps, 
formed one mass. Official account, Part I., Vol I. 
and 84 of the 5th Corps, which practically 
87 
