702 
FI EE DISCIPLINE AND SKILL-AT-ARMS. 
maud would also be ensured. 
Having considered the question of moving into position, let us look 
for a moment at the second of my statements. We want now to strike 
the blow. Fire is to commence within something less than a minute 
of the trails touching the ground. Distribution of fire commences 
with the opening of fire. The only necessary commands would be the 
range at which to open and the rate of fire. The batteries will be 
fought by their own commanders. At the same time there is an expres¬ 
sion creeping into essays and instructions which does not tend to higher 
Fire Discipline or to discipline of any sort. The word “ interfere,” 
when it refers to the action of a Commanding Officer, be he a Brigade 
Division or a Battery Commander, ought to be expunged from all 
printed matter. The only man who should not be interfered with is 
the officer in command. 
I do not intend to more than touch on the subject of Fire Discipline. 
It has been ably treated by the authors of the “ Gold ” and “ Silver 
Medal Prize Essays.” Those who cry down the necessity of further 
efforts in promoting it would have us believe that it always existed in 
some form or other. That has not been the experience of most Battery 
Commanders of the present day who, after all, are the best judges, for 
they see what it is now and remember it had no existence when they 
were subalterns. At the same time I venture to suggest that it is not 
advisable to attempt to lay down a drill for Fire Discipline. All origin¬ 
ality ought not to be sapped. Battery Commanders ought to have a 
free hand as regards working by signal or using their voice, as long as 
orders are rapidly and correctly passed on. Any successful plan for 
improving Fire Discipline would be generally adopted. The “ Proceed¬ 
ings” of the R.A. Institution affords a ready means of making known 
any such plans, and there are, no doubt, many excellent schemes which 
have never been divulged, for the reason that they would not agree 
with the Drill-Book or instructions for practice. There are many who 
think marks for Fire Discipline should disappear altogether at the com¬ 
petitive practice. I am at a loss to know why they should be given at 
all. The faults for which deductions are made surely carry with them 
sufficient penalty, and naturally Battery Commanders fight shy of 
trying anything not laid down, for the simple reason that probably 
points would be deducted. 
In conclusion I venture to predict that in the next two years we shall 
see the Brigade Division led into position by its own commander, in a 
way that would please the author of “ Skill-at-Arms,” that its practice, 
when in position, will be far in advance of anything yet attained, and 
that we shall have freed ourselves for ever from all the many prelim¬ 
inary operations now considered necessary before moving guns into 
position. The better drilled and better handled artillery will, in the 
future, as it has in the past, have an enormous advantage over its 
antagonist; and it is becoming more apparent every year that we 
may safely trust to the intelligence, zeal, and devotion of our officers 
and gunners when once in position to keep up the reputation of the 
Field Artillery as far as shooting is concerned. 
Exetek, 
30th September, 1892, 
