462 
ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
the words of Templehof with reference to this disaster, as given by- 
Decker :—“ The batteries which the artillery sent to the left of the 
wood were annihilated in an instant. They had not even time to load 
their guns. Already the officers, the gunners, and the drivers were 
either killed or wounded by the artillery fire of the enemy .” Accord¬ 
ing to Decker, too, the King turned to General Sybourg and said, 
“Did you ever in your life witness such a cannonade ? I, for my part, 
never have.” General Brackenbury goes on himself to say, “such 
was the effect of Daun’s accidentally leaving a mass of artillery in front 
of his army. Yet, in the face of such facts as these, there are still men 
who doubt the physical effects of Field Artillery fire.” 
As successive Prussian reinforcements arrived on the scene they 
struggled on against these guns gallantly, but with little effect, until, 
as the shades of night closed in and friend and foe became intermingled, 
their fire was able to effect less, and the Austrian formation was more 
or less broken. The King was wearied and wounded, and so also was 
Daun. Both left the field, and what the outcome of the fight might 
be on the morrow no man could say. Ziethen, however, in the dark¬ 
ness blundered on to the key of the position from the other side, and 
the Prussians, under old Hiilsen, who were preparing to bivouac on the 
field, roused themselves to a final effort, and succeeded in forcing the 
Austrians gradually back to Torgau and across the river. The victory 
after all was for Prussia, and the King’s last battle ended in success. 
The Seven Years’ War dragged out its length for two years more, 
but no brilliant actions took place on either side, and the actors were 
becoming tired and weary of their parts. What is noticeable as regards 
tactics is the progress made by artillery during it, and how at its close the 
arm came to be appreciated and understood as it never had been before. 
At the commencement of the war the number of pieces was between 
two-and-a-half and three per .1000 men, but at its close the proportion 
had increased to four, five, six, and even seven guns. A numerous 
artillery saves the troops of the other arms and gives them confidence, 
and as hostilities become protracted a tendency to increase the number 
of guns is ever noticeable. We cannot conclude the story of his 
battles more fitly than by quoting one of the great Frederick’s axioms : 
—“The fewer guns brought into action the more human blood has to 
be spilt.” 
In all that has hitherto been said no word appears with reference to 
our own artillery of the period, and in truth it does not seem that it 
had accomplished up to this time any such striking feat as is worthy 
to be commemorated amongst the great deeds of other nations. At 
the same time we may feel a just pride in the reputation which our 
batteries, even at this early time, had earned for themsleves on the 
continent, and their conduct appears to have been second to none of 
those who took part in the great struggle in the middle of the last 
century. 
If they failed to leave any decided mark in the actions where they 
fought, it may, we think, be fairly attributed to their lack of oppor¬ 
tunity and the smallness of the force they brought into the field, rather 
than to any deficiencies on their part as regards training or courage. 
