490 
GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1892. 
Meaning of 
Fire Discip¬ 
line. 
Arrange¬ 
ment of the 
subject un¬ 
der discus¬ 
sion. 
call for increased severity of Fire Discipline, and increased training in 
fire tactics. 1 2 
In what does Fire Discipline consist ? What are its chief attributes, 
and its most marked characteristics ? It is easier to explain than 
define them. Fire Discipline may be said to be the outcome of organi¬ 
sation, training, and morale , which are of such a nature as to ensure 
under all possible conditions of war service complete control above 
and complete obedience below. In its practical application to the 
subject of this Essay it is the means by which an accurate, sustained, 
and controlled fire can be rapidly opened and continuously directed on 
a given tactical point in the enemy's position. Training in Fire Dis¬ 
cipline has for its object to produce a machine—a living machine—so 
constructed that its action will never fail, and so directed that it can 
be adapted unhesitatingly, mechanically, obediently, to meet the sudden 
and always changing conditions of a modern battle. 
How can this object be secured ? What in the first place is the best 
organisation (Part II. of this Essay) for maintaining control and 
obedience in a battery of artillery ? What secondly is the system of 
training (Part III. of this Essay) most likely to ensure discipline of 
fire ? Lastly, to what extent is the question affected by considerations 
of morale ? (Part IV. of this Essay). 
PART II. 
Organisation. 
“ The battery is the unit of artillery. All other organisation is accidental. It is by bat¬ 
teries that artillerymen make war.” 2 — Duncan. 
Iuon° r of the Organisation comes before training. Skilful teaching, smart drill, 
batterymust superior leading, have no value unless they are brought to bear on a 
be Bidered! 11 * sound system of organisation. It is necessary, therefore, to examine 
the construction of the battery before attempting to discuss the best 
means of using it. What considerations have determined its size, its 
division into parts, and its proportion of subordinate officers ? What 
are the functions of the various officers, their relation to the Com¬ 
manding Officer and to one another, and how are their duties allotted 
so as to give to each an adequate share of work and responsibility ? 
T of e 6guns r ^ The battery of six guns is the unit of Horse and Field Artillery. 
horsTan? guns are too many for efficient command; four too few for 
r fieid D effective fire. Since 1804 the war strength of English batteries has 
artillery. a i wa y S "been six guns. The same number of guns are given to bat¬ 
teries in all other European countries, except only in the Russian and 
Austrian armies which have batteries of eight guns. 3 
1 “ Discipline of fire is becoming more difficult than in 1870, and unless that discipline has 
improved the want of discipline will counteract the increased destructive power of arms.” 
Lecture by Colonel Lonsdale Hale on the “ Spirit of Tactical Operations.”—Aldershot Military 
Society, April, 1888. 
2 “ History of the Royal Artillery,” by Major F. Duncan, R.A. 
3 Admittedly in order to economise the number of officers. Their Horse Artillery Batteries, 
however, have six guns only. 
