76 OKEHAMPTON, 1895. 
and starts then to fuze them ; or through over-keenness he. prepares 
too many and finds himself with a lot which will not go into a portable 
magazine and have to be unfuzed before they can be put back in: 
the limber. : 
Through Battery Commanders not giving correct orders confusion. 
arises aS to whether guns have to be loaded or not. Frequently the 
order “ cease firing ”’ was given by itself, and then just as guns were 
ready to be limbered up the order “ Percussion shrapnel, load.” 
Through old habitsof havinga sort of “ freeandeasy” after the end of 
each series, directly encouraged as it was by the competitive regulations 
last year. The “replace ammunition” after the last series is also, 1 - 
think, to blame, and I should like to see it relegated to the gun-park 
on return tocamp. Next year the times from “last gun” to “ march” 
are to be recorded, and once drawn attention to no doubt this delay 
will soon disappear. I can imagine the state of mind of a general 
who had sent ina hurry for a battery and found it took five minutes 
to pack up before moving. 
SLACKENING OF Frre Discrenine. 
In many batteries there was a slackening of fire discipline at Brigade 
Division practice and also when surprised. I do not think the fault lay 
in the discipline itself. In nine cases out of ten it was due to giving casual 
directions instead of explicit orders. Unfortunately this tendency be- 
comes mostmarkedin moments whenclearness is of greatest importance. 
Over and over again hesitation and uncertainty were directly caused by 
the neglect ofthe orders which everybody knows, and on which everybody 
would have acted. We all know the uncomfortable feeling aroused by 
not knowing what our immediate superior is drivingat. I fancy that for 
service purposes it is of the utmost importance to avoid this, and it can 
only be avoided by rigid adherence to the familiar orders of the drill- 
book. : 
AMMUNITION SUPPLY. 
When batteries have no opportunity of drilling with wagons until 
they come to practice, it is, of course, extremely difficult for Captains 
and Quarter-Master-Sergeants to carry out their most important duties © 
successfully. No doubt the ammunition supply wasa weak point. The 
Captains and Acting-Captains did not, if I may say so, seem to grasp 
the fact that there was really plenty forthem to do. To give an instance 
—it was “limber supply” and the ammunition was running short; the 
Captain might have brought up a wagon or two, but be did nothing 
and the numbers. from the guns were running backwards and forwards 
independently to the wagons 200 or 300 yards in rear, passing the 
Captain and the Quarter-Master-Sergeant who sat quietly looking on. 
Do you think on service we could allow any gunner who felt inclined 
to double off to the rear to look for ammnnition? Again, I have 
seen the limbers go away under the impression of wagon supply, and — 
when for some reason the wagons were delayed the limbers left formed — 
up 800 to 400 yards in rear and the guns seven or eight minutes with - 
no ammunition except what was in their portable magazines, when it 
would have been easy for the Captain to send the limbers up again. | 
And that brings me to a point I wish to bring forward. Are we wise 
