262 ARTILLERY FROM AN INFANTRY OFFICER'S POINT OF VIEW. 
and let us consider what is necessary to enable it to do this. Some 
. of the chief points are :— 
A more careful use of the ground, 
Better fire discipline and accuracy of fire, 
Better matériel, 
Greater mobility, 
Greater numbers. 
May be that I am wrong in putting a careful use of ground first 
among the essentials for a good artillery, but it seems to me that fire 
discipline, first class weapons, mobility and numbers can be of but 
little use if we allow the enemy to make the best use of ground and 
fail in this respect ourselves. 
To take a case in point, on an artillery tactical field day I once saw 
three batteries come into action on a high ridge, two on one side and 
one on the other of a group of high firs, and at once open fire at 
where they thought the enemy was. I say advisedly at where they 
thought he was, for they failed to discover him until they had been 
pounded by him for some five minutes, during which time they, in 
their exposed position, would have been shot to pieces. As a matter 
of fact the enemy was in position at a range of about 2000 yards on 
much lower ground, firing cordite and with a dark wood just behind 
him. It was no doubt principally owing to this last fact that he was 
so hard to discover. Now no excellence on the part of the artillery 
could in this case have made up for the original fault in the use 
of ground made by the commander. 
T cannot help thinking that we Englishmen, cavalry, artillery and 
infantry alike, trust too much to our instincts as sportsmen, and do not 
sufficiently study ground from a soldier’s point of view. The Germans 
on the contrary look at ground only from a soldier’s point of view 
and although most of them would make a poor show at finding their 
way over a nice piece of Leicestershire they are masters in getting the 
greatest use out of every fold in the ground. To be able to make the 
best use of a country in a military and in a sporting sense are neither 
alternatives, nor are they the same thing, but both require a quick 
eye, presence of mind, determination and courage. 
A good man to hounds, who can ride his own line, is pretty sure to 
have these qualities highly developed and they are essentials, but they 
are not everything or a hunt stables would team with commanders if, 
however, besides these qualities an officer possesses coolness and a 
thorough knowledge of his profession, he is sure to inspire his subor- 
dinates with confidence and will be a leader of men with a grasp of his 
situation and an ability to act on it, not possessed by a man who has 
not been trained to seize his opportunity either in war or in that 
pursuit which a great authority has declared to be its image. 
Tf the careful study of ground be neglected with us, as I am inclined 
to think that it is, reasons for it are not hard to find. Half of our 
soldiering is done on the plains of India, where the flat ground offers 
but little scope for utilizing contours, and a great deal of the other 
