293 
A) ry 
JUL 27 1896 
& 
so 5 FATENT OFF 
ee 
we 
AMMUNITION COLUMNS AND PARKS, CONSIDERED WITH 
REFERENCE TO THE REPLACEMENT OF AMMUNITION, 
HORSES AND MEN DURING AND AFTER AN ACTION. 
BY 
CAPTAIN J. F. CADELL, R.A. 
“VIGILENTIA NON CADET.”’ 
DUNCAN GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1896. 
To most questions which may be asked on any military subject we can Introduction 
turn for an answer to the experiences of many wars for some analogous 
cases; from these deductions may be formed, which should be correct 
if we can judge rightly as to which side is supported by the weight of 
evidence, and at the same time see clearly what were the local circum- 
stances of the time causing success or failure. In the present case we 
have little or no experience in war to refer to, since the Ammunition 
Columns and Parks as at present constituted are altogether new 
inventions, called into existence to meet the difficulty which has arisen 
in supplying troops expending the enormous quantities of ammunition 
that are now-a-days used in a very short time. These troops would 
be unserviceable without a fresh supply of ammunition, and it is there- 
fore necessary to have a reserve supply immediately to hand. Like 
everything else in war, the more highly organized. this supply is the 
better. Experience in war does show us that troops well supplied 
with ammunition have a decided moral and physical advantage over 
troops less well supplied, but as to how the ammunition from the new 
Columns and Parks is to be supplied to troops during and after an 
engagement it is silent. Our own wars have not been on a sufficiently 
large scale to allow of an Ammunition Column being employed and 
the cause of the existence of these columns is the result of the want 
which was felt in 1870-71. 
¥. you, xxirr, 40 
