Position 
Case (10.). 
Position 
Case (2). 
300 GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1896, 
In case (10.), the rear-guard action, the Ammunition Column will 
have no place near the fighting line, as no position of this kind can be 
safely held after the enemy has once fully deployed for attack, the 
object of taking up the position then having been gained. The Am- 
munition Columns should be at the head of the retreating main bodies; 
they should take advantage of any halt to fill up any empty regimental 
reserves which can reach them, but it is doubtful if much can be done 
beyond leaving wagons and carts in reply to a demand from the 
fighting units. The Ammunition Park would in this case be sent as 
far to the rear as possible in order that it may in no way impede the 
rate of march of the columns, or embarrass the General in command 
by his having to take precautions of its safety. Any supply required 
from it should be left behind, and the wagons carrying this could 
rejoin the Park at an increased pace when empty. As, however, in 
retreat the object is to get beyond striking distance of the enemy, 
all delay in the movement of the Ammunition Columns and Parks is 
to be avoided. 
In case (2), the fact of an attack on a position presupposes a certain 
definite superiority on the part of the attacker. This will allow the 
Ammunition Columns of the troops destined for the attack to be close 
to them. The columns will probably be parked in the first instance, 
but this should not prevent them from advancing on definite lines, to 
support their units with fresh ammunition at the important juncture. 
As in the initial stages of the attack the troops engaged will be a very 
long way from the enemy, everything has to move forward and the 
supply of ammunition in rear must move forward too, or the distance 
between the Ammunition Columns and the troops they have to feed 
will become very great, and that worst of all situations may arise, of 
troops having attained a position from which an effective fire can be 
delivered only to find themselves without the necessary means of 
offence. From this it would appear that in the attack a line of road 
would be a better situation for an Ammunition Column than any given 
spot. This, of course, will not prohibit the officer in charge from 
forming up in a field where he sees a chance when he cannot safely 
advance further and here making the necessary entrances and exits. 
The officer in charge of the Ammunition Column will have to ascertain 
for himself any change in the direction of the line of attack of his 
unit and conform to its movements as far as possible, always informing 
the officer in command of the unit of any deviation in direction that 
he has made from that already dictated to him. In this case it may 
be taken as a certainty that the Ammunition Columns will be at least 
two miles in rear of their units at the beginning of the day, and that 
if a march has to be made prior to the attack that the distance will at 
times be considerably increased ; but this should not prevent them 
from closing up to a mile in rear of the troops when these become 
engaged. 
The Park will be at the beginning of the day at the normal distance 
from the Ammunition Columns, it should close up during the fight to 
half that distance. The sections always informing their respective 
columns as to their ultimate destination if the whole Park does not 
