GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1896, 301 
move together. The position of the Park will be more or less defined 
by the General Officer commanding the army corps, and his orders 
will probably prohibit an advance beyond some clearly defined line. 
In case (3), that is to say, an army moving within striking distance Position 
of an enemy who is also on the move, much must be left to the develop- ““° 
ment of events. In the first instance the normal position on the road 
will be occupied by the Ammunition Columns, and they should not 
close up or shorten this interval without definite orders, when the 
troops in front halt and deploy, and it is clear that an engagement of 
a serious nature is going to take place. It would, indeed, be probably 
advantageous to have the normal distance somewhat increased, to say 
three miles, as armies on the move may not meet with any great 
exactitude and Ammunition Columns close up to the fighting troops 
might be found to be very much in the way and impede the 
manoeuvring power of the troops. They might have to retreat and 
would then block roads on which other troops were advancing. There 
will be no disadvantage in the Ammunition Columns being further to 
the rear, as the preliminary stages of the action will always give ample 
time to make good any lost ground. It is possible that, for tactical 
reasons, divisions may have to be moved across from one flank of a 
line of battle to another in this case, and the advantage of having 
Ammunition Columns well to the rear is then very obvious, as tending 
to diminish the confusion which such an undesirable movement is certain 
to make, when it has to be done. In this case the Parks will move a 
full day’s march in rear of the army. 
The above considerations are not exactly the supply in the field, but 
without first fully investigating where the Ammunition Columns will 
probably be we cannot define a line of action for them and decide what 
they can and should do. We now see that they can be of most immediate 
use in case (la.), and least in case (1b.) ; while they have certain 
advantages as regards initial positions in case (2) over case (3). 
The point that an officer in charge of an Ammunition Column must the 0.¢. 
have clearly before his eyes is that without efficient troops in front of “gmunition 
him, he is useless, and that therefore he must never take into account “bief duties. 
the efficiency of the Ammunition Column in such points as men and 
horses, except as regards the small-arm ammunition section, as com- 
pared with the efficiency of the service and teams of the guns. It is, 
of course, obvious that the infantry must not lose their means of 
offence because the guns have suffered; but with regard to the rest, 
it is better that every wagon of the Ammunition Column should be 
left in any field, than that a single gun in the fighting line should be 
incapable of movement, or defective in fire effect. He in turn (the 
officer commanding Ammunition Column) will receive horses and men 
from the Park which will be supplied from the depdts and horse 
depots ; there may, of course, be some delay about the arrival of these 
reinforcements, but there must never be any delay in the supply to the 
front from the Ammunition Columns in case of need. It is, perhaps, 
superfluous to emphasize this point, but any officer in charge of a unit 
is apt to think first of the efficiency of his own command, which he 
sees, and thus neglect the only cause of his existence, which in this 
Al 
