GOLD MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1896. 303 
§.A.A. carts will also arrive at the Ammunition Column empty 
from the front. ‘These should be sent direct to the officer in charge 
of the infantry ammunition section, who will cause the horses to be 
unhooked and, if fit, immediately hooked into full S.A.A. carts, the 
empty ones being placed beside an A. and 8. wagon and refilled by 
the men of the Ammunition Column. Should carts or wagons come 
back a second time to the Ammunition Column they should always be 
exchanged as far as possible with carts or wagons belonging to the 
unit from which they came originally to avoid confusion. 
As the day wears on and the critical phases of the action are reached, 
the officer commanding the Ammunition Column will probably find 
that one of two alternatives lie before him; either his army has been 
successful in resisting the attack and will require all the aid that he 
can give it to render it efficient for a forward movement at once or on 
the morrow ; or that there are evident signs of defeat, confusion and 
retreat. If success appear to be probable, he will quietly continue his 
action of supply as in the earlier part of the day, until it is evident 
that the last effort of the enemy has been made and has failed, or that 
a successful counter attack has been made by his own people. Then 
it will be his duty, failing the receipt of orders, to ride forward to the 
brigade division he supplies and find out from the officer in charge 
what he can do to replace deficiencies in men, horses and matériel 
(gun carriages, wheels, etc.) ; at the same time sending the subaltern 
in charge of the infantry ammunition section to the officers commanding 
the brigades to collect reports as to the amount of ammunition required. 
When this has been done, the officer commanding Divisional Ammu- 
nition Column should send forward all that is required which he can 
supply, and remove all damaged articles that his artificers can make 
serviceable again. All useless articles being thrown away as no useless 
extra weight should be carried, especially as it must be borne in mind 
that the haulage power of the horses in the command generally will 
have been to a. certain extent reduced. This can be made good, toa 
certain extent, by repeating the former action of sending empty 
wagons to the rear with two or four horses. At the end ofasuccessful 
engagement the supply should be done entirely from the rear to enable 
the fighting units to recruit to the utmost the energy necessarily ex- 
pended in action. In retreat, however, the case is different; the 
fighting energy has gone out of the men and the best hope of 
recovering it lies in getting beyond striking distance of the enemy 
as quickly as possible, so everything must be done to conduct a rapid 
and, if feasible, an orderly retreat. To attain this, it is clear that a most 
arduous duty lies before the officer commanding the Ammunition 
Column when he sees that the retreat of the troops covering his front 
is inevitable. Clear roacs are essential and it is therefore his duty to 
retire, but an ill advised retreat is the worst error he can commit. 
T'o prevent this, he will, when he first feels that things are going 
badly, send all his less mobile wagons on to the road and retire them 
a mile or so at a walk, with distinct orders where to halt and await 
the development of events, while he himself should wait with the am- 
munition wagons, the §.A.A. carts and spare horses in his original 
