SILVER MEDAL PRIZE ESSAY, 1896. 315 
No more effective remarks could be made with regard to losses of 
material and it may at once be assumed that if Columns and sections of 
the Park carry the same proportions of spare stores as a battery all 
possible requirements can be met at once. 
Losses to harness are, all artillery officers will agree, very few and 
small and only require the collar-makers’ assistance to repair. Where, 
of course, the real loss will come in, is when horses are left behind on 
the field and it has been impossible to remove the harness from them. 
In this case the Ammunition Column will supply the harnessed horse 
complete, being re-supplied from the Park which, when re-supplied 
with remounts, may have to drive them in skeleton harness till the 
stores arrive from the base. 
The same axiom applies to this as to the Park and Columns 
generally, viz., each unit carries the same proportions as a battery, 
which being calculated to last some time, it is always possible to supply 
a portion to the unit in front. A battery would never have to use up 
all its supply at once, but whenever possible would fill up expenditure 
from the Column and so on down the chain of supply. 
Supety or ‘* PERSONNEL.” 
In no army are spare soldiers in excess of the war establishment 
borne on the strength of a corps and taken into the field for the sake 
of supplying possible casualties. Armies trust to their depdts and 
organization of the lines of communication to supply drafts of men and 
horses to fill up casualties from battle or sickness. In cavalry or 
infantry corps the loss of a portion of their number does not affect the 
efficiency of the remainder. In the artillery, where guns cannot be 
served or driven with less than a certain number of men, it is necessary 
to have a proportion of spare gunners and drivers with the fighting 
unit. In the same way a Column or section of a Park must have 
sufficient spare to allow for casualties from sickness. It would, how- 
ever, be obviously bad policy to carry more than the proportion of 
spare needed for this purpose to provide against possible consequences 
of an action which may not occur till an army has been some time in 
the field. The commissariat of an army would never stand the main- 
tenance of ineffectives in the field. 
The numbers of gunners and drivers in a battery should be 
calculated to allow of work being carried on after suffering normal 
loss both from sickness and one or two engagements. Columns and 
Parks should only have sufficient spare to allow of casualties from 
sickness. 
Major Stone’s figures here again are invaluable. He tells us in his 
first table that the average number of casualties per battery at 
Colombey, Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte was eleven per battle, while 
the average for the four batteries which alone out of 134 took part in 
all three battles was 10 men per battery per battle, or 30 for the three 
battles. 
He does not say how many were gunners and how many drivers, but 
in our service, at any rate, one could always be substituted for another 
Harness. 
Repair 
material, 
© Personnel,” 
