COMMENDED ESSAY, I[896. 327 
Hssling and Wagram, for example, both extended over two. The 
great struggle at Gettysburg was not decided until three had passed. 
And when the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin faced Chanzy 
during the Orleans campaign, he had to rely on his guns to hold his 
ground against superior numbers for four exhausting days. A General 
should indeed feel ready for another battle, even when he has just 
gained a victory, and a second reserve of ammunition for his guns, 
called an Ammunition Park, has therefore to be provided behind that 
which is comparatively near at hand, and which has filled his boxes 
during the fight he has just survived. It is usually held a day’s march 
behind the batteries in rear of the battle-field, and from it the empty 
wagons will be replenished during the night, so that at dawn the 
following day the guns may be able either to continue fighting or to 
move forward in readiness to meet a new foe. 
In the case of an army corps organized for home defence, the 
arrangements are a little different. In place of an Ammunition Park 
we have a “Field Depot,” which would be located on a line of rail 
usually about a long day’s march behind the fighting. It would in 
England be always possible to place this depdt on a line of railway, and 
therefore the wagons, horses and carriages which are required in the 
Ammunition Park are unnecessary and can be at any rate in part 
dispensed with. 
SECTION II. 
Toe MATERIALS at DISPOSAL. 
Having said so much by way of introduction let us now consider 
exactly what materials we have to deal with in the field and how great 
are the responsibilities of an artillery officer in charge of Ammunition 
Columns or Parks. 
An army corps is divided into three divisions and a proportion of 
corps troops. There is also a cavalry division or brigade to be considered. 
Hach of these bodies is supplied by an Ammunition Column, and 
these Columns in turn are filled up from a Section, in the case of ser- 
vice abroad, of the Ammunition Park. As has already been noted— 
field army establishments provide a “Field Depot” to replace an 
Ammunition Park in the case of “ Home Defence.” 
For convenience the Ammunition Column may be termed the first 
reserve, and the Ammunition Park the second reserve, of ammunition. 
These reservoirs are placed behind what may be termed the fighting 
line, but within it there are minor reserves of ammunition also. 
Thus, three wagons are placed between the guns of each battery 
while they are in action (battery reserve) and three wagons and six 
limbers per battery are placed some 200-400 yards behind them may 
conveniently be referred to subsequently as the “ wagon line.” Cor- 
responding to these magazines, as they may be termed, in the case of 
