COMMENDED ESSAY, 1896. 343 
ever, usually be circumspect in leaving roads. 
His Column, when it takes up its position, should not do. so on a road, 
and should assume such a formation as will facilitate the exchange of 
wagons and render repacking easy.! 
Opportunity should also be taken to break down fences, fill up, or 
bridge a path across ditches such as may be useful to the wagons when 
they again have to make their way to the road and generally make any 
preparations which may be possible in anticipation either of a sudden 
forward movement or one to the rear. 
Usually it may be supposed that there will be time for the Ammuni- 
tion Column to form up before its wagons are called upon, but in any 
case the system of sending forward supply would be the same whether 
from the line of march or from a position. 
While the Ammunition Column is forming up, the first care of the 
officer in command of it should be to establish communication with the 
wagon line of the artillery, or, in the case of infantry, with the brigade 
reserve. It might often be possible to do this by means of signalling, 
and such a method should be striven for in the first instance. But on 
the battle-field vision is often obscured, and messengers must in such 
cases replace flags. 
Further, the officer in command of an Ammunition Column, whether 
belonging to an infantry or cavalry division, must bear in mind that 
he is responsible that the guns and rifles engaged are fed with shells 
and bullets. He is to accept that responsibility frankly, and is to 
arrange direct with the officers who are in charge of artillery wagons, 
or infantry brigade 8.A.A. carts, and he is not to seek instructions or 
orders from officers of higher authority. The tactical situation will 
engross all the time and attention of these, and there is no need to 
trouble them with unnecessary details. 
Should a demand for artillery ammunition come back from the front, 
three artillery ammunition wagons per battery (nine per brigade divi- 
sion) should be sent ahead to the spot where the wagon line is placed. 
It will be desirable, whenever possible, to send an officer with them, 
and wagons going and returning should be instructed to move when 
possible at a trot. On reaching their destination the procedure should 
be as follows :— ' 
The horses belonging to the Column should be unhooked and 
harnessed into the emptied wagons, and should take these to the rear 
under charge of the officer of an Ammunition Column, who will on his 
return set to work to repack them from the supply carried by the 
ammunition and store wagons. 
There will be a number of arms and kits on all the wagons and it 
will be necessary that these should be exchanged between the batteries 
and the column at the same time as the horses, otherwise much incon- 
venience and discomfort may be brought about. 
The orderly, who acted as messenger from the column, had better 
remain with the officer who is in charge of the wagon line, as he knows 
1 A rendezvous formation, such as a line of columns of sub-divisions or sections, would be a suit- 
able one. 
