&S 
PRECIS 
AND 
4B Jes. waudN] {5 dG dav APIO) INT 
“REVUE MILITARE DE VETRANGER.” 
August, 1895. 
“FIRING AT CAPTIVE BALLOONS.”. 
BY 
LIEUT.-COLONEL J. H. G. BROWNE, tare R.A. 
THE increase in the range of fire-arms, which often necessitates beginning the 
combat ata considerable distance and the adoption of the principle of indirect 
fire, have led up to the provision of elevated and movable points of observation, 
from which the enemy’s troops, batteries, and field-works may be reconnoitred. 
Hence the introduction of the captive balloon into the equipment of the armies of 
all the great European Powers. 
When once in possession of this new appliance, it was naturally sought to 
utilize it, even in field-warfare, in order to observe the march of the enemy’s 
‘columns to find out where the main body of his troops are located and to ascer- 
tain their strength and approximate composition. 
_ No sooner had captive balloons made their appearance than suggestions were 
made on every side with a view to their destruction. Various military newspapers 
gave an account of the experiments made in France with this object in view, 
particularly of those of 1885 and 1887 in Germany, of 1891 in Russia, and of 
1894 in Austria. 
On the 10th July last at the fortress of Steinfeld, about 40 miles from Vienna, 
some new experiments took place, which were attended by officers of the School of 
Musketry and of several regiments of artillery, as well as by a certain number of 
‘officers of the same arm, who came from Vienna, and from garrisons more or less 
‘distant, even from as far as Galicia—a fact which bears witness to the importance 
attached to these trials. 
Before giving the results obtained at these experiments, it will be useful to give 
a summary of some of the preceding ones. 
_ In 1885 and 1887 shrapnel was fired from the fortresses of Tegel and of 
Kunnersdoff in Germany. 
6. VOL, XXIII. 
