264: MOUNTAIN ARTILLERIES OF FRANCE AND ITALY. 
range. ‘The other guns loaded with percussion shrapnel lay on the 
burst of the shell fired with time fuze. 
Words of command were rarely used, everything in routine, being 
carried out by the blast of the Battery Commander’s whistle when not 
actually manoeuvring or fighting the Battery in action. 
The detachments both in French and Italian Mountain Batteries with 
the exception of layer, who alone kneels, work standing. 
What struck me as much as anything was the small amount of 
ammunition carried by the Battery, that is 14 rounds per gun with the 
“fighting line” as against our 32 rounds per gun. Their idea is that 
in mountain or irregular warfare of any kind, the amount of ammunition 
required, compared to that for warfare of the plains is as 2: 1. 
There are 14 Batteries in the Alps, 8 in Algeria and 2 in Tonkin. 
The war strength of a Battery in the Alps is 4 officers, 156 N.-C.0’s 
and men, 34 horses and 60 mules. In the Batteries in Algeria there 
are 82 more men and 73 more animals. The 34 horses of the Batteries 
in the Alps are partially for the carts which convey along the high 
road the baggage, rations &c. of the battery, and for mounting a few 
mounted N.-C.0’s. The trumpeters are however not mounted, the 
farrier acting as mounted orderly when required to the Battery Com- 
mander. In the mountains neither officers nor mounted men are 
mounted as a rule, their horses being led in rear.’ 
The Battery worked well on the hillside but very slowly in handling 
the loads and coming into action, much behind the Italians in this re- 
spect. Drag ropes were put on the top loads by the detachment on 
ground where it seemed to me quite unnecessary to use them. 
When the Battery returned to camp, saddles were taken off at once 
instead of as with us being left on for at least 2 hour. I saw several 
stomach swellings from the girth being placed so far back. One officer 
superintended the stacking of the saddles and another the stable duties 
which were of a very light order. 
I was told that with four field days like this at least, every week, 
there was no time to devote to long stable or harness cleaning duties, 
and that the mules and harness were cared for in the same manner as 
they are in Commerce in France. 
With the exception of the Batteries in Algeria against their old foes 
the Kabyles, and the Batteries in Tonkin, in fighting somewhat similar 
to our experiences in Burmah, the French Mountain Artillery of the 
Alps has not yet had the benefit of war experience. 
A new edition of the French Manual of Mountain Artillery deals very 
fully with the subject; it is published in two volumes, the first of which 
is just issued, and the second, dealing with the organisation and tactics 
of Mountain Artillery, is expected in the autumn. 
ITALIAN MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY. 
On August 10th and 11th I was permitted to attend the practice of 
the 7, 8 and 9 Batteries of Mountain Artillery, on the mountains be- 
tween Bousson and the Franco-Italian Frontier. These three Batteries 
formed a Brigade-division under the command of a Major, and at the 
time of my visit were being inspected by the Lieut.-Colonel in command 
