A 
last cartouche! of the kind of ammunition, which is being used, has been sent up 
to the guns. Immediately before this moment the teams are hooked into the first- 
line wagons which move at a trot to the position of the limbers, where the rounds 
remaining in them are collected in one or two boxes of the gun-limbers if any 
rounds have been taken out of them. The empty wagons are then refilled from 
the wagons sent up by the ammunition column. If the batteries are suddenly 
called on to move shortly before the time has come to call up the second-line wagons, 
they should take on with them the almost emptied first-line wagons, sending 
directions to the second-line to follow by the shortest road to the new position. 
On the other hand, if the batteries move when the second-line wagons have already 
been called up, the quartermaster-sergeants of each battery should take over and 
bring along the latter, sending back the almost empty first-line wagons to be re- 
filled. If the fire has been carried on exclusively with one kind of ammunition, 
the first-line wagons, although not empty, should be sent to complete from the 
ammunition column. In positions at short ranges the guns are supplied direct 
from the limbers. 
Replacement of Casualties in the Personnel. 
This must also be practised in peace time. As soon as the batteries come into 
action the spare gun carriages approach to the nearest position under cover, 
bringing four bearers and the battery surgeons; the duty of the latter is to 
immediately remove from the proximity of the batteries the killed and wounded, 
to avoid the unfavourable moral effect of their presence on the remainder. Slightly 
wounded men, who are able to walk, after their wounds are dressed, are sent 
straight to the wagon échelons, and the remainder are removed by stretchers or on 
the empty ammunition wagons going to the rear. This should be practised in 
peace time by making use of tickets in the following form, which under the orders 
of the instrnctor, are pinned to the breasts of the men indicated. 
EHxvample:—No. 2 at No. 5 gun. ‘ Wound by splinter in the right leg below 
the knee, three minutes after coming into action.”’ The man indicated falls out, 
and according to the nature of his wound, either walks to the rear or is removed by 
the bearers. 
It is a moot point whether casualties in the gun detachments should be replaced 
as soon as possible, or whether the guns should be worked with reduced detach- 
ments. Section commanders arrange for the performance of the duties by reduced 
numbers in the event of casualties, and the quartermaster-sergeant controls and 
arranges for the replacement of them from the limbers and wagon échelons, those 
belonging to the first-line and limbers being first called on. 
Replacement of Casualties in Horses. 
After a battery has come into action and the wagon teams and gun-limbers 
have been sent away, the only horses that would remain under fire would be those 
of the battery commander and of a trumpeter acting as orderly. In addition there 
would be under fire from time to time the wagon teams, during the exchange of 
wagons, and the horses of orderlies coming and going. We may therefore expect 
comparatively slight losses in the position itself among the horses, whilst the 
batteries remain in action. On the other hand the losses would be heavy in the 
position where the gun-limbers and wagon teams of the first-line are placed.? (Sic) 
It is advisable to tell off an officer or a senior N.-C officer to take charge from 
this point of view of the limbers, &c., in rear of the battery, as the échelon com- 
1T presume the ammunition is packed in iron cages, holding three or four rounds, as in the 
German carriages.—H.A.L. 
2 This is not very clear as presumably the limbers and teams would be more or less under cover.— 
HAL. 
) 
