Nature of ordnance.

Number of picces in a battery.

proportion of field artillery with the British force was not quite two per 1000 combatants. A numerous artillery will always be found to save the troops of other arms, but it will entail a very great amount of transport for its ammunition, stores, &c.

7. The nature of ordnance will depend in a great measure upon the character of the country. Flat open countries are advantageous for the employment of heavy guns and horse artillery, but if the country be hilly, much cut up by enclosures, and not intersected by good roads, it will be almost impracticable to transport the former, and the effective employment of the latter must be naturally much restricted. When there is much cover or the enemy has numerous light troops armed with rifles, shells are indispensable, and therefore the proportion of howitzers or of pieces from which powerful shells can be projected must be large. A great development of shell fire is now required in order to counteract the increased range and accuracy obtained with the present small arms; shrapnel shell has hitherto been looked upon as the most destructive projectile for this purpose, and considerable attention has therefore been turned during the last few years to its improvement, both on the Continent and in England. It is confidently asserted by Sir W. Armstrong, that the projectile for his field piece when it is used as a shrapnel produces a far greater destructive effect than that of any shrapnel shell of similar weight. By the introduction of rifled ordnance, the field howitzers may be abolished as in the French service,1 in which only one calibre of gun is used both for horse and foot artillery, the equipment and ammunition being thus greatly simplified.

Should it be necessary to defend a number of strong positions, entrenched camps, &c., a considerable proportion of powerful position artillery will be required; on account of their great accuracy of fire at long ranges rifled guns will be most valuable for this kind of artillery, and when made of wrought-iron they will be much lighter than the ordinary 18-pr. cast-iron guns.

8. The number of pieces in a battery should be determined by what a commanding officer can efficiently overlook and command upon the field of battle. The number varies in the different European armies between four and eight pieces to a battery. In England and France there are six; in Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Belgium, and some minor European states there are eight; while in the Swiss artillery there are but four. The number eight appears to have some advantages over six, for the extra two guns greatly increase the fire of the

1 The French by the adoption of the 12-pr. shell-gun greatly simplified the equipment of their field artillery, and at the same time obtained a much more powerful projectile, which was suitable for any gun and battery in the service. As before observed the rifled guns lately introduced into the French service are for the field artillery all of the same calibre.

Gun, howitzer,

and mixed batteries.

Ammunition for field service.

battery; a battery of eight pieces can also be divided into two tolerably powerful batteries of four guns each if required; and each half-battery is composed of two separate divisions instead of one and a half, as with a battery of six guns, and can therefore be more easily manœuvred.

9.

A battery may be composed of guns alone or of howitzers alone, or of both guns and howitzers; in the latter case it is called a mixed battery. All our horse artillery and field batteries were mixed batteries, so were similar batteries in Austria and Prussia, and also in France until the introduction of the Napoleon 12-pr. shell gun; our position batteries have usually been either gun or howitzer batteries; the Belgians, Prussians, and Russians have howitzer and gun batteries. The advantages derived from uniting gun and howitzers in the same battery are, that such a battery is independent as far as possible, and adapted to all kinds of ground, and every circumstance of combat; there are however serious objections, viz.— that the effective range of the howitzer and gun differing greatly, as also the objects for which their respective projectiles, common shell and solid shot, are used, the will under many circumstances produce great effect when the howitzer is nearly useless and vice versa, so that one nature of piece must be sacrificed for the other (see Art. 32, Lecture III.) These defects are avoided by the introduction of rifled guns of only one calibre for horse artillery and field batteries, the power of all the pieces in a battery being then similar.

gun

10. The ammunition for service in the field is carried in the gun wagons and ammunition wagons; and during the war in the Crimea, spare ammunition for the field batteries and horse artillery was also conveyed by the small arm brigades, though not in any very large quantity.

The ammunition hitherto supplied to field guns has been solid shot, case, and shrapnel shell; to howitzers, common and shrapnel shell, and case; to every battery there is also a considerable supply of rockets, which are carried in a carriage for the purpose. With the Armstrong field piece only one projectile is issued, which can be used either as shot, shrapnel,

or case.

The number of rounds per gun is based on that which is deemed sufficient for a considerable action. At the battle of Lutzen, which the French gained over the allies in 1813, about 220 rounds were fired from each gun, and upon this they base the amount of ammunition required for field guns. When the proportion of field artillery with an army is considerable, the quantity of ammunition to be transported is enormous, as it is always necessary to provide against the contingency of a great

battle; thus, although at the battle of Leipzic in 1813, the French artillery had 220,000 rounds, this immense supply was not found adequate.

The number of rounds conveyed into the field by the different natures of guns in the British service, is as follows:

Animals employed for field artillery service.

12-pr. brass howitzer....

12-pr. Armstrong rifled gun1........ 213

2

By a recent order (20th March, 1861), the officer commanding the Royal Artillery, whether in the field or in garrison, is held responsible for the preservation and transport of small arm ammunition for the troops. For an army in the field the first and second reserves are both with the Royal Artillery, the third and great depôt being in charge of the Military Store Department. The first reserve is to be conveyed in artillery small arm ammunition wagons, and attached to the field batteries with each division; each wagon is provided with cradles and ladders to admit of leading horses being made use of in transporting the ammunition to any positions, which may be impracticable for wagons. The second reserve is also carried in small arm ammunition wagons, and must always be up with the army, but kept as far as practicable out of fire. The third reserve must be within two days' march of the army.

11. In India, camels, oxen, and even elephants, have been and still are used for the purposes of field artillery, and where horses cannot be obtained it is well to have such animals to fall back on; but the horse, even though of a small breed is to be preferred, and there is no doubt but that much greater execution might have been done in many of the actions during the Indian rebellion, had the guns been horsed, instead of being drawn by bullocks or elephants, as was the case in some instances. Mules have been found to be very useful animals for artillery purposes, and especially for horsing the spare wagons, &c.

1 Supposing a battery of 6 rifled pieces to have 12 ammunition wagons instead of 11, like a 9-pr. battery.

2 Six small arm ammunition wagons to each battery.

3 See Reports from Col. D. E. Wood, R.H.A. dated, "Allahabad, Jan. 6, 1858;" and "Head Quarters, Camp Force, under Major-Gen. Sir James Outram, G.C.B., March 6, 1858;" also Captain Palmer's Report, dated, “Camp, Bandah, April 21, 1858."

Purposes for which horse artillery is used.

First introduction of horse artillery.

Armament of horse artillery

to field batteries.

The number of horses allowed per gun on service in the British Royal Artillery, is six per light 6-pr. gun and 12-pr. howitzer, or per 12-pr. Armstrong gun, and eight per 9-pr. (medium) gun and 24-pr. howitzer. In the French service, six horses is the number allotted to their field guns, as they consider that a larger number cannot be made to work together efficiently.

Horse Artillery.

12. Horse artillery is usually attached to cavalry, being able to accompany that arm in its most rapid movements, owing to the circumstance of the gun detachments being mounted. It is a most useful branch of the service in the field, being peculiarly adapted for advanced guards, skirmishes, reconnaissances, and for covering the retreat of an army, as it can hold its ground with safety longer, and can retire more rapidly than a field battery could do under the same circumstances. Horse artillery is also well calculated to form part of the artillery in reserve during an action, as it can be brought to the front at a rapid pace, and without delay. Cavalry forms the usual support to horse artillery.

13. This description of field artillery was first organized by Frederick the Great, in 1759, during the Seven Years' war, and although twice destroyed, at Kunersdorf and Maxen, it was re-organized in the year 1760, when it consisted of six light 6-pr. and two 7-pr. batteries. In 1778, the number of horse artillery batteries in the Prussian service was seven, and in 1806 as many as twenty; at present there are twenty-seven, this large number being necessary as this kind of artillery forms the chief part of the reserve.1 Horse artillery was introduced into the French service in 1791, where it rendered many important services during the long wars of that period. The four first troops of British horse artillery were formed in 1793.

14. Batteries of horse artillery in our service have been batteries, and armed with the 9-pr. (medium) brass gun and with the 24-pr. proportion of horse artillery howitzer, and others with the light 6-pr. gun and 12-pr. howitzer; but the 12-pr. Armstrong rifled gun of 8 cwt. is now being supplied to all such batteries; as however the total weight of gun, carriage, and ammunition is too great for rapid movement (see Table Art. 19, Lecture IV.), a projectile weighing 9 lbs. will probably be substituted for the ordinary 12 lb. segment shell, for the horse artillery rifled pieces; they all carry a certain proportion of Congreve rockets, in a rocket carriage.

The proportion of horse to foot (field) batteries in some of the different European armies is about as follows:

1 On the use of field artillery, by Taubert, captain in the Prussian artillery.

The details of batteries will necessarily depend upon the nature of the service for which they are intended, but the following Table is given as an estimate of what might be required for a battery ordered on active service; the detail of a 12-pr. Armstrong battery would differ but little from this Table, except that there would probably be 12 instead of 11 ammunition wagons.1

Detail of a 9-pr. Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, for Active Service (as with the army in the Crimea).

For home service a 9-pr. battery of horse artillery has

18 carriages, 90 gunners, 85 drivers, and 180 horses.

10

1 The detail for an Armstrong battery has not yet been definitely laid down.