Reserve and Territorial artillery are affiliated. Over and above the military command of these higher units, provision is usually made for technical control of the matériel, and a variety of training and experimental establishments, such as schools of gunnery, are maintained in all countries. The more special unit of organization in mobile artillery is the brigade, formerly called brigade-division (German, Abteilung; French groupe). The brigade is in Great Britain the administrative and tactical unit. Mountain artillery is not organized in brigades in the British empire. The unit consists, in the case of guns, of three batteries (18 guns, heavy artillery 12), in the case of field howitzers of two batteries (12 howitzers), and in the horse artillery of two batteries (12 guns), and is commanded by a lieutenant-colonel. To each brigade is allotted an ammunition column. The necessity for such a grouping of batteries will be apparent if the reader notes that 54 field guns, 12 howitzers and 4 heavy field guns form the artillery of a single British division of about 15,000 combatants.
25. Grouping of the Artillery.—The “corps artillery” (formerly the “reserve artillery”) now consists only of the howitzer and heavy brigades, with a brigade of horse artillery. The latter is held at the disposal of the corps commander for the swift reinforcement of a threatened point; the howitzers and the heavy guns have, of course, functions widely different from those of the mass of guns. As the field artillery is required to come into action at the earliest possible moment, it has now been distributed amongst the infantry divisions, and marches almost at the head of the various combatant columns, instead of being relegated perhaps to the tail of the centre column. The redistribution of the British army (1907) on a divisional basis is a remarkable example of this; even the special natures of artillery (except horse artillery) are distributed amongst the divisions. In Germany two “regiments” (each of 2 Abteilungen = 6 batteries) form a brigade, under an artillery general in each division who thus disposes of 72 field guns, and the howitzers, with such horse artillery batteries as remain over after the cavalry has been supplied, still form a corps or reserve artillery. In 1903 the French, after long hesitation, assigned the whole of the field artillery to the various divisions, but later (for reasons stated in the article Tactics) arranged to reconstitute the old-fashioned corps artillery in war. (See also Army, § 49).
Tactical Work
26. General Characteristics of Field Artillery Action.—The duty of field artillery in action is to fire with the greatest effect on the target which is for the moment of the greatest tactical importance. This definition of field artillery tactics brings the student at once to questions of combined tactics, for which consult the article Tactics. The purpose of the present article is to indicate the methods employed by the gunners to give effect to their fire at the targets mentioned. For this purpose the artillery has at its disposal two types of projectile, common (or rather, high explosive) shell and shrapnel, and two fuzes, “time” and “percussion” (see Ammunition). The actual process of coming into action may be described in a few words. The gun is, at or near its position in action, “unlimbered” and the gun limber and team sent back under cover. Ammunition for the gun is first taken from the wagon that accompanies it, as it is very desirable to keep the limbers full as long as possible, in case of emergencies such as that of a temporary separation from the wagon. Limber supply is, however, allowed in certain circumstances. The wagon is now placed as a rule by the side of the gun, an arrangement which immensely simplifies the supply of ammunition, this being done under cover of the armour on the wagon and of the gun-shield and also without fatigue to the men. The older method of placing the wagon at some distance behind the gun is still occasionally used, especially in the case of unshielded equipments. No horses are allowed, in any case, to be actually with the line of guns. According to the British Field Artillery Training of 1906, a battery in action would be thus distributed: first, the “fighting battery” consisting of the six guns, each with its wagon alongside, and the limbers of the two flank guns; then, under cover in rear, the “first line of wagons” comprising the teams of the fighting battery, the four remaining gun limbers, and six more wagons. The non-combatant vehicles form the “second line of wagons.”
27. Occupation of a Position.—This depends primarily upon considerations of tactics, for the accurate co-operation of the guns is the first essential to success in the general task. In details, however, the choice of position varies to some extent with the nature of the equipment: for instance, an elevated position is better adapted than a low one for high velocity guns firing over the heads of their own infantry, and again, the “spade” with which nearly all equipments are furnished (see Ordnance) should have soil in which it can find a hold. Cover for the gun and its detachment cannot well be obtained from the configuration of the ground, because, if the gun can shoot over the covering mass of earth, the hostile shells can of course do likewise. Sufficient protection is given by the shield, and thus “cover” for field-guns simply means concealment. Cover for the “first line of wagons” is, however, a very serious consideration. As to concealment, it is stated that “the broad white flash from a gun firing smokeless powder is visible” to an enemy “unless the muzzle is at least 10 ft. below the covering crest” (Bethell, Modern Guns and Gunnery, 1907, p. 147). Concealment therefore, means only the skilful use of ground in such a way as to make the enemy’s ranging difficult. This frequently involves the use of retired positions, on reverse slopes, in low ground, &c., and in all modern artillery the greatest stress is laid on practice in firing by indirect means. Controversy has, however, arisen as to whether inability to see the foreground is not a drawback so serious that direct fire from a crest position, in spite of its exposure, must be taken as the normal method. The latter is of course immensely facilitated by the introduction of the shield. A great advantage of retired positions is that, provided unity of direction is kept, an overwhelming artillery surprise (see F. A. Training, 1906, p. 225) is carried out more easily than from a visible position. The extent of front of a battery in action is governed by the rule that no two gun detachments should be exposed to being hit by the bullets of one shell, and also by the necessity of having as many guns as possible at work. These two conditions are met by the adoption of a 20-yards interval between the muzzles of the guns. At the present time the gun and its wagon are placed as close together as possible, to obtain the full advantage of the armoured equipment. The shield, behind which the detachments remain at all times covered from rifle (except at very short range) and shrapnel bullets,[1] enables the artillery commander to handle his batteries far more boldly than formerly was the case. General Langlois says “the shield-protected carriage is the corollary to the quick-firing gun.” Armour on the wagon, enabling ammunition supply as well as the service of the gun, to be carried on under cover, soon followed the introduction of the shield. The disadvantage of extra weight and consequently increased difficulty of “man-handling” the equipment is held to be of far less importance than the advantages obtained by the use of armour.
28. Laying.—“Elevation” may be defined as the vertical inclination of the gun, “direction” as the horizontal inclination to the right or left, necessary to direct the path of the projectile to the object aimed at. “Laying” the gun, in the case of most modern equipments, is divided, by means of the device called the independent line of sight (see Ordnance), into two processes, performed simultaneously by different men, the adjustment of the sights and that of the gun. The first is the act of finding the “line of sight,” or line joining the sights and the point aimed at; for this the equipment has to be “traversed” right or left so as to point in the proper direction, and also adjusted in the vertical plane. The simplest form of laying for direction, or “line,” is called the “direct” method. If the point aimed at is the target, and it can be seen by the layer, he has merely to look over the “open” sights. But the point aimed at is rarely the target itself. In war, the target, even if visible, is often indistinct,
- ↑ Though not of course against the direct impact of shrapnel or H.E. shells.
