Artillery officer

“ Intelligent non-commissioned officers should be sent to reconnoitre a road or ground that artillery is to pass over, and, when necessary, to report the state of it. When the march is connected with military operations, an officer should always be employed for this duty. ”

“ Object of study of artillery Except in small engagements in detachment warfare the infantry will have the assistance of friendly artillery and will be opposed not only by infantry but by artillery fire. Some knowledge of artillery, its use, the effects it can produce and how best to utilize the aid afforded by our own and to meet the opposition of the enemy’s, is therefore necessary for the infantry officer and also for the men in ranks. ”

“ The officers of a company of artillery should be proportioned to the number of guns it is intended to man. No officer can do justice to more than two pieces; and as the companies were then adapted to eight field-pieces, four officers, with a fifth to command the whole, is the number which ought to have been present in the field. ”

“ In the Army of the Potomac the chief of artillery does not remain at corps headquarters, but is assigned directly to the command of the artillery, where he also has a staff, including an ordnance officer, who supplies ammunition and other articles pertaining to his department, exclusively to the artillery. ”

“ Artillery Guard, is a detachment from the army to secure the artillery when in the field. Their corps de garde is in the front of the artillery park, and their sentries distributed round it. This is generally a 48-hours guard; and upon a march this guard marches in the front and rear of the artillery, and must be sure to leave nothing behind. If a gun or waggon breaks down, the officer that commands the guard is to leave a sufficient number of men to assist the gunners and aids in getting it up again. ”

“ The expenditure of ammunition is a matter which can only be regulated by the circumstances of the moment, officers commanding should, however, always bear in mind that the supply of artillery ammunition in the field is necessarily limited.
4. It is of great importance that artillery horses should be kept fit for any special effort. They are not easily replaced, and it is the duty of artillery officers to represent to the commander of the column whenever they consider that their horses are being unduly worked, as regards either pace or distance. ”

“ The same author writes, with regard to the service of the Royal Artillery during the siege: “It is a pleasing act of justice to the Artillery officers, employed in this attack, to state that they vied with each other in their exertions and expedients to meet the hourly difficulties they encountered, and that no set of men could possibly have drawn more service than they did from the limited means at their command.” ”

“ The necessity of impressing on infantry commanders that though at the commencement of an attack it is possible to support them with a great weight of artillery, it is not possible to push this mass of artillery forward when movement becomes rapid, [Pg 305] and that if they push forward rapidly, they are better served by a small mobile allotment of guns. ”

“ If the infantry has been severely taxed by marching or fighting, a large part of the outpost may be temporarily formed of cavalry.
Artillery is useful to outposts when its fire can sweep defiles or large open spaces and when it commands positions that might be occupied by hostile artillery. The guns are carefully concealed or protected and are usually withdrawn at night.
Machine guns are useful to command approaches and check sudden advances of the enemy.
The field trains of troops on outpost duty generally join their organizations; if an engagement is probable, they may be held in rear. ”

“ When, owing to the approach of darkness, the field artillery can no longer find useful targets, they will be withdrawn from the cavalry back to the Division to which they belong. Should the enemy make any decided stand during such operations and a general action arise or become imminent, the field artillery in the front will either fall back or retain their position, at the discretion of the Corps Commander, and again come under their Divisional Commander. ”

“ In the offensive the division artillery must play its part in the complex schemes of artillery preparation by cutting wire, destroying machine gun nests, gassing areas, concentrating on infantry positions and taking the principal part in the deep barrage that should precede the infantry attack. ”

“ One of the most curious facts of the war was the general lack of communication between attacking infantry and artillery. True, the infantryman in the front line is not always in the best position to direct artillery fire, but, on the other hand, he is frequently the only man who knows anything at all. We learned, to our cost, the excellence of the German control of artillery fire, and though our artillery observation officers performed the most gallant feats, our method never seemed as good as that of the enemy. ”

“ One cannot but be struck—in studying the history of this national corps of Artillery—with the rapidity of its formation, and its attainment of high discipline and professional knowledge,—keeping pace in its career of half a century with the constant changes, with which even in those days this arm was harassed ”

“ The artillery assigned to a field army should be of such mobility, power, variety and number as to insure the success of its purpose and to enable this success to be gained with the minimum of casualties. The latter point must receive careful consideration in studies of organization, for without adequate artillery preparation and support the successes of the most gallant infantry can in a series of actions become little more than pyrrhic victories. ”

“ The equipment of the artillery of the guard is probably the completest in the world;—each gun of the horse artillery is followed by three tumbrils of ammunition, and the artillerymen being all mounted and armed, a battery of horse artillery is fitted to act in a double capacity. One of these batteries, of 12 pieces, on the march, with all its accompaniments, takes up fully half-a-mile of road.
The regiments of infantry are of various strength; all are composed of the finest men, in point of strength and military appearance, but they appeared to us rather inadequately officered. ”

“ The artillery, it is popularly supposed, suffers little in this war. This is largely true of the heavy; when it comes to the seventy-fives, they are kept close to the actual fracas and used somewhat as machine-guns. Besides, there is in every battery one dangerous post; it is that of officier de liaison, the man who keeps the artillery in close communication with the infantry. ”

“ If ability in field battery service were rewarded by appointment to the Horse Artillery, and skill in Garrison Artillery service were rewarded, either by special employment or by appointment to some such corps as was recommended by Sir Robert Gardiner—an Artillery of the Guard—would we not have better officers of each branch than we now have? ”

“ Positions in the rear of the line are bad for artillery, because they alarm the troops, and offer a double object to the fire of the enemy.
Positions which are not likely to be shifted; but from whence an effect may be produced during the whole of an action, are to be preferred; and in such positions a low breast work of 2 or 3 feet high may be thrown up, to cover the carriages.
Artillery should never fire against artillery, unless the enemy’s troops are covered, and his artillery exposed; or unless your troops suffer more from the fire of his guns, than his troops do from yours. ”

“ The formation of an artillery support depends upon circumstances. On the march it may often be necessary to provide advance, flank, and rear protection. The country must be thoroughly reconnoitered by patrols within long rifle range.
582. In action, the formation and location of the support must be such as to gain and give timely information of the enemy's approach and to offer actual resistance to the enemy beyond effective rifle range of the artillery's flanks. It should not be close enough to the artillery to suffer from fire directed at the artillery. ”

“ The artillery corps will have a total of 18,862 men, of which the coast artillery will have 13, 734, organized into 126 companies of 109 men each; and the field artillery, 4,800 men, organized into 30 batteries of 150 men each. ”

“ My brigade was on the left of the Guards. On the face of the slope immediately in front of the Light Division, the enemy had made a large redoubt protected on each side by artillery on the heights above and on either side, covered on flanks and front by a direct as well as an enfilading fire. This artillery was supported by numerous large masses of troops near their guns, and also by other [86] large masses in rear on the inward slopes of the heights. ”

“ This liaison is obtained by the following five means:
(a) Organization of Leadership:—For the full co-operation of the infantry and artillery, the latter is not kept entirely independent, but is divided and assigned to infantry unit. Each chief of sector and each chief of center of resistance knows what artillery must support him if he needs it. The commander of the artillery support is not exactly under the command of the infantry chief of area, but he is at the latter’s disposal for certain calls for support fire. ”

“ With less constant and loyal co-operation on the part of both field, heavy, and siege batteries, the great bravery and determination of the infantry could scarcely have availed to hold up the enemy's advance. The infantry are the first to admit the inestimable value of the artillery support so readily given them on all occasions. ”

“ It rarely occurs that the service of artillery is required at one point to the number of ten or twelve companies. The exigencies of the service will require that these regiments (if organized as contemplated in the bill now returned to you) shall be broken into detachments, and the field officers, in such event, would be in command of fractions not proportional to their rank. ”

“ Battle fronts are too short for the artillery to occupy space in the line, even if this were a good place for it which it is not; it must fire over the infantry. All our men must [Pg 87] be made to understand the effect of this artillery fire on the effectiveness of the hostile infantry, how much more effective this latter would be without the fire of our artillery, and the importance of having this artillery fire kept up to the last possible moment. ”

“ The purpose of the artillery support is to guard the artillery against surprise or attack.
Artillery on the march or in action is ordinarily so placed as to be amply protected by the infantry. Infantry always protects artillery in its neighborhood. ”

“ As far as comfort and satisfaction can be obtained from the study of an unsuccessful war, they can be got by the Royal Artilleryman in tracing the services of his Corps during the great war in America. ”

“ Our regular Army is, in men and guns, but a mere nucleus of what we ought to have, and of what we must have to save this country from defeat and abject humiliation should war come.
Not only this—the artillery we have is without adequate field organization. It would take at least four months to train additional personnel in order to get our field artillery ready for duty. It would take us four times as long, therefore, to get our own artillery on the firing-line, ready for battle, on either our eastern or western seaboard, as it would for an enemy to get its artillery there. ”

“ The present organization of the artillery into regiments is liable to obvious objections. The service of artillery is that of batteries, and an organization of batteries into a corps of artillery would be more consistent with the nature of their duties. A large part of the troops now called artillery are, and have been, on duty as infantry, the distinction between the two arms being merely nominal. ”

“ The field battery which rejoices in smart non-commissioned officers and men is in no dread of losing them to feed a favoured corps. From the day a recruit joins the Horse Artillery, his efficiency and his education depend on the officers of that arm ”

“ When, however, the Artilleryman seeks for something that is genial and lovable in the soldiers of that victorious age,—he turns from the cold and undemonstrative Chief, and dwells fondly on the men who had by their exertions raised Artillery, as a science, to an unprecedented point, and had elevated with it the Corps Hime. ”

“ The division artillery, first of all, must have the mobility that will permit it to accompany the infantry of a division and the maximum power consistent with that mobility; its object must be primarily the infantry of the opposing division. It is therefore bound to its own infantry [Pg 48] with the closest bonds and its tactical use cannot be separated from that of the infantry. The division artillery must fire, accurately, a man killing projectile and be prepared for quick changes of targets ”

“ The thorough elementary education given to those officers who commenced their service with the grade of cadet qualifies them to a considerable extent to perform the duties of every arm of the service; but to give the highest efficiency to artillery requires the practice and special study of many years, and it is not, therefore, believed to be advisable to maintain in time of peace a larger force of that arm than can be usually employed in the duties appertaining to the service of field and siege artillery. ”

“ There is no distinct corps of artillery as in other services, but there are 4,000 or 5,000 men, under a daroga, trained to the duty of gunners, and these are distributed with the ordnance throughout the regular army. ”