Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"
26. _General Characteristics of Field Artillery Action._--The duty of
342 words | Chapter 173
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."
Chapters
1. Chapter 1
2. 1. _Stone Age._--One of the chief problems which have perplexed
3. 2. _Bronze Age._--It is impossible to assign any date as the beginning
4. 3. _Early Greek Weapons._--The character of the weapons used by the
5. 4. _Greek, Historical._--The equipment does not differ generically from
6. 5. _Roman._--The equipment of the Roman soldier, like the organization
7. 6. _English from the Norman Conquest._--It is unnecessary here to trace
8. 7. _Fire-arms._ (For the development of cannon, see ARTILLERY and
9. 1. _Early Armies._--It is only with the evolution of the specially
10. 2. _Persia._--Drawn from a hardy and nomadic race, the armies of Persia
11. 3. _Greece._--The Homeric armies were tribal levies of foot, armed with
12. 4. _Sparta._--So much is common to the various states. In Sparta the
13. 5. _Greek Mercenaries._--The military system of the 4th century was not
14. 6. _Epaminondas._--Not many years after this, Spartan oppression roused
15. 7. _Alexander._--The reforms of Alexander's father, Philip of Macedon,
16. 8. _Carthage._--The military systems of the Jews present few features of
17. 9. _Roman Army under the Republic._--The earliest organization of the
18. 10. _Characteristics of the Roman Army._--Such in outline was the Roman
19. 11. _Roman Empire._--The essential weaknesses of militia forces and the
20. 12. _The "Dark Ages."_--In western Europe all traces of Roman military
21. 13. _The Byzantines_ (cf. article ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER).--While the west
22. 14. _Feudalism._--From the military point of view the change under
23. 15. _Medieval Mercenaries._--It was natural, therefore, that a sovereign
24. 16. _Infantry in Feudal Times._--These mercenary foot soldiers came as a
25. 17. _The Crusades._--It is an undoubted fact that the long wars of the
26. 18. _The Period of Transition_ (1290-1490).--Besides the infantry
27. 19. _The Condottieri._--The immediate result of this confused period of
28. 20. _The Swiss._--The best description of a typical European army at the
29. 21. _The Landsknechts._--The modern army owes far more of its
30. 22. _The Spanish Army._--The tendencies towards professional soldiering
31. 23. _The Sixteenth Century._--The battle of St Quentin (1557) is usually
32. 24. _Dutch System._--The most interesting feature of the Dutch system,
33. 25. _The Thirty Years' War._--Hitherto all armies had been raised or
34. 26. _The Swedish Army._--The Swedish army was raised by a carefully
35. 27. _The English Civil War_ (see GREAT REBELLION).--The armies on either
36. 28. _Standing Armies._--Nine years after Nordlingen, the old Spanish
37. 29. _Character of the Standing Armies._--A peculiar character was from
38. 30. _Organization in the 18th Century._--All armies were now almost
39. 31. _Frederick the Great._--The military career of Frederick the Great
40. 32. _The French Revolution._--Very different were the armies of the
41. 33. _The Conscription._--In 1793, at a moment when the danger to France
42. 34. _Napoleon._--Revolutionary government, however, gave way in a few
43. 35. _The Grande Armee._--In 1805-1806, when the older spirit of the
44. 36. _The Wars of Liberation._--The Prussian defeat at Jena was followed
45. 37. _European Armies 1815-1870._--The events of the period 1815-1859
46. 38. _Modern Developments._--Since 1870, then, with the single exception
47. 39. The main principles of all military organization as developed in
48. 40. _Compulsory Service._--Universal liability to service (_allgemeine
49. 41. _Conscription_ in the proper sense, i.e. selection by lot of a
50. 42. _Voluntary Service._--Existing voluntary armies have usually
51. 43. The militia idea (see MILITIA) has been applied most completely in
52. 44. _Arms of the Service._--Organization into "arms" is produced by the
53. 45. _Command._--The first essential of a good organization is to ensure
54. 46. A _brigade_ is the command of a brigadier or major-general, or of a
55. 47. A _division_ is an organization containing troops of all arms. Since
56. 48. _Army Corps._--The "corps" of the 18th century was simply a large
57. 49. _Constitution of the Army Corps._--In 1870-71 the III. German army
58. 50. _Army._--The term "army" is applied, in war time, to any command of
59. 51. _Chief Command._--The leading of the "group of armies" referred to
60. 52. The _Chief of the General Staff_ is, as his title implies, the chief
61. 53. _First and Second Lines._--The organization into arms and units is
62. 54. _War Reserves._--In war, the reserves increase the field armies to
63. 55. The military characteristics of the various types of regular troops
64. 56. The transfer of troops from the state of peace to that of war is
65. 57. _Territorial System._--The feudal system was of course a territorial
66. 58. _Army Administration._--The existing systems of command and
67. 59. _Branches of Administration._--In these circumstances the only
68. 60. Prior to the Norman Conquest the armed force of England was
69. 61. It is difficult to summarize the history of the army between the
70. 62. The first years of the Great Rebellion (q.v.) showed primarily the
71. 63. James II., an experienced soldier and sailor, was more obstinate
72. 64. Under William the army was considerably augmented. The old regiments
73. 65. Before passing to the great French Revolutionary wars, from which a
74. 66. The first efforts of the army in the long war with France did not
75. 67. The period which elapsed between Waterloo and the Crimean War is
76. 68. The Indian Mutiny of 1857, followed by the transference of the
77. 69. The period of reform commences therefore with 1870, and is connected
78. 70. Historically, the Indian army grew up in three distinct divisions,
79. 71. _Madras._--The first armed force in the Madras presidency was the
80. 72. _Bombay._--The island of Bombay formed part of the marriage
81. 73. _Consolidation of the Army._--In 1796 a general reorganization
82. 74. _The Army before the Mutiny._--The officering and recruiting of
83. 75. _The Reorganization._--By the autumn of 1858 the mutiny was
84. 76. _The Modern Army._--The college at Addiscombe was closed in 1860,
85. 77. In the earliest European settlements in Canada, the necessity of
86. 78. The _Landsknecht_ infantry constituted the mainstay of the imperial
87. 79. The Austrians, during the short peace which preceded the war of
88. 80. The Austrian system has conserved much of the peculiar tone of the
89. 81. The French army (see for further details FRANCE: _Law and
90. 82. The artillery had been an industrial concern rather than an arm of
91. 83. The last half of the 17th century is a brilliant period in the
92. 84. If Louis was the creator of the royal army, Carnot was so of the
93. 85. One of the first acts of the Restoration was to abolish the
94. 86. At the outbreak of the Franco-German War (q.v.) the French field
95. 87. The German army, strictly speaking, dates only from 1871, or at
96. 88. The bitter humiliation and suffering endured under the French yoke
97. 89. The _Saxon Army_ formerly played a prominent part in all the wars of
98. 90. The _Bavarian Army_ has perhaps the most continuous record of good
99. 91. _Wurttemberg_ furnishes one army corps (XIII.; headquarters,
100. 92. The old _Hanoverian Army_ disappeared, of course, with the
101. 93. The old conscription law of the kingdom of Sardinia is the basis of
102. 94. The history of the Russian army begins with the abolition of the
103. 95. The feudal sovereignties of medieval Spain differed but little, in
104. 96. With the Italian wars of the early 16th century came the
105. 97. The military history of Spain from 1650 to 1700 is full of
106. 98. The writers who have left the most complete and trustworthy
107. 99. The regular army of the United States has always been small. From
108. 100. _Dutch and Belgian Armies._--The military power of the "United
109. 101. _Swiss Army._--The inhabitants of Switzerland were always a hardy
110. 102. The _Swedish Army_ can look back with pride to the days of
111. 103. The existing Army of _Portugal_ dates from the Peninsular War,
112. 104. The _Rumanian, Bulgarian_ and _Servian_ armies are the youngest
113. 1804. Arnault died at Goderville on the 16th of September 1834.
114. 1848. In 1861 he became a member of the Lower Austrian diet and in 1869
115. 1785. After being educated at a convent school in Fritzlar, she lived
116. 1822. When it is said that he was the son of the famous Dr Arnold of
117. 1827. In June 1828 he received priest's orders; in April end November of
118. 4. Spike of fruits. Showing in succession (from below) female flowers,
119. 3000. It lies in a pleasant undulating country at an elevation of 900
120. introduction of European spirits and methods of manufacture is gradually
121. 500. This was soon transferred to Cambrai, but brought back to its
122. 1. Warrants are ordinarily granted by justices of the peace on
123. 2. The officers who may arrest without warrant are,--justices of the
124. 3. A private person is bound to arrest for a felony committed in his
125. 4. The arrest by hue and cry is where officers and private persons are
126. 1826. They are under the direction of maritime prefects, who, by a
127. 1. Daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, first wife of Ptolemy II.
128. 2. Daughter of Ptolemy I. Soter and Berenice. Born about 316 B.C., she
129. 3. Daughter of Ptolemy III. Euergetes, sister and wife of Ptolemy IV.
130. 4. Youngest daughter of Ptolemy XIII. Auletes, and sister of the famous
131. 819. The streets of the town were widened and improved in 1869.
132. 1. Brother of Darius I., and, according to Herodotus, the trusted
133. 2. Vizier of Xerxes (Ctesias, _Pers_. 20), whom he murdered in 465 B.C.
134. 3. A satrap of Bactria, who revolted against Artaxerxes I., but was
135. 4. ARTABANUS I., successor of his nephew Phraates II. about 127 B.C.,
136. 5. ARTABANUS II. c. A.D. 10-40, son of an Arsacid princess (Tac. _Ann_.
137. 18. 9). In A.D. 35 he tried anew to conquer Armenia, and to establish
138. 6. ARTABANUS III. reigned a short time in A.D. 80 (on a coin of this
139. 7. ARTABANUS IV., the last Parthian king, younger son of Vologaeses IV.,
140. 1. ARTAXERXES I., surnamed _Macrocheir, Longimanus_, "Longhand," because
141. 2. ARTAXERXES II., surnamed _Mnemon_, the eldest son of Darius II., whom
142. 3. ARTAXERXES III. is the title adopted by Ochus, the son of Artaxerxes
143. 1876. Since 1905 the Art Collections Fund, a society of private
144. part ii. of Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_).
145. 5. Lankester, "Observations and Reflections on the Appendages and
146. 1622. Of the numerous later editions, the best is that of Achille le
147. 1. _Early Artillery._--Mechanical appliances for throwing projectiles
148. 2. _The Beginnings of Field Artillery._--It is clear, from such evidence
149. 3. _The 16th Century._--In the Italian wars waged by Charles VIII.,
150. 4. _The Thirty Years' War._--Such, in its broadest outlines, is the
151. 5. _Personnel and Classification._--More than 300 years after the first
152. 6. _The English Civil War._--Even in the English Civil War (Great
153. 7. _Artillery Progress, 1660-1740._--Cromwell's practice of relegating
154. 8. _Artillery in the Wars of Frederick the Great._--By the time of
155. 9. _Gribeauval's Reforms._--At the commencement of the 18th century,
156. 10. _British Artillery, 1793-1815._--Meanwhile the numbers of the
157. 11. _French Revolutionary Wars._--During the long wars of the French
158. 12. _Napoleon's Artillery Tactics._--During the war the French artillery
159. 13. _Artillery, 1815-1865._--Henceforward, therefore, the history of
160. 14. _The Franco-German War, 1870-71._--In the next great war, that of
161. 15. _Results of the War._--The tactical lessons of the war, so far as
162. 16. _Quick-firing Field Guns._--In 1891, a work by General Wille of the
163. 17. _Time Shrapnel._--The power of modern artillery owes even more to
164. 18. _Heavy Field, Siege and Garrison Artillery._--Amongst other results
165. 19. _Field Artillery Organization._--A _battery_ of field artillery
166. introduction of the quick-firing gun, the tendency towards small
167. 20. _Ammunition._--The vehicles of a battery include (besides guns and
168. 21. _Interior Economy._--The organization and interior economy of a
169. 22. _Special Natures of Field Artillery._--_Horse Artillery_ differs
170. 23. _Heavy Ordnance._--_Heavy Field Artillery_, officially defined as
171. 24. _Higher Organization of Artillery._--The higher units, in almost
172. 25. _Grouping of the Artillery._--The "corps artillery" (formerly the
173. 26. _General Characteristics of Field Artillery Action._--The duty of
174. 27. _Occupation of a Position._--This depends primarily upon
175. introduction of the shield. A great advantage of retired positions is
176. introduction of the shield. The disadvantage of extra weight and
177. 28. _Laying._--"Elevation" may be defined as the vertical inclination of
178. 29. _Ranging_[4] (except on the French system alluded to below) is,
179. 30. An example of the ordinary method of ranging, adapted from _Field
180. 31. _Observation of Fire_, on the accuracy of which depends the success
181. 32. _Fire._--Field Artillery ranges are classed in the British service
182. 33. _Projectiles Employed._--"Time shrapnel," say the German Field
183. 34. _Tactics of Field Artillery._--On the march, the position and
184. 35. Field artillery in _defence_, which would presumably be inferior to
185. 36. _Marches._--The importance of having the artillery well up at the
186. 37. _Power and Mobility._--It will have been made clear that every gun
187. 38. _Concentration and Dispersion._--The use of their artillery made by
188. 39. _Horse Artillery_ is to be regarded as field artillery of great
189. 40. _Field Howitzers_ are somewhat less mobile than field guns; they
190. 41. _Heavy Field Artillery_, alternatively called _Artillery of
191. 1. As regards the teeth, we have the passage of a simply tubercular, or
192. 2. As regards the limbs. Reduction of the ulna from a complete and
193. 3. Change of form of the odontoid process of the second or axis
194. 4. Development of horns or antlers on the frontal bones, and gradual
195. 5. By inference only, increasing complication of stomach with ruminating
196. 1907. In every direction there has been a tendency to increase prices
197. 1884. The Artists' Society, formed in 1830, has for its object the
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