- spicuous objects, as, for example, trees, visible at a great distance.[1]
Intrenchments that have just been thrown up should be made to look as nearly as possible like the surrounding country by covering them with snow, sod, or brush. It is made more difficult for the hostile artillery to secure adjustment, if our infantry changes position to the front or to a flank, if it moves rapidly or advances by rushes.
It is easy, as a rule, for the artillery to adjust its fire upon masks, but difficult to determine the distance between mask and target. It is an advantage when masks are situated obliquely to a position. As masks (rows of trees) may cause the premature burst of projectiles having percussion fuzes, they should be at least 200 m. from the troops they are to screen.[2] When so situated they frequently afford better protection than actual intrenchments.
(b) Minimizing the Effect of Fire.
Formations that increase the effect of artillery fire, as for example lines and columns, and positions in which a flank is refused, should be avoided. It is a good plan to increase
- ↑ The cutting down of a poplar at Könlggrütz decreased the effect of the Austrian artillery fire, which, previous to this, had caused rather serious losses. Geschichte des Regiments, Nr. 2, p. 36. A similar effect was produced by tearing down a house at Lovtcha. Kuropatkin-Krahmer, Kritische Rückblicke auf den Russisch-Türkischen Krieg, I, p 59.
- ↑ Fight of some Prussian batteries against a French battery masked by chaussee trees at Weiszenburg. See Hoffbauer, Deutsche Artillerie, 1, pp. 13 and 49. The 4th Light and the 4th Heavy Batteries of the 10th Field Artillery (German) were able to maintain their position east of Mars-la-Tour, under the fire of superior hostile artillery, because they were screened by the trees and the embankment of the chaussee thirty paces in their front. Kriegsgeschichtliche Einzelschrift, 25, p. 18. The sustained bombardment of Schlosz Ladonchamps (situated on the Moselle flats north of Metz) with 12 cm. guns, which fired 200 shots per day from Oct. 9th to 10th, and 100 per day from Oct. 11th to 16th, 1870, was unsuccessful, because the percussion shells were ineffective. This will not be changed in the future by the adoption of high-explosive shells. According to Dick de Lonlay, the garrison of the castle and its park lost only 5-10 men per day during this time. The defensibility of the castle was not impaired, although projectiles finally fell into the building itself during the sustained bombardment. According to the same author (IV, p. 556) 1,022 shells fell into the park and castle of Ladonchamps on October 7th, but only ten men were placed out of action.
