attack on Pieters Hill (1900), Colonel Kitchener is said to have told his artillerymen that he would not censure them if two or three of their shrapnel burst in the ranks of his infantry. The following statement appears in a British memorial on the lessons of the war in the Fast East: "The moral effect produced by artillery fire, which forced the defenders to take to cover and did not even permit them to raise their heads above the parapet, was so highly esteemed by the Japanese infantry that it requested the batteries to continue firing, without regard to the losses thereby inflicted in its own ranks, until it had taken the position or unfurled small national flags as an indication that fire support was no longer necessary. According to the opinion of the Japanese themselves, the losses inflicted in their infantry by their own guns wee insignificant in comparison to the losses which the defender could inflict by delivering his fire undisturbed at a range of a few hundred meters, when not kept down by the attacking artillery." According to the Austrian regulations, one unit is to remain halted for the purpose of directing its fire upon the point of attack or upon any reserves that might appear. This provision involves a grave danger, in that it may induce the leader to retain a considerable number of troops in rallying positions, instead of launching his whole force in the assault.
When fire support is deemed necessary in an attack, the artillery will perhaps be best able to furnish it until the infantry has reached a certain point. Then a moment will arrive, however, when the guns will have to cease firing, and when even the infantry units which have been left behind to support the attack, will no longer be able to direct their fire upon the enemy on account of the wide frontage of the assaulting force. The defender's troops would have to be poor indeed, if they would not at this moment, when the assailant's fire has practically ceased, raise their heads above the parapet for the purpose of emptying their magazines once more at the assailant, even though the fire be unaimed.
