is advisable to use first the cartridges carried in caps, haversacks, coat and trousers' pockets. The contents of the right cartridge box are saved for decisive moments when great rapidity of fire is essential. In replenishing ammunition, the right cartridge box is filled first, then the left, and the surplus is accommodated in haversack, coat and trousers' pockets.
AUSTRIA.
(Par. 70 Regulations of 1903).
The regulations are extremely thorough and deserve special attention.
If an engagement is imminent, each private receives 20 additional rounds
before leaving the bivouac or reserve position, and each non-commissioned
officer 100 rounds from the company ammunition wagon, so that the latter is
about half emptied.[1] This brings the total amount carried by each soldier
up to 140 rounds, and increases the load of the privates by 0.71 kg., and
that of the non-commissioned officers by about 4 kg. When troops go into
action, the ammunition wagons are assembled and accompany the battalion
reserve, taking as much advantage of cover as possible, so that the attention
of the enemy may not be drawn to them. After the battalion reserve has
been absorbed by the firing line, the ammunition wagons accompany the
regimental reserve. When exposed to artillery fire, the wagons maintain
intervals of twenty paces from one another. They are either placed under
the orders of the battalion adjutant, or of the senior supply officer present
with them, as may be directed by the battalion commander.
In attack, it will, as a rule, only be possible to replenish ammunition until troops get within about 1,000 paces (750 m.) of the enemy. From this point on, however, it will be extremely difficult to supply ammunition. Every lull in the fight must be taken advantage of to replenish ammunition. The firing line receives a fresh supply of ammunition through reinforcements or through small detachments under non-commissioned officers sent forward from the reserves. These detachments, after distributing the ammunition they have brought up, remain with the firing line. The companies engaged in the fire fight later take advantage of every opportunity to replenish and to redistribute ammunition.
In defense, all the ammunition wagons may be emptied before the action begins, and sent to the rear to be refilled. The ammunition should be deposited in the vicinity of the firing line. The subsequent replenishment of the supply should be managed as in an attack. If ammunition is very
- ↑ The company ammunition wagon carries 9,450 rounds of ammunition, packed in seven compartments. It consists of a body and a limber, has a width of track of 1.13 m., and is supplied with eight sacks which serve to carry ammunition to the troops. During the day its position is indicated by a red flag, and at night by a green lantern.
