and organisation were improved, the changes following those adopted in England though somewhat tardily. Up to the end of the 18th century, however, bullocks were alone used for artillery draught, attached to the carriages by yokes and traces of raw hide ; and in the earlier wars the ammunition was carried on the heads of lascars. The artillery developed rapidly, as our Indian possessions and Indian armies increased, and bore a constantly increasing share in our triumphs in that country. Early in the 19th century it numbered three horse brigades, and seven Euro pean and three native battalions. In 1845 the Afghan and Gwalior campaigns led to improvements in this branch; and in the Sikh wars the artillery was at last placed in its proper position. In 1S57 it had attained its maximum strength, and numbered no less than sixty-five European and sixty-six native troops and batteries, with a total of 52-4 field guns. Its last and most brilliant services as a separate body were rendered in the great Sepoy mutiny,
and in 1862 it was amalgamated with the Royal Artillery.
Organisation, Administration, and Matériel.
Modern artillery is broadly divided into field, siege, and garrison; and field artillery, again, is divided into mountain, horse, field (or foot),[1] and position artillery. The battery is essentially the unit of artillery organisation, both tactical and administrative; and brigades or regiments are formed by combining a number of batteries for convenience of administration.
A battery of field artillery comprises three elements: viz., matériel—guns, carriages, ammunition, and stores; personnel—officers and non-commissioned officers, gunners to serve, drivers to groom and drive, and artificers; and transport—horses, mules, elephants, oxen, &c. The number of guns in a battery varies from four to eight. Mountain and position batteries have usually four or six, field and horse batteries six or eight guns each. In England, France, and Prussia, there are six guns to a field or horse battery; while Russian and Austrian batteries have eight guns. The latter number seems to possess decided advantages. It admits of more convenient division ; and the half-battery of four guns is a small but convenient battery for any particular service. In England, where the battery is divided into three divisions of two guns each, the centre division has to be divided to form half-batteries. Moreover, the larger the imit consistent with tactical considerations, the fewer will be the relative number of non-fighting carriages, such as forges, &c.
Usually the guns in a battery are all of one class, but sometimes what are termed mixed batteries are formed. Thus, until recently a field battery consisted of five guns and one howitzer, or four guns and two howitzers. These mixed batteries were supposed to have an advantage over those of guns alone, in that they commanded every kind of fire, and were adapted to every variety of circumstance. There was, however, a serious objection in the fact, that the differences between the gun and howitzer were so great in range and employment, that the fire of one must usually be comparatively neutralised ; and the universal use of shell guns has now practically abolished mixed batteries.
The carriages which accompany a battery include (besides gun-carriages and limbers) ammunition waggons, store and provision carts or waggons, and forge waggons. The num ber of ammunition waggons depends upon the amount of ammunition which it is considered necessary for a battery to take with it in action an important question, upon which there is considerable diversity of opinion. The greater the amount of ammunition a battery carries with it, the more independent it is ; on the other hand, every additional waggon makes the battery more cumbrous, and lengthens out the column of march, a serious considera tion at all times, and especially in the case of artillery moving with the advanced guard of an army. The pro portion of ammunition to be carried must be based on past experience. At the battle of Liitzen, 1813, the French fired 220 rounds per gun, and on this they based their estimate. But in all the great battles of the Franco-German war of 1870-71 the maximum expenditure was 94 rounds per gun ; at Yionville and at many of the great engage ments not more than half this average was reached. The accumulation of waggons leads to batteries leaving a large part of their ammunition waggons at some convenient point under shelter when going into action ; and the tendency now is to reduce the amount of ammunition with the bat tery in order to obtain the greatest possible mobility, and provide against any failure of ammunition by a more effi cient system of ammunition columns. In former days bat teries were further hampered by having to carry the reserve of small-arm ammunition for the infantry and cavalry. This system was said to be advantageous, in that the infantry knew at once where they could obtain their ammunition, but its disadvantages were numerous, as it seriously en cumbered the artillery ; and, moreover, with the new tactics of long-ranging guns, the artillery, instead of closely accompanying the infantry, will often remain at a consider able distance in rear, while the infantry is advancing. The reserve of small-arm ammunition is therefore now carried by special ammunition columns.
The distinction between horse and field or foot artillery is another question at present engaging attention. Horse artillery was created to compete with cavalry in rapidity of motion, and for this purpose every man was mounted ; while field batteries were supposed to accompany the infantry, and their pace under ordinary circumstances to be limited to that of a man on foot. Under the new condi tions of improved fire-arms, the dash of horse artillery has no longer its former value, while more mobility and more independence of action is required for the field batteries. It is therefore held by many that there should be only two classes of artillery : horse, or very mobile field artillery, and position batteries of heavy guns.
The organisation and interior economy of a battery ia much the same in all field artillery. In England the com mand is held by a major. Upon the commanding officer depends to a great extent the efficiency of the battery in peace and in war. He should be not only well versed in stable management and the ordinary routine of his duties, but he should be acquainted with the matériel with which he has to deal, and be a practical gunner ; and further, besides the tactics of his own arm, he should understand the combined tactics of tho other arms in order to appre ciate intelligently what is required of artillery in modern warfare. The second in command is a captain. The bat tery is divided into three divisions of two guns each, each under a subaltern officer, who is responsible for everything connected with his division, men, horses, guns, carriages, ammunition, and stores. Each division, again, consists of iwo subdivisions, each comprising one gun and ammunition waggon, with its quota of men and horses ; and at the head of each is the No. 1 of the gun detachment, usually a sergeant, who is immediately responsible to the divi sional officer for his subdivision. The No. 1 is technically the head of the gun detachment of nine gunners, and his duties in the field are to lay and command the gun.
- ↑ The term field artillery has a general and a particular sense. In the former it applies to all kinds of artillery which accompany an army on the field of battle; in the latter it is confined to that branch (in some armies called foot artillery) which is supposed ordinarily to move with infantry, as distinguished from the lighter horse artillery and the heavier position artillery.
