Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-03-03
DRILL AND TACTICS.
TIE GREAT CHANGES IN MODERN
METHODS or WARFARE.


ceivable that Gen. Skobelef could have be-
come a strategist, but he was a born tao
1 tician. On the other hand, the lieutenant in
the United States army who lays his plans SO
that he surprises and captures band OF hos
tile Indians is, pro tanto, strategist The
line between strategy and tactics cannot DO
drawn easily or exactly; but the line between
! drill and tactics is so clear that it is passing
strange how any confusion between them can
ever have arisen. The band Of farmers who,
the other day, hunted down and surrounded
1 the lair of a family of murderers, knew, prob
| ably, nothing of drill, but they brought tao
tics into play.
| There is a danger lest our officers fail to
study tactics such as they would require
every day and hour if they were opposed to
| regularly organized force. The fact that
| they have TO handle troops mainly against
| Indians and rarely against mobs in cities ia
| apt to induce them to ignore field taco.~- -
understood and practiced IN other countries.
We are apparently on the eve Of a mighty
| struggle, in which magazine rifles will super
sede breech leaders, as breech leaders, in 1866
and 1870, superseded muzzle leaders. Not
| only will more shots a minute be available
| for tho defense of a position, but those shots
| will be more effective on account OF the lower
trajectory of tho bullets. A bullet fired point
blank will henceforth hit anywhere up to 500
yards, instead of falling far short of that
range. 1T any rate this will be so with the
new Enfield Lee-Burton rifles and with the
Lebel rife in France, and we may be sure the
other nations will not be long in rear of the
French and the English.
IN COMING WARS.
The new number Of Whitakers Almanack,
IL may be interesting TO say, contains very
well written end instructive article ON the
present status of the nations of Europe in
this respect But not only will magazine
rifles play theis part in coming wars; maya
zine guns also win add enormously to the
effectiveness of both attack and defense,
though probably moro to the latter than to
the former Mtrailleuses were indeed used
in 1870, but, for mechanical reasons, they
were not very effective, and, in any case, the
French had not enough of them, and did not
know well enough how to handle them to get
the best work out of them. 1t will be very
different next time, when these machine guns
will to a considerable extent take the place
Of light artillery and, in some respects, OF
half battalions of infantry. 1t is, therefore,
obvious that every operation of war will be
largely affected by the change in the rifles
and in the habitual use of machine guns
Strategy itself will have to take the progress
into account, and it will profoundly modify
and, in o. sense. revolutioniZe tactics how
greatly we shall probably not know until
thousands of men have fallen through blum
dering But that is no reason why we should
wait for such an experimentum crucis
Each year sees so many changes in the
armament of nation that the tactics of to-
day are in some respects Anticipated this day
twelvemonth. Suppose it is true that tho
French and English have got smokeleSs pow
der in their new cartridges, as is more than
suggested in the almanac above mentioned.
That in itself must materially modify tactics
employed by or against them. We do not
indeed believe that the heat waves arising
from smokeless powder will sometimes fail
to deceive as well those using it as their adj
versaries, or that this powder will be found
as well adapted as black powder for transport
and for keeping purposes. But its disadvan-
tages will in any case be outweighed by its
advantages, and when "the war cloud rolling
dun" has disappeared many movements now
possible under its curtain viii then be inn
practicable.
CHARGING THE WORKS.
Gen. Skobeleff said to Capt Green, United
States engineers 1.-The only formation in
which troops can successfully assault in
trenched positions is in successive lines of
skirmishers.n And that will probably now
remain true in some senses as long as war
lasts. But against magazines guns and ma
chine guns the lines Of sSirmishers will have
| to be far more open than they were against
breech leaders 1t is even doubtful whether
| they will be, strictly speaking, lines at all, or
whether they viii not have to be turned into
rather what is called the cloud formation.
| The trouble with this will be- except with
| troops of the very highest training, to bring
| enough men together and well in hand to
make tho final assault against the serIied
| line Of tho defenders holding all the adyan-
| tage of the covN of the trenches. And here,
| again, US any soldier must sec, comes in the
| question of the support to be given to tho
| slsirmishers by machine guns or artillery
| seeking to keep down the fire from the in
| trencbments9 In fact, the whole problem is
altered by the shifting Of what might appear
| but a minor factor of it,
We recently pointed out the coming change
| in the use OF cavalry, when each squadron
| shall have attached to it gallcping gun--a
| machine gun-such as Col. Hasbrouck saw
! one or two English cavalry regiments with
| on his recent visit to Aldershot Infantry
will cease to despiso cavalry so much as they
| are now taught TO do, when they have.had a
few lessons from cavalry dropped behind
a bank or hin crest and their lying down fire
| supported by a storm Of bullets from gallop-
ing guns. Cavalry, on the other hand, will
not 'charge for the guns" quite so readily
when field batteries are fanked by machine
| guns And artillery will not open at 900
or 1900 yards, as they have DONE when the
Inen serving the guns can be moved down at
$500 or 5000 yards by Il storm Of bullets pro
jected by the agency Of only one or two men,
1t must never be forgotten that to get the
greatest amount Of herdisn displayed by the
average man he must have at least a fair
chance Of coming out unseathcd. Take away
that chance and you take away the courage
% nine men ont OF ten.-New York Times