Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-08-16
Buker Pill Co., Bangor. Me.
THE FUTURE OF WAR.
Modern Deadly Guns VIII Necessitate a
Change In the Tactics.

Modern Deadly Guns VIII NecessitRte n
Change In the Tactics.
The modern guns will make great
changes in the art of war, and the plans
employed in former campaigns by tho
great commanders will receive many modi-
1lcations. Defensive battles will be at n
premium, and defensive warfare will DO
Simplitlcd. Armies will mancuvcr for po-
sition, and the generals commanding them
will gain fame by movements sliillfully
conducted to concentrate their scattered
battalions at the proper tiI3c, with tho
purpose of forcing an antagonist to give
rather than to accept battle. If a cam
paign with q designated objective point is
planned and the strategy is offensive on
tho part of one of the commanders if pos
siblc his tactics will be defensive. Hostile
armies will keep at greater distances and
in open country out of sight of each other,
unless they can take up a line at night
and intrcnGh and direct flank movements
will not be attempted where troops are Wis
iblc before the assault. Field balloons will
locate the position and photography mark
the formation of contcnding forces, whilo
nent parts in the war drama. Night march
ing and night attacks will be more fire.
Qucnt and columns of troops organized to
charge stationary positions will be moved
under darkness to close points so that the
charge at dawn will occupy tho shortest
time possible.
Raging battles will be fought by in
fantry and artillery, and one of the prob
lens will be the protection of the horses
that draw the guns. Temporary field
works cannot shelter them, and unless
hills afford protection they will perish in
tho leadcn hail. Cavalry will not be em-
ployed on the main field of IL battle, but
on the TANKS of armies, against cavalry.
Cavalry Chieftains will no longer asSIil in
fantry or artillery, and no more charges
will be recorded like those of Ponsonby at
WatCgloo or Murat mt Jena. This arm will
still be effective III rccOnnOisSanCcS, pickett
ing, guarding trains and us escorts, but
except in small bodies its use for advance
and rear guards will be diminished. Tho
target presented is too large to be risked
before field guns firing with great rapidity,
even if several miles distant, as well as be-
fore infantry rifles necessarily flashing a
mile away.
Maneuvcring u cavalry corps with say,
10, 600 horses on q future battlefield would
be u high type of cruelty to animals, but
tho regiments, brigadcs and divisions
composing it can still render good service.
They can be moved with celebrity long dis
tances. and the troopers, except the horse
holders, can be dismOunted and used as in
fantry, their modern carbines being nearly
as effective as the magazine rifle of the in
fantryman, but it will be most difficult
to protect the horses while locating them
in such a position as to reach their riders
or be reached by them quickly, when
necessary.
Perhaps the most interesting problem to
be solved by those who organize armies in
the future is the disposition and arrange
mGnt of tho immense ammunition trains.
The greedy guns must be fed, and great
will be their rapacity. Next to the COM
manding general and his principal assist
ants will rank in Importance the field
chief of ordnance, who has the location Of
supply dopots and the management of the
transportation of large and small cartridges
to the combatants. The continual re-
plenishing of caisson and timber boxes,
the smaller charges for infantry during
actual conflict and the safety and cflicien-
cy of vast trains where electric or steam
roads cannot be constructed will require a
brave, enterprising, cool, vigilant officer
of conspicuous ability and executive ca
pacity.
The medical departments, too, must be
reorganized ana enlarged to convey tho
disabled to field hospitals for field ambu-
lances cannot be placed close to battle
lines, and the numbers of the wounded
will be greatly increased.
The great captains of future wars will
be those who fully comprehend tho de-
structivc power of improved cannon and
small arms, and whose calm and fertile
intellect will grasp the importance of so
maneuyering rs to force the antagonist to
give offensive battle, and who will never
be without "clear conception of the OBJ
ject to be achieved and the best way Of
achieving it, They will parry and fence
like great swordsmen, but they will thrust
only when the enemy PUSHES upon them.
IL. I ~.