The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-11-08
On the Field of Battle

4hAAh llGQ Will IGlC~
scopic self-adjusting optics, capable of
detecting a five-inch distinctive badge at
1000 yards, and unfailingly putting a
bullet through it the next instant. l
think 1t would conduce very materially
to the peace of mind Of many households
If the fact were brought home to them
that the Boer is in reality a man Of orr
binary flesh and blood like ourselves, with
eyesight a very little keener and nerves
no whit steadier than the average of our
own, and that our troops in Africa pos
sess In their present allotment of field
artillery a power which, properly en-
ployed, can most effectually reduce the
steadiness of both hand and eye of our
opponents to almost any degree of sbaki-
ness they may desire. The truth is that
the vast majority Of our countrymen
nave not the faintest idea of how the
mechanism of an army really works.
An army is a machine built up Of three
chief components, cavalry, artillery. and
infantry. whose functions are r. find
shatter and ultimately drive ont tha ono.
my from his chosen ground: and this taek
Is accomplished in the following manner.
Inc cavalry, by scouting, locate the enc
my. This is an Indispensable preliminary
Whlch can never be neglected without
certain punishment. To crush an enemy
you must at least know where he stands
or whether ne is moving. Yet. obvious
as that statement appears in this bald
Iorm' the records of all armies, I regret !
~ say, particularly of our own, disclose
now oIten and with what serious results
1t has often been entirely omitted. But.
assuming in this hypothetical case that
the cavalry have duly and efficiently per-
formed this d1fw tho ar+ilIu.-. = 49,
Top out, and by a concentrated hail Of
projectiles proceed to break down and
destroy their opponents power of re-
sistance, a result which is generally oh
tanned not so much by the number OF
adyersaries actually killed as by the sheer
nervous exhaustion Of the living, which
destroys and paralyzes all marksmanshins
whatever.
Craftsmanship is no permanent attri-
butte of any man; it varies from moment
to moment, not only from external in
nuences, but with the internal nervous
condition Of the individual, and when once
a storm of shell bursts over a position a
state of things is soon arrived at which
renders careful aiming inconceivable.
Picture for a moment what If really
means. Let us take only four batterias
concentrating their fire on a front of 100
yards. Four batteries will deliver soma
forty shells a minute, each Of which on
bursting throws out about $50 bullets and
fragments, all of which will generally
pass about ten feet above or ten feet be-
low the line of targets aimed at, SO that
on an average each square foot of vuI-
nerable surface exposed will be hit once
every three minutes. A man standing IN
exposes about five square feet, and Wing
down about 4uyo Ti- aba-aa. .
ing such a storm for half an hour cannot
be considered favorable, and on the prac-
tice ground, as a rule, the dummies ac-
tually are riddled to the extent this cal
culation indicates. On service the ac-
curacy Of fire may fall considerably short
of this, but there are still other disturb
ances to be reckoned with. The bursting
shells smother the whole line in a cloud
of smoke, their bullets and splinters tear
up the ground, raising masses of dust and
hinging pebbles and rock fragments in the
faces of the defenders. Let us assume
even that these are endowed with super
human nerve and courage, but will any
one contend that through such an at
m~osphere minute distinctions of dress
and ornament can be distinguished at
even a quarter of a mile or less?
Under cover of this storm the infantry
dI pTOdCu, anu soon their outlets are
added to the general hail. BY a success
sion of rushes they work their way in
till only a short stretch divides Them; the
fire r~edoubles in volume, the reserves
come up, and with one last rush the posi-
ton is stormed. Cavalry and horse ar
tiIIery sweep round the flank or fight
their way through the crowd of their
own men as best they can, and the pur-
suit is pushed to the last breath Of man
and horse
This is the ideal attack, to which every
leader endeavors to approximate, but
one which they rarely succeed in attain
ing. The point, however, thatsI wish to
make is that in a cavalry which can find
and an artillery which can prepare the
way a leader possesses two weapo I'M
his hands with which, given time enough,
he can reduce the finest craftsmanship in
the world to the condition of pure ran
dom fire, and from this a curious conse-
qEence results. Given a position Of a Ger.
tain front defended by weapons of g
known range and rapidity of fire. we
can calculate with a fair degree of ac-
cUracy the losses which an attacking
force must incur in passing over the
bullet-swept zone
Some four years ago we made two call
culations, one assuming the tactical con-
ditions and armament of the peninsula,
and the other the existing weapon and
practice of the present day, the fire from
both being taken as delivered between
similar degrees of elevation and depres-
sion. The result was very curious, for
whereas against the random fire of the
early days Of the century the attack
could not lose less than 10 per cent of it's
forces, under the modern ones it was
possible to close with your enemy for a