The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-09-13
On the Field of Battle

ouilet through 1t the next instant
.hihh ~ would conduce very materially
| 70 the peace of mind of MANY households
IL the fact were brought home 10 ,ber,
that the Boer is I'm reality man of or
oinary flesh and blood like ourselves with
cyesight very little keener and nervee
no Whit steadier than the average of o,r
own and that our troops in Africa nos
sess 10 their present allotment of 6eId
aIuiiery power which, properlv en-
/ pioyed, can most effectually reduce tho
steadiness of both hand and eve ~ our
opponents to almost any degree of sbaLt-
ness they may desire. The truth {. h..
the vast majority of our countrvrna,,
nave not the faintest idea of how rho
mechanism of an army really works
An army Is machine built up Of three
chief components. cavalry. artilIery ond
infantry. whose functions are ~ Ara
shatter and ultimately drive eut tho o,a'
my from his chosen ground. ana tbis tosI,
IS accomplished in the following manner. |
The cavalry by scouting, locate the a,,o- /
my. This is an Indispensable prelir,tnor,,
! Winch can never be neglected w;tbort /
certain punishment. To crush an enemy
you must at least know where he stands
OF whether he is moving Yet, obvious
as that statement appears in this bald !
torh' the records of all armies. I regret
10 say, particularly of our own. disclose !
now often and with what serious results
II mas otten been entirely omitted But
assuming In this hypothetical case that
.he cavalry nave duly and efficiently per-
formed TINS duty the artillery then gal
Top OUT, ana by concentrated hail of
proJectiles proceed to break down ana
DESTROY of
sistance, result which is generally OH
tanned not SO much by the number of
adversaries actually killed as by the cheer
nervous exhaustion of the living which I
destroys and paralyzes all marksmanships |
whatever
Workmanship is no permanent attri- |
butte of any man; it varies from monant |
TO moment, not only from external in
huences. but with the internal nervous
condition of the Individual and when once
storm of shell bursts over a position
state of things is soon arrived at which
renders careful aiming inconceiyable.
Picture for a moment what II really
means. Let us take only four batteries |
concentrating their fire on a front Of 100 |
yards. Four batteries will deliver some
forty shells 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 vul-
nerable surface exposed will be hit once
every three minutes. A man standing up !
exposes about five square feet and living
down about two His chances of surviv- |
ing such 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 |
culatioa 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 cloud
of smoke, their bullets and splinters tear
up the ground, raising masses Of dust and |
finging 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
mosphere minute distinctions of dress
and ornament can be distinguished at
even quarter of a mile or less?
Under cover of this storm the infantry
approach, and soon their bullets are
added to the general hail. BY success
sion Of rushes they work their way in
till only short stretch divides them; the
fire redoubles in volume, the reserves
come up, and with one last rush the posi-
ton is stormed. Cavalry and horse ar
tiIlery sweep round the flank or fight
their way through the crowds 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 endeayors to approximate, but
one which they rarely succeed in attain
ing The point, however that ] wish 70
make is that in cavalry which can find
and an artillery which can prepare the
way leader possesses two weapons in
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-
qLence results. Given position of Ger.
tain front defended by weapons of
known range and rapidity of fire, We
can calculate with 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 cal
culations. one assuming the tactical con-
ditions and armament of the peninsula,
and the other the existing weapons and
practice of the present day, the fire from
both being taken as delivered between |
similar degrees Of elevation and depres-
oion 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 its
forces, under the modern ones IL was
possible to close with your enemy for a
loss OF 2 per cent only, and this was the
necessary mathematical consequence of
the Improvement OF the weapons In use, a
conclusion which 1t is impossible to es-
cape from.
The result is confirmed In the most re-
manner by the fighting and