Evening star., 1900-03-31
ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE
HOW THE MECHANISM OF AN ARMY
REALLY WORKS.
"hE Bullets Have So Much DimcuIty
IN FINDING Their BiIIets-Excite-
ment Affects Good Shooting.
From the Pail Mall G.ze,,.

Inc popular imagination, to Judge by the
columns of the daily press. seems 10 MIC
ture TO Itself the Boer as a species OF ss,Iper-
human automaton fitted with telescopic
uJustinS optics. capable of detecting
d n'e-inch distinctive badge at 1000 yards.
anu uiildiihgy putting bullet through II
une next instant. / think II would conduce
very materially to the peace of mind Of
many households IL the fact were hrousht
home to them that the, Roer ts ~ -ool,,,, =
man OF ordinary flesh and blood like our-
selves, with eyesght a very Iittla kaa,ar
ana nerves no whit steadier than tho axar-
age OF our own. and that our troops IN
AIrica possess In their present allotment OF
Heiu drtlllery power which properly en-
pioyed, can most effectually reduce ,b.
steadiness of both hand and eye of our on
pohents to almost any degree of shakiness
liies may desire The truth is that the vast
majority of our countrymen have NOT tba
ialntest idea OF how the mechanism, of an
army really works.
An army is a machine b,IiIt M, of ,b,
cfle1 componentS, cavalry artillery ans f,
ldnrN, whose functions are to find sharter
ana ultimately drive out the enemy from
Ii;s Shoseh ground: and this task is accom-
PiIsiie, III the following manner: The cav
AIRY by scouting. locate the enemy This
Is an indis pensable preliminary which can
never De neglected without certain punish
meht 10 crush an enemy YOU must AZ l.as,
know where he stands or whether h. 10
moving. Yet obvious as that statement an
Pedis IN thls bald form, the records OF an
al l. Iiles 1 regret to say. particularly of our
own, disclose how often and with what So
rious results 1t has often been entirely omit
teu. But, assuming in this Hypothetical
cdse e mat the cavalry have duly and eff
1hen gallop out and by a concentrated haiI
Vi proJectles proceed to break down and
destroy their opponents power of resist
ance. result which is generally obtained
actually killed as by the sheer nervous ex
nausuon OF the living. which DESTROYS and
paralyzes all craftsmanship whatever,
bute i 81 iiairsiiip ms, Is no permanent attrl-
ment TO moment not only from axtar
naI influences, but with the internal
nervous condition of the individual and
"heh once storm of shell bursts over
d position state of things is soon arrived
able. ''''s i"e"ii0eN-
Picture for moment what it really
means. Let US take only four batteries
concentrating their fire on front az Ino
yards -Four batteries will deliver som. an
~ s~heLls minute. each Of which on bursting
lnfoWs out about 30 bullets and fragments
all OF which will generally mass ahout M
feet above or 10 feet below the line of tar
gets aimed at, so that on an average each
square foot of vulnerable surface exnosad
VIII De MT once every three minutes A
man standing up exposes about five souara
leet and lying down about two His chances
Oh surviving such storm for half an hour
cannot be considered favorable and an tho
practice ground. as a rule the ,iumpieS ac
tually are riddled to the extent this caIcllIa-
ton indicates. On service the accuracy ar
M N n! md! ran considerably short of this but
lhere are Still other disturbances to h., rock
ohed with The bursting shells smother the
Whoie llne IN a cloud of smoke, their bullets
ana sphnters tear up the ground raising
masses OF dust and finging pebbles and
rock fragments in the faces of the defend
ers. Let us assume even that these are en-
doWed with superhuman nerve and courage
Dut Will any one contend that through such
an atmosphere minute distinctions of dress
ana ornament can be distinguished al even
quarter of mile or less?
onder cover of this storm the infantry an
proach, and soon their bullets are added
TO the general hail. By a succession of
rushes they work their way in tin only a
snort stretch divides them; the fire redou
ples IN volume. the reserves come un and
with one last rush the position is stormed.
cavalry and horse artillery sweep round The
hanks or fight their way through the
CROWDS OF their own men as best they can.
of man and horse
This is the ideal attack, to which every
leader endeavors to approximate but one
which they rarely succeed in attaining ,T>ba
point. however. that | wish to make Is tbat
IN cavalry which can find and an artillery
"hich can prepare the way a leader pps-
sesses two weapons in his hands with
Wnlch, given time enough he can reduce
the flnest craftsmanship in the world ia the
condition of pure random fire and from this
= curious consequence results. Given a no.
sltlon or a certain front defended by veap-
ons OF known range and rapidity of fire.
we can calculate with fair degree of accu-
racy the losses which an attacking forca q,
must incur in passing over the bulIet-swept
zone.
Some four years ago We made two caIcu
lations. one assuming the tactical conditions
ana armament of the peninsula and the
other the existing weapons and practice of
the present daE the rA hotk,
taken as delivered between similar deprees
OF elevation and depression. The result was
very curious, for whereas against the ram
dom fre of the early DAYS of the century
the attack could not lose less than I'm ~
cent of Its forces under the modern ones IN
was possible TO close with your enemy for "a
loss OF TWO per cent only. and this was the
mathematical consequence of tha
improvement Of the weapons in use a can
cluslon which 1t is impossible to escape
from. Pe
This result is confirmed in the most re-
manner by the fighting and losses
hitherto reported from the Transyaal Tor
TO the best OF my knowledge, no positions
held by determined white men. equally we'll
armed as our own, have ever been carried
with SO small a percentage of loss to tha
victors. The conditions of the ground hoth
at Glencoe and Elandslaagte appear 10
have been most unfavorablc for our field
guns nring shrapnel only, and hence the
lsure OF per cent is considerably exceed
cd, but at Rietfontein the whole six hours
lght.ag resulted in loss of per cent.
and this only be accounted for either
by overeXtension on one side or the other.
D on both. But all three actions argue a
very high degree of tactical skill and abili-
y on the part of our leaders which should
mere than condone the temporary ahsanca
II mind or forgetfulness which led to the
Unfortunate occurrence at Nicholson's Mex.
Nettled n Sea Lion.
from the San Francisco Bulletin