by Lieut.-Col. Hon. F. R. Bingham, R.A.
| |
| 1 |
THE LECTURER: General Findlay, ladies and gentlemen: when a politician goes to a political meeting he knows he is going to speak to people who will agree with him and that the others who don't like his views won't come to the meeting; but with a Gunner speaking to Gunners, especially when innovations are in question, he will probably find that most of his hearers will disagree with him on some points and some on all. Still it is only by discussion that we dig out difficulties and get ideas for improvements. | |
The Committee asked me to come and talk about this year's practice camps and this year's changes, and also to say what lessons we have learnt, but one is rather shy about coming after reading the letter of the correspondent in the Morning Post who says that the advice of the junior Colonel at Shoeburyness, and his still more junior assistants is only tolerated on minor subjects of drill and fire discipline. | |
The innovations of the year were new "Field Artillery Training," new "Instructions for Practice," "Collective Ranging," and "Tactical Practice," changes in targets, abolition of classification, and the introduction of No. 7 dial sights. New Field Artillery Training: | |
This year saw the advent of the new Field Artillery Training. The old one was one mass of amendments, was not well arranged and was not up-to-date. I think the new one meets most of these objections and every line of it spells latitude, while giving guidance as to how to carry out the handling of Artillery units. The chapter on Employment of Artillery in War is extraordinarily good. One sees in it many French tendencies but after all they have gone deeper into the question than any other nation up to the present date, and their views are being adopted by nearly all European armies. | 5 |
The new book contains only six examples of ranging; the old book tried to have an example of every possible condition, and when a target appeared it led to a scratching of heads as to which example applied to it. New Instructions for Practice: | |
The chief difference in these instructions was the sub-dividing the Practice up into separate progressive phrases. More a change in name than anything else as far as regards the Elementary and Gunnery Practice, but with considerable difference when we come to Tactical Practice. | |
To take the different portions seriatimFirst we come to the Elementary Practice. This was carried out differently in the different camps; some carried on the old principle of calling it the Brigade Commander's day, which was like every other day except that the Brigade Commander was imagined to have set the scheme, while the two Divisions I saw carried it out in the following method as purely elementary. | |
The position was first occupied as a covered position by the battery commander who then fell out and became critic. A section only was used while the other sections and men from the wagon line formed up behind, and looked on. A junior subaltern ranged the battery on to a fairly easy target, advised if necessary by the gunnery instructor. As soon as the subaltern thought he had the range and fuze he stopped, the result was signalled in by the range party, and the whole of the detachments collected round the guns and were informed by the Brigade and Battery Commander of mistakes at their guns. The Gunnery Staff gave them their notes to help them. | |
Then another subaltern was taken, who had to order a switch to a target and to range on it as before, young gunners being put into the detachments and criticism immediately after the series as before. Then the whole battery was manned and the senior subaltern perhaps ranged with "Collective" after making a switch, and again criticism with everybody round the guns. | 10 |
By this method it was found that the mistakes which always take a place the first day were pointed out on the spot to all ranks, and it was found that it was unnecessary to mention them at the conference on other days, and they were simply sent round to those concerned. It is always the first day that so many mistakes occur and by pointing them out on the spot to the people who make them, there is less likelihood of their recurring. Criticisms at 3 o'clock in the afternoon are apt not to percolate to the lower ranks, but when mistakes are pointed out to the men on the spot they are less likely to make them again. Gunnery Practice: | |
There was no difference between this and other years, a certain amount of tactics being introduced into the gunnery problems. In the two divisions I saw fire, it was left to the Brigade Commander entirely as to who should fire the series, from his knowledge of his officers and their requirements. In this respect, speaking purely as a personal opinion, I think we must be careful to give battery commanders enough shooting. It is a very dull business to train your battery carefully and then hand it over to others to do all the shooting. After all, they will, till they are killed or knocked out, shoot their batteries in war and the tendency now is not to give them enough practice in doing so. Of course one does not want to return to the retrograde days when the major had all the shooting, except one series carried out by the captain. | |
Targets were varied as much as possible and as life-like as one could make them, but as you know there are limitations in these respects when canvas and wood represent men and materiel. Effect was apt to be disappointing, but when you come to think that the average for a series can only be about 30 rounds, one cannot expect great effect, and as long as a battery commander has occupied his position and ranged quickly and accurately, and engaged his target or targets properly, it is all one can expect in peace time, and it is only in war that what one may call effective fire will be reached, and it is the man then who has carried out the above conditions best who can hope for success. | |
I will, later on, go into the different targets which presented difficulties and suggest methods for engaging them. Battery Tactical Practice: | |
We now come to the first real innovation. The camps vary very much in their possibilities of imparting tactical instruction, West Down and Larkhill being more from the nature of the ground adaptable than the others. On the other hand, Glen Imaal (where the system has been in force for the last three years), and Trawsfynydd, owing to their telephone arrangements, have special facilities not open to the others. | 15 |
I will try and enlarge on the camp I was at myself. An infantry officer of the division the battery belonged to was told off as Officer Commanding the Force: the scheme was explained by the Brigadier-General and the position of the troops pointed out. The point at which contact had taken place, and where resistance was experienced was also pointed out, and the infantry officer and battery commander went off and consulted as to what was best to be done and the amount of artillery to be used and how to use it. Targets were then pulled up, if they were not there already, and firing commenced. As soon as one phase was concluded the Brigadier-General explained the situation and the procedure was carried out as before. Results were recorded as far as possible, as at gunnery practice. | |
The infantry officers who have hitherto been treated as spectators and kept on a high hill afar off to watch puffs of smoke, and who used to think how slow everything was, are now brought into the game. They hear everything, learn our limitations and possibilities and it was of interest to us to hear their views, and in my humble opinion was most useful to both arms. Infantry officers who were present told me they were very interested, had learnt a good deal and were only sorry that the camp was over. At the end of the practice there was the usual afternoon's Conference, but if the G.O. commanding the Divisions thought fit he also gave his criticism on the ground. So that gunnery should not suffer, the situation had occasionally to give way to targets, but they clashed very little. When telephones are completed on the ranges not now provided with them, there should be no clashing at all as the Brigadier-General will be able to have any targets he wants pulled up without the present cumbersome method of prearranged targets pulled up by signal. | |
In the "Instructions for Practice" it is stated that the G.O. commanding the Division was to draw up the scheme, but practically it came to the Brigadier-General doing it, as he knew the local conditions, danger questions, etc., and had to watch over the gunnery considerations. Brigade Tactical Practice: | |
Brigade Tactical Practice was carried out similarly except the Brigadier-General of the Infantry Brigade to which the brigade is, what I may call, affiliated, was Commander and he and the Brigade Commander consulted together and worked in co-operation. There is not time in a lecture of an hour's duration to go into the tactical lessons, but one very big one came out and that was that in supporting the infantry attack in its final stages the greatest care must be taken by the gunner to avoid risk of hitting his own troops. Three times I saw shell fall absolutely on the spot described by the infantry commander as being the position of his troops. | |
In the amendments which are coming out, officers are directed when supporting an infantry attack to range with the longer elevation first when using section ranging, and to give such an interval between rounds that in the case of the first round being short the second can be stopped. | 20 |
In supporting an infantry attack over-estimation of range must always be made. | |
Remember that if it is necessary to open fire on a trench it means that the men in that trench are firing at our people and therefore that our men are only about 1,000 yards distant. | |
Another big question cropped up several times in this question of close support, and that was that if the fore-ground in front of the enemy's position cannot be seen clearly, the artillery must at all sacrifice go forward to where they can see it. | |
I see in the late German Army Manoeuvres it is stated that the German artillery sacrificed themselves every time to bring off the close support of their infantry. | |
We have no information to date as to the support given by the Bulgarian artillery to their infantry in the assaults on the Turkish positions, but I hope we shall get it soon. Divisional Practice: | 25 |
Divisional practice was carried out by the whole of the 3rd Divisional Artillery, commencing with an Advanced Guard Action in which the 7th Infantry Brigade took part. Danger questions took away a good deal of the value of this practice, as the guns for safety reasons had to stop firing at the critical period of the attack. In the later phases, however, much interesting work was done in the way of allotting tasks to brigades and was successfully carried out. It is a question whether we can spare 14% of the total ammunition when so much has to be done, but this is for others to decide. | |
I should have said when talking of brigade tactical work that great difficulty was experienced with the allotment of tasks as all targets seemed to come up in the same zone, and the answer seemed to be the allotting of definite tactical tasks to the batteries. A most interesting translation appears in the December number of the "Royal Artillery Journal" which enlarges on this question | |
One point came out very clearly and that was that once a battery has been detached it is hopeless for a brigade commander to think he can allot it targets. It is out on its own with a mission and must do its best, of course informing the brigade commander when possible as to the progress of events. Collective Ranging: | |
Diverse views, needless to say, have been expressed on this subject, some taking a violent dislike to the method, others using it always. I think the word 'normal' is disliked but perhaps the idea is, 'that it would not have been tried at all,' by those who had made up their minds beforehand that it was no good. I am to a certain extent prejudiced in the matter, so like Agag, I must walk delicately. | |
The advantages claimed for it are: | 30 |
| |
A distinguished infantry officer last year who had to do with the experiments carried out was asked what he thought, and he answered, "I know very little of gunnery but as an infantry officer I should like to see my artillery ranging with 'Collective,' and I should hate to have the enemy ranging on me that way. | |
The opponents of the method put forward : | |
| |
It is has not been our experience this year that the expenditure has been any greater, and with reference to the second objection, battery commanders who began by disliking it, later on would not use any other method. There are occasions of course when it is absolutely wasteful. | |
I saw a B.C. start 1,100 yards out in his range and creep up with 300-yard salvos until he got near his target. Having found out he was hopelessly out in his range he ought of course to have dropped 'Collective' and tried with a single round to get some indication of range, and then go on with his 'Collective.' B.C's forget that they can change from one system to another whenever they like. The inclination of B.C's was to correct their lines and forget to alter range and corrector. Probably with water-proofed fuzes next year it will be found much easier. The system has had one season's trial so we must wait. | 35 |
It also came out that at a cavalry moving target 'Collective' ranging was not suitable. A rough bracket with a section was enough to go on with. I have stated as fairly as I can the merits and disadvantages of the system. If it turns out a failure and there is a desire after next year's practice to do away with it, no doubt the authorities will do so, but reading, as I have, the report of every Brigadier-General, Brigade Commander, and Battery Commander, I may tell you the consensus of opinion is that it has come to stay. | |
Various small amendments are being put into the F.A.T. as to the giving out of the orders during 'Collective' ranging to avoid delay. It is absolutely necessary that the guns should be fired at three seconds interval so that the B.C. will acquire the habit of looking for the rounds at that interval. | |
I have already stated that ranging on a target when in close support with 'Collective' the greatest care must be taken to overestimate the range to ensure being beyond our own infantry, and I have also alluded to the longest range being fired first with a section for the same reason. Ranging on Irregular Targets and Natural Features: | |
As "Field Artillery Training" says, targets will seldom be parallel to the front, and difficulty was experienced this year in engaging these targets. The following is suggested as a method to do so; it was tried and found to be successful: Range with whatever method you wish, 'Collective' for choice, as in so doing you get your lines parallel during the first two salvos, guess the obliquity and go to battery fire correcting range and line of each gun by use of the word drop or add, thus: Centre Section 3,500, Right Section add 200 yards, Left Section add 100 yards; Battery Fire 10 seconds, and during Battery Fire No. 1 add 50, No. 2 add 25, and so on. This obviates the battery commander having to keep a string of figures in his head and having to constantly turn round and apply to his penciller as to what range the guns are firing at. | |
Enfilading should be done the same way: concentrate your fire, give different ranges to guns or sections, and correct at battery fire. At manoeuvres we talk glibly about destroying a target that presents itself to us in enfilade, but it is a difficult job and not a quick one. Attack of Moving Targets: | 40 |
In this, especially from under cover, progress has been made, but the failing here was in prediction. Officers forget the time it takes to give out orders, for the orders to be obeyed, and for the shells to arrive. | |
The 18-pr. too has its limitations when a target is moving across the front owing to the position of the wagon limber. | |
We had a moving battery of 6 guns which came down a hill obliquely for about 900 yards and I should not like to say how few effectives were scored. In shooting at game our inclination is to be behind the bird, and similarly with an artillery gun we are apt to shoot behind the target. | |
Another cause of failure at this particular class of target was the desire to go to gun fire before the lines were right and the B.C. was worried by a gun, or perhaps two, being right off the line. I was going to have mentioned this trouble later, but perhaps the present is the best place to allude to it. | |
Battery fire at two seconds is practically as effective as gun fire, and the battery commander can get his lines right and put them where he pleases, in fact his battery will answer the helm. | 45 |
The old saying was "When in doubt, one round gun fire." We have all seen hundreds of rounds wasted at practice camps owing to this self-same order. | |
Engaging Infantry coming over an area before he reaches his Fire Positions: It is quite certain that infantry approaching a position, but long before they get to their fire positions (which are, as you know, those from which they will open rifle fire, and therefore not more than say 1,000 yards from our infantry), will be in what is called artillery for-mation, that is to say first in company columns, breaking up later into lines. If we do not fire at them in these formations they will come along all the quicker without loss of men and morale. | |
It is a difficult thing to engage these targets, and there are several ways to do it. | |
Having ranged on one spot, one way is to follow the enemy down the position with the fire of the whole battery; the second way is to fire at a spot where he must come to, and make that an inferno to come through; and the third way is to keep one section on the top of the area, one in the middle and one on the nearest portion. | |
No one can say that either method is wrong, but they all three want practising. One thing is quite certain and that is that infantry coming down, or going up, an area, can only be taken on by indirect laying. Fire Positions: | 50 |
Fire positions will require absolute accurate ranging to hold the enemy to his position to interfere with his fire. Reinforcements will pushed on to strengthen their firing lines and they may give opportunities and offer good targets when approaching. Targets: | |
Targets have not varied much from other years. Infantry targets are the great difficulty. We tried pulling up little lines of columns in succession from the rear to the front, and then dropping them from the rear to the front. We tried pulling them up and leaving them up, and also letting them show for 10 seconds and then appear and reappear. They were only meant to show movement in the area. I don't say they were successful, but no one seems to be able to suggest any better. Engaging them obliged a battery commander to get the fire of his battery in to his hand, and a battery that did not answer the helm absolutely, was incapable of taking them on. | |
Flash batteries with the enemy showing his B.C. on a ladder were much in fashion, and our experience was that while the B.C. and his staff were always hit, the enemy's battery did not suffer much. Of course as I said above, we have not enough ammunition at a practice camp to get much effect. I hope next year that we shall have enough puffs and flashes to make them more realistic, as owing to the amount allowed it is difficult to keep up the enemy's flashes after the first few minutes, and they go off at too long intervals and make the location of the enemy's guns difficult. | |
It was suggested that we ought to show our own infantry as well as the enemy, and this will be done as far as possible. Engaging Two Targets at Once: | |
This has been found difficult and various solutions have been offered. Of course I mean from under cover, as in the open it is done by Section Control. Under cover the B.C. must command from the ladder if he is using one, while the section commander will use the telephone to the crest, or one will use the telephone, and one will use flags or two lots of different coloured flags will be used by the two men. Formalism is dangerous on this point, but the B.S.M. must see to these communications being arranged in accordance with the B.C's orders while the battery is in action. The telephone must always be laid to the crest whether the ladder is used or not, to which flank must be settled in accordance with circumstances. | 55 |
Probably the best method is to lay it to the centre of the battery, so that if the telephone only is used it can work to the whole battery, and if the ladder is used and two targets are taken on, it can be used for the furthest section. | |
It was decided that if the B.C. is ranging on one target and has to engage a new one as well, that the B.S.M. should carry on with the old one, while the B.C. who knows the situation and the outlook, should take on the new one. If the B.C. is on his ladder, the section commander coming to take on a position will have to go up to the telephone station on the crest and command from there. Occupation of Positions: | |
The same remarks came from all camps, that positions are not occupied as well or as quickly as they might be. It is a drill, whether you occupy a position in the open, under cover, or with a B.C. some way off, in other words a plotter series. | |
"Field Artillery Training" distinctly lays down that the observation station must be selected first and the battery position must be subservient to it, and the reason is a very good one, as the B.C. may be able to get only one place from which he can really observe his enemy and the situation. Having selected it and left his head-quarters to carry on with any necessary range taking, etc., he can then go down and select the position roughly for his battery, putting out his aiming posts or allowing the section commander who may have accompanied him, to do this part of the work and he will then go back to his place and all ranges, etc., should be ready for him. A very careful drill is required so that everybody knows what to do and how to do it in the quickest possible time. | |
Every battery on every battery parade should drill under the stop-watch, and by laying down a standard for himself, a B.C. will soon find out where the delay is and will find out a means of circumventing it. | 60 |
Say you take a standard of two minutes to occupy a position under cover and be ready to open fire, and thirty seconds in the open. You will probably not do it in that time but it is a standard to work up to. Horse artillery of course will do the latter a great deal quicker, but remember that five years ago they were accused of slowness, but I don't think they can be accused of it now; under pressure if you like to call it so, they have quickened up wonderfully. Aiming Points and Parallelism: | |
The next two points which come up together and I think have caused infinite trouble this year, have been Aiming Points and Parallelism. The section commander has chosen a bad one, all guns have not taken the same one, parallelism is forgotten, level of wheels has been forgotten, and at once the B.C. has a more difficult job than he ought to have and no system of ranging will help him. | |
I know the objections in the equipment, and we have no oscillat-ing sight on the 13 and 18-pr. Q.F. We have been trying experiments at Shoeburyness to see whether there is any mechanical way without making calculations which are impossible in the field. | |
We cannot yet compete with the difference of level of wheels satisfactorily, except by the rough methods used now, till we get instruments, but we find that the guns must put on the angle of sight ordered, or zero if none is ordered, and level the bubble before the angle from the aiming point is put on; this at any rate saves the error of the angles being put on with the dials at different | |
The best way to get the guns on to the same aiming point is undoubtedly to leave the section commander's director on the aiming point and make the other section commanders look over it. Marking for Line: | |
Marking for line has not been satisfactory, and probably the best way in nine cases out of ten is to mark where the flanks of the battery will rest. It has been found that far better line has been obtained this way, and this method has been suggested as an amendment. I was asked this year, was it permitted, and my answer was "the book permits practically anything, but if you depart from what is advised you must be prepared to justify it in case of failure." Information, too, was not sent back to the batteries and in consequence there was much delay after the guns were in action. Advancing and Retiring: | 65 |
Page 333, "Field Artillery Training," has been found confusing, and it is to be hoped that when the work comes out as a permanent work that it will be made clearer. We have had a class of N.C.O's at Shoeburyness lately, and although it was thoroughly explained to them they made a terrible hash of a question in an examination paper. | |
Position of assembly seems to have been the stumbling block. | |
This should be pointed out as only to be used when it is necessary to run the guns back by hand. It is really the place where order is created out of disorder so to speak. Each gun has been run back to a different place and the position of assembly is where they are collected and brought into hand again either for advance or retire-ment. | |
In a retirement first-line wagons, under a N.C.O., were found to stray about in a way which they would not be able to do on service, and in future the B.C. if he wishes, may keep them with him. Battery Head-quarters: | |
Battery head-quarters have become swollen to an unhealthy ex-tent. Field Service Regulations lay down the number allowed in War Establishment, and the sketch I have here is a suggestion to use the exact number allowed and no more. | |
You will notice I have suggested a ground scout to do penciller for the B.C. His duties as ground scout have ceased as soon as the guns are in action, and he is available as messenger and writer down. A habit has sprung up of the B.S.M. being used to write down the B.C's orders. He has too many other things to do and just when he is required to be arranging communications, etc., he is writing ranges, corrections, etc. He will nearly always be employed to pass the orders. The B.C. cannot turn round and shout to his battery. His attention is immediately attracted by seeing, say, Sergt. Brown com-mit some atrocity when he should be watching his target. He has got quite enough to do to keep the figures in his head and rap out his new orders quickly without having to strain his voice and shout and wonder if the order got down. The B.S.M. usually has a stentorian voice and it will be the same voice sending down orders whatever officer is commanding. | |
What has come out at every practice camp, is the slowness in giving out new orders. It will be of no use having guns that can fire 50 rounds a minute if we cannot quicken ourselves up to give the orders to the guns. It ceases to be a Q.F. battery if the B.C. is always going to turn round and ask a man behind him what was the last range and corrector. I think every battery should have even the most elementary form of miniature range and two long iron rods with heads painted white one side, and black the other, are as good as anything else, and with wooden blocks for targets. Ladders: | |
Ladders were allowed this year, and some ingenious ones, and some dangerous ones appeared. As you perhaps know the principle is recognised and firms are now sending in designs. The idea is to have a collapsible ladder, shielded with steel plates to carry range-finders, directors, etc. By using ladders you get voice control, but if they are not placed carefully, every B.C. perched on his ladder be-comes a conspicuous target. | |
We saw them used this year very often when they were un-necessary, because like every innovation it is apt to be run to death. | |
If there is a dark back-ground of trees, or suchlike, the ladders will not be seen, but placed as a sky-line target they will, in my humble opinion, be deathtraps. Of course they are a necessity, as on a modern battle-field batteries will not be able to spread themselves out as in a practice camp and the so-called plotter position will be as rare as the dodo. | |
Meanwhile we have got to learn to use them. This year they were apt to follow the B.C. everywhere, like Mary's little lamb used to follow Mary. It is suggested that they should accompany the headquarters when it goes forward to occupy a position. As a side issue, which this brings up, I was asked by a General Officer to draw atten-tion to the fact that there are two reconnaissances, one by the B.C. with the Force Commander to determine what to do when he goes on alone, and one when he has decided to occupy a position and re-connoitre for what you may call his technical occupation. | |
Another point which came up this year, and this applies particu-larly when subalterns are distributed with their sections, and that is how to do without instruments. We have got accurate instruments, but how long will they last and how many are there? I have seen great delays because a section commander had lost his aiming posts. Well, anything will do to mark the line, his hat, his handkerchief, or anything that he has. A No. 7 dial sight is as good as a director, and parallel lines of fire to a named gun gets all the others on to the line. | 70 |
The angle of sight is troublesome but every section has a field clinometer, which can be set level on the ground, or on a blanket to get a zero point, and graticules on his glasses will do the rest. Any good map can be used for determining the angle of sight if the officer will remember the old gunner's rule "reduce the difference in feet to inches and divide by the number of hundreds of yards in the range," which will give the minutes of elevation or depression required. Registering: | |
This was the first year in which registering was seriously attempted and the results were not eminently satisfactory, probably owing to the fact that there are very few prominent spots on our ranges and ammunition was occasionally grudged for the purpose. | |
The following methods were tried :
| |
I suggest that either of the last two are right, but the important point to be considered is the record of the registering. I think the B.C. should make up his mind what points he is going to register and number them or letter them to his penciller as follows, beginning from the right: | |
| 75 |
He can range with each section in turn if he wishes, putting them back on to the original point after he has done with them. | |
Then when a target appears he will simply ask his writer down for, say, particulars as to "C," etc. | |
I think in registering he will only bracket A, B, C, etc., roughly. Direct for Line and Indirect for Elevation: | |
Direct for line and indirect for elevation was found to be a fail-ure on nearly every occasion that it was tried. The name is misleading; it is really indirect laying, and the introduction of the word direct confuses the layer and they were found laying with their telescopes both for line and elevation on anything they saw. | |
We had an example one day when one gun of a section laid on the top of an area, and one on the bottom, to the discomfiture of the battery commander. Several times one section laid with open sights, one with telescopes and one used indirect laying. | 80 |
It is simpler to have nothing but direct and indirectdirect when the target can be seen clearly, with open sight or telescope, and in-direct on all other occasions. Reservists will rejoin the ranks when the bell rings for war, and the simpler everything is, the better. Training a Battery: | |
The batteries come up admirably trained but it is very difficult for a battery commander to train himself. Some years ago, when commanding a battery in Ireland, I saw a Lieut.-Col. training his brigade in the following way, and I made up my mind that if ever I commanded a Brigade I would do likewise. There appeared in Orders : 200th Battery: Training. 201st Battery: Find horses. 202nd Battery: Finding fatigues and targets. All officers attended and the B.C. and his officers were given every sort of problem, and all officers of the brigade listened to the criticism. One knows how when training a battery one makes the targets fit one's position instead of vice-versa, the B.C. himself gets very little benefit out of it. No. 7 Dial Sights: | |
No. 7 dial sights were used in some brigades and when they know how to use them, under cover work, and work in the open is going to be much simplified. Some brigades bravely used them although they had never seen them till arriving in camp and they will reap the benefit of their year's experience. The innovations of the year did not affect howitzers and heavies, except that at tactical shooting the slowness of the howitzers militated against their taking on movement, but their value for covering infantry from covered positions at close ranges was apparent. | |
Various small points are being considered to quicken up the service of the howitzer and I hope by next year the lanyard and the rammers will have been relegated to the limbo of the past. Of course they suffer under the grievous disadvantage of having to range in degrees, and the howitzer commander has to think in four dimensions like an airman. Aeroplanes: | |
Efforts were made to carry out artillery work in connection with aeroplanes. Ammunition was granted and a Committee told off to carry out the experiments, but as you know, the aeroplanes only like going out in the morning and evening, and we could only shoot be-tween 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Still we did a certain amount. As you know the French method is to put out two white cloths on the ground, one in front and one behind the battery that is firing, and when the aero-plane gets near, a salvo of 4 or 6 rounds percussion are fired with the same elevation, and immediately afterwards another salvo, at say 300 yards interval. The aviator has a card which he marks with the position of the salvos with reference to the target, which he drops, and then flies away again and the procedure is repeated. Great difficulties were experienced in getting the information down to the ground and various experiments are under trial. We also hid bat-teries for them, which they always found, and we also had ranging with puffs which they reported correctly. I hope next year that we shall be able to do more, as they are probably going to alter the whole question of concealed positions. | 85 |
Questions have been asked as to the effect of the abolition of classification, and in answer, I cannot do better than quote verbatim the following extract from the "Annual Memorandum of Training," issued by the G.O.C.-in-Chief, Eastern Command, which to my mind is an excellent answer: | |
He says, "The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief has been gratified to find that in accordance with his expectation, the abolition of classification has been attended by no loss of keenness in officers or men. Under whatever system practice is conducted, it is impossi-ble for a brigade or battery to complete its annual course without affording to its superior commanders ample evidence of its efficiency for war or otherwise. Commanding officers need consequently be under no misapprehension as to their respective merits being un-appreciated, or their weak points escaping criticism." | |
This finishes my remarks, and all I have to do now is to apologize for the inordinate length of my lecture. I once heard the cynical remark, that in this world there is nothing new, nothing true and nothing matters. Well I am afraid that nothing I have said is new, it is nearly all true, and we all know that it matters very much. Discussion | |
CHAIRMAN: Has any officer any remarks to make, or questions to ask the lecturer? | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BATTISCOMBE: Colonel Bingham made a remark about the use of instruments, and he said that they were very apt to get out of order. I do not know; I am rather more optimistic about them, but if they are going to get out of order as quickly as he thinks, I think we had better do without them altogether. I think the reason why we are not inclined to try to do without them is because we are always afraid of hitting somebody on the range; there has always been that fear of firing into somebody who is exposed on the range. Otherwise, no doubt if you have a reasonable map and a protractor, you can get a good line without any instrument at all, and having fired one shell you can get your line from that. I think perhaps it would be a good thing if now and then at practice we were deprived of some of our instruments, so that we should have to get along more or less without them. | 90 |
Then as regards the howitzer, Colonel Bingham was talking about ranging in yards, and I hope we shall get a yard scale before long. At present it is a matter of expense. It adds to the difficulty of procedure to be obliged to give elevations in degrees, particularly if one makes a bad shot at the original range. It is all right if you get near it, but when you get an error in your first range of 1,000 yards or so, and are in a hurry, and you do not look at the range table, but try to make a shot at what the next elevation should be, you are apt to get into trouble. I think one does rather want to simplify it. Then the Lecturer was talking about taking on two targets at once from a covered position. I think that is really the most difficult job we have to tackle, because if you have two people observing from the same point and trying to send down orders to the battery you are apt to get muddled up. I think one wants, so far as possible, to try and separate one's two observing stations if one can. Very often it is very difficult to get two observing stations separate. If you have any idea that it is likely to occur, the best thing would be to hold up one section so that it could be placed a little way away from the rest of the battery. If you have the whole six guns together and you try to send an order down to the battery there is apt to be confusion; and with a howitzer battery it is more difficult than with a gun battery because you are generally further away from it. | |
GENERAL PHIPPS-HORNBY: The lecture that we have heard this afternoon, I certainly think is one of the greatest interest that we have ever heard in this theatre, and I am sure it will have a very important effect upon the Practice Camps for next season. I must say that before I came here this afternoon I was very much afraid that I might hear all sorts of things against which my spirit would rebel. I have had many altercations on previous occasions with the lecturer and I must say I was very much afraid I might hear some of those things over again. Whether he has come round to me or I have come round to him I will not say, but I was very glad to hear many of the remarks he made this evening. | |
As regards the elementary system at Salisbury Plain I think the idea is an excellent one, and I intend to put it into practice myself next year. I admit that I have not tried it myself, but I am sure that it is a great improvement on anything we have done before. | |
As regards the battery commanders firing, I do not think they do fire enough ammunition, for the trouble they have in preparing their batteries for the Practice Camp. Personally, I do not think we should give a Major who is just going to be promoted to Lieut.-Col. more than one series, or even as much as that, because he has practi-cally come to an end of his time as battery commander, and those rounds that he fires will be of far more use to somebody else in the junior rank than they will ever be to him. At the same time I think that junior majors and senior captains ought to have a great deal of firing, and junior subalterns and second-lieutenants certainly ought to have one series each during the time of practice. | |
Then I go on to another point, about which I was afraid I might not agree with the lecturer, and that is the tactical application of fire; but he has taken all the wind out of my sails, as sailors say, by telling me that he is an advocate for range parties. I do not care, myself, what system of practice you have as long as you have range parties, I quite agree to that, but when I was told last year that the system of tactical application of fire was that they fired four shells at the same elevation, and then fired four more shells very quickly at another elevation, and there was nobody out there to see what effect they were having on the target, I said, "That is not for me; I do not agree with it." But now if a range party is out there I quite agree, though I still think tactical application can be quite well taught with-out firing ammunition. But there is one point about these tactical days which is very important to infantry commanders. I do not quite understand how they did it on Salisbury Plain. I have asked the authorities time after time if they would supply cobs for the infantry officers. Infantry officers came down to camp to witness artillery practice, and they can do so from one position; but batteries sometimes advance more than three miles, and they are supposed to be able to see what goes on in the next series. It is not fair upon the infantry at all; they come down there to co-operate with us in the practice camps, and I think they ought all to be mounted, and to be able to go as fast as the artillery do. That is a point that has been put into my practice camp report this year, and I hope that before the next camp we may find a certain number of cobs told off for the use of infantry officers. | 95 |
Then I do not quite understand why these divisions for practice at Salisbury Plain this year, extended their front four miles. Certainly the attacking front of an English division now is not much more than a mile and a half, and, if you have got your artillery confined in that space, it is enough, and, if it is one division by itself, you can cover the whole country. But probably when we fight a battle in the future we shall find ourselves with one or two divisions in line, and in that case I fear that the centre division will not be able to get be-yond the extent of their division, and, the attacking front of the division being a mile and a half, you would have to get your 76 guns into that space. So I think that if you go and extend three or four miles you are doing something that you are not likely to be able to do afterwards. | |
Colonel Bingham says that field firing is a frost, and I quite agree with him; it is no good to anybody, it is a waste of ammunition, and I think the less of it that is tried the better. | |
Now I come to our old friend 'collective ranging,' and I must say I do not object to collective ranging, except that I do not think it carries out the idea with which it was introduced. If you do away with the word "normal" out of the book you will have met me a good distance, because the system of collective ranging always seems to me to be a waste of ammunition. I think the lecturer really gave me something to get hold of when he was talking about collective rang-ing, because I understand him to say that when you fire three shells together, one will always show you where it is when it bursts, which means that your fuzes are very irregular, or, if it was not for that nothing really to check our firing by. So I think that if we are going to have targets coming down hill it ought to be a gradual approach from the rear to the front, or from the front to the rear retiring, and leave the targets standing up till the whole show is over. | |
The lecturer has told us that the No. 3 director was the best and most important thing that could be made; but I am sorry to say on that point I do not agree with him. The best I have seen was one made by Colonel Scott, at Aldershot and Farnborough. I do not believe that anybody could make a mistake with it; I wish we had it introduced into the service instead of Mark III. With Mark III you cannot take the angle of sight within 30 degrees of the battery. Of course that will not come in on any flat places, but it certainly will come in if you get among hilly ground. I hear that the lecturer does not like direct for line and indirect for elevation; but it seems to me that if you are firing at a moving target you can get much more accurate fire by that means than by telling the men to lay on some particular point and then making your deflection from that. But I suppose they have had a great deal of experience down at Salisbury Plain, I only saw the batteries of the 4th Division firing, and I must say that I came to the conclusion that direct fire for line and indirect for elevation was rather a good arrangement. | |
Those are the remarks I have to make. I hope somebody else will make some remarks, because if Colonel Battiscombe and I are the only two I do not think we shall have much discussion. I will only conclude by saying that we are very much obliged, and I am personally, to the lecturer for the very interesting lecture he has given us. (Loud applause). | 100 |
MAJOR BELCHER: As regards taking on two targets at once with one battery, I should like to ask the lecturer whether any of the batteries which practised this year were split up into half-batteries for practice in the way Capt. Wynter suggested in his article which appeared in last month's Journal. | |
Another thing the lecturer spoke about was the importance of drilling the staff of the battery. I should like to make a suggestion. We have done away now with competitive practice, but would it not be possible to have, instead of that, competitive drill, I should think it would not be very difficult to design a competition which would test the drill of the gunners, and also we might have another test for the staff in laying out lines of fire, giving out orders and that sort of thing. | |
CAPT. W. S. D. CRAVEN: About direct for line and indirect for elevation, I should like to ask the lecturer whether he means that we may now use our telescopes or open sights, which most of us prefer doing, at fleeting opportunities in the open. Or must we lay at them indirect with our aiming point? | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BINGHAM: My view is that if you mix up the names direct and indirect in one order, you get confusion. By all means use your telescopes if the target is suitable and sufficiently visible. | |
MAJOR COSSET: There is one point I should like to raise about the delay that sometimes occurs between the receipt of an order by the battery commander and the battery coming into action. On one they would burst in a horizontal line. If that is so it is no good giving you any more accurate fuzes. You are going to have only water-proofed fuzes next year, and if you fire three at a time and they are really accurate, and all burst behind the horizon, you will have lost the lot and will have wasted two shells anyhow. I think that is a fair argument. If you are going to have bad fuzes, then fire them certainly in threes; but if you are going to have accurate fuzes I think it is better to waste one at a time than to waste all three to-gether. I know that last year there was a great deal of argument about collective ranging being the normal system; that is what we were told at Salisbury Plain. When we were trying the 4-gun batteries and guns with the new recoil arrangements, I could not see for the life of me why it should be normal, and I do not see it now; because a normal system is one that you expect to use five times out of six, and I do not think there are more than two occasionsI think there will be only one when you would use collective ranging. I do not think you would use collective ranging at infantry in a trench. I do not think you would use collective ranging at guns in action. Why should you? If they are coming into action certainly use collective ranging on the chance of getting them knocked out before they come into action, but, if you are going to use collective ranging when you are firing at troops moving, it looks to me as if you were going always to imagine yourselves in a position of defence, and I think, considering all we hear to-day, when we go to war we shall go in for attack-ing; and for that reason, as well as several others, I do not fancy collective ranging. We tried it last year at Okehampton on many occasions, and one major from the 4th division went down to see the practice at Salisbury Plain, and then came down to Okehampton, and he thought he was going to do rather well; but he only tried it once, and then I had to order him to do it or he would not have done it again. | 105 |
The difference I think is that at Salisbury Plain your angle of sight does not come in much, but at Okehampton the angle of sight is one of the most important parts of gunnery, and, until you have some system of getting the angle of sight absolutely accurate, and until you have got your fuzes more accurate than they were, I do not think collective ranging is of any use in a hilly country. | |
I asked one or two officers whom I met who had come from Salisbury Plain, what was going on there, and they told me that only two officers were really keen on it; one was Colonel Horne, and the other was Colonel Bingham. | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BINGHAM: One must father one's own child. | |
GENERAL PHIPPS-HORNBY: Then the lecturer was telling us about taking on targets coming down a large slope. | |
I think at a practice camp what you want to do is really to go in for accuracy in shooting. I do not think if we cover a hillside with targets, which bob up and down every ten seconds, it is good enough to teach accurate shooting. There is no chance of checking the lay-ing and men soon learn to ignore the importance of accurate laying. I think the targets ought to remain standing up and then it is some test really of where your guns are being laid. If the targets fall there is nothing to show at what each gun has been fired and we have occasion at the artillery training this year; it took a quarter of an hour for the advance guard battery to come into action after the receipt of the order, and in a practice camp it takes anything from ten minutes to an hour and a half, and that seems to me quite useless. I should like to submit that if possible the battery, instead of going to a ren-dezvous, should occasionally march off from camp and not to rendez-vous, and the battery commander should receive his orders on the move, while the battery is still on the move, so that he cannot halt his battery and spend a long time in explaining the situation and his intentions in detail to his battery, which he could not do on active service without the troops he was accompanying losing the support which might be afforded by the fire of his battery. | 110 |
MAJOR HOARE NAIRNE: I should like to put in a plea for the section commander, whose section is detached from the battery, and who has to shoot from behind cover. Makeshifts will do much for him, but they will not give him the angle of sight. He needs a pocket angle-of-sight instrument. | |
I know that such instruments have been issued to batteries, at any rate one was sent early in this year to the battery I then com-manded; but only one instrument has been supplied for each battery, it is nearly always required by the battery commander, and the com-mander of a detached section generally has to do as well as he can without an instrument. At Salisbury Plain that does not very greatly matter, but in a hilly country the difficulty is far more serious. A pocket instrument should be supplied for each section com-mander, as well as one for the battery commander; if it were only a clinometer it would be a great help to the commander of a detached section. | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BINGHAM: He has a clinometer on each of his guns. | |
MAJOR HOARE NAIRNE: I meant the Watkin clinometer which we used for sketching. This instrument is now obsolete as far as field sketching is concerned, so there are probably a number in store which would be available. | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BINGHAM: I understand. | 115 |
GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FRANKLYN: I came down this after-noon to learn rather than to speak, and I cannot enter into a great part of the lecture, but I should like to put in a plea for the divisional day which the lecturer rather tore to ribbons. | |
To begin with the division day: I was told that two brigades could not fire together on Salisbury Plain, but I eventually got a division day, and the next year I was very sorry to let it go by. At any rate it gives some sort of opportunity for the brigadier-general to exercise his command, which he never has at any other time of the year. At the same time it carries me back to the time when I was also asking about the swing of the pendulum being too far when all the subalterns fired their batteries with the major standing by. I was told that they were the majors of the future. That was the answer given me then, and I suppose it would be the answer given me now. I do not think there is any other part of the lecture I can possibly touch upon with any degree of confidence. | |
I should like to emphasise what General Phipps-Hornby said about the British officer: his one idea of tactics is to take up a position behind our defences. I am very glad to hear that that is being looked down upon in some places at any rate. | |
LIEUT.-COLONEL BINGHAM: Colonel Battiscombe asked about ranging in yards, and as he rightly says, it is a matter of money, and we must sincerely hope that in time it will be put right. | |
With reference to what he said about taking on two targets simultaneously. I should like to combine my answer with the answer to Major Belcher, who asked what was the result with two half-batteries. The War Office asked Brig.-Genls. to report this year, in view of the introduction of collective ranging, as to the feasibility of dividing a battery into two 3-gun units. | 120 |
My answer is that it was done with success several times this year, that there is nothing against it, and nobody can prevent you doing it; the book does not forbid it. You might have to divide your battery into two units of 1 gun and 5 guns, so why not into 2 of 3; it does not break up your section organization. This present book allows anything as long as you succeed. If a battery commander knew he was going to have two targets at once, he would probably, as Colonel Battiscombe suggests, arrange his battery into two distinct units to start with. | |
Then General Phipps-Hornby spoke about range parties. On most of the camps the question is simple, as the range parties are on the hillsides. At Salisbury it is more difficult, but we hope by next year to ensure observation of every target. Experiments are being made with a periscope by means of which men will be able to sit in their splinter-proofs and observe the fire. | |
General Phipps-Hornby's next question is re: horses. | |
Horses are provided on the Plain and a general service wagon was taken out and put near the battery commander, so that the infantry officers were able to hear what was going on. | |
As regards what Sir William Franklyn said about divisional practice, I was looking at that more from the point of view of the ammunition. I know the great value of it, but what you have to look at when you have only 600 rounds, is how you can use the 600 rounds most beneficially. | 125 |
General Phipps-Hornby criticises collective ranging and the only answer I can give, without discussing the question for a long time, is that by it I think range and lines and fuze are obtained quicker than by any other method. He also made some remark about the angle of sight affecting collective. It does, but now that you have an instrument that takes the angle of sight within two minutes, I do not think that is a difficulty that ought to hurt you very much. Still these things are a matter of opinion. | |
Then General Phipps-Hornby talked about the No. 3 Director, and I am bound to say that it is a very good instrument. For years people clamoured for an instrument to work the angle of sight from the flank; and, in consequence, some eighteen months ago, this in-strument was introduced. Except that it does not take the angle of sight directly in rear or in front, it does do what is required. It is, however, so extraordinarily delicate that it is a question how long it will remain serviceable. | |
What Major Gossett said is very sound, that you should try to make the situation more real by giving the battery commander his orders when he is actually on the march, instead of making the situ-ation with a set piece so to speak. I think the idea is good, and we will try and see what can be done to carry it out. | |
As regards the frontage of the divisional artillery at the 'divis-ional day,' I am afraid I made a mistake in my statement of 3 miles. Colonel Hall who commanded a brigade and who says he found it most interesting, tells me that it was only on a frontage of 1_ miles. I am afraid Major Belcher's idea of the competition drill is not very feasible, but somebody may suggest a method some day which will meet his views. | |
I think I have answered all the questions to the best of my ability. | 130 |
CHAIRMAN: Sir William Franklyn, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that I am right in saying that we all endorse what Genl. Phipps-Hornby has said regarding Colonel Bingham's lecture, and the interest we have taken in it. The lecturer has I think touched upon all the questions which have arisen at the camp at which I was present last summer, and has discussed them most fairly. | |
With regard to collective ranging, we all understand that it is on its trial. It was put into the new "Training Manual" because it was thought that by its means, effective fire would be obtained quicker than by methods previously authorised. That is its only justification, and if it fails to do what was expected of it, it will, I am sure, have to be given up. It will, however, certainly as far as I know, stay on for another year at least, and perhaps if General Phipps-Hornby carries out the practice of the batteries under his command at a less hilly range than Okehampton next year, he may form a more favourable view with regard to it. He mentioned that he was told that there were only two people on Salisbury Plain who were agreed to be very red-hot advocates of it. I must add one to the number, that is myself. I think it was most satisfactory and successful, and I may say that a considerable number of men who came there very much prejudiced against it, went away saying that they entirely concurred that it was a good system. As regards the word 'normal' I do not think it is of very great importance when everybody knows that they have absolute latitude in departing from the normal system when they consider they are justified in doing so. | |
Every year a large number of suggestions are made for improv-ing our methods, and I think it cannot be too strongly urged that in making such suggestions we should aim at simplification in every possible way; at present they are getting very complicated. If we take our laying alone, the battery commander has to give his orders regarding the method to be employed. He may order direct laying on the objective with open sights, or with telescopes, or with the dial sight; or he may order indirect laying on an aiming point through the dial sights, which may be further complicated for the layer by the necessity for using auxiliary aiming points over the open sight, or again he may order aiming posts to be used. Finally he may order direct for line and indirect for elevation. There are so many things that a man may do, and it all means extra things to be thought about and extra things to be explained, with the possibility of mistakes arising. | |
With regard to the method of laying known as "direct for line and indirect for elevation," the order for that method was given several times during the practice at Salisbury Plain when I was there, and every time something went wrong. Personally I should like to see it drop out of the book, but opinions are not unanimous on this point. | |
There is one part of the shooting this year that I do not think has been very much touched on, and that is what we call tactical practice. | 135 |
The object of this nature of practice is, as we all know, to accustom officers who are exercising command over forces of which artillery forms part, in giving orders to their artillery, and to let them see the practical result of the orders they have given. At the same time artillery officers have the experience of receiving orders from officers of other arms as to the tasks which they are to carry out in order to further the commander's plans, while they are made to realise that they have not got the whole battlefield to themselves, and that their choice of positions for their guns is governed to a con-siderable extent by the dispositions of the other arms. When infantry brigadiers were called upon to take command they were generally given an imaginary infantry brigade of their own and an artillery brigade also, but more junior officers of infantry were given a smaller force of infantry and a battery. In my opinion great bene-fit was derived from this nature of practice by the officers of all arms, and it gave rise to most profitable discussions. Some of the most important lessons learnt were the limitations of artillery, and the first that occurs to me is connected with the time we take to make our preparations before we can open fire. I do not think it is always realised what time we often require to carry out our own reconnaiss-ances, and bring our guns into action, and that meantime if the infantry advance commences it cannot receive artillery support. Another limitation I may mention is the restricted front which a battery can effectively cover, namely 1 times its own front, without sweeping, while if sweeping is ordered the intensity of fire is reduced. I think that it is of great importance for the commander of a force to have ocular demonstration of what guns can and cannot do. Another question which gave rise to useful discussion was that of the expenditure of ammunition in supporting long infantry advances; the point of course being that we cannot maintain a rapid rate of fire for any considerable time. | |
The extent to which the co-operation of artillery and infantry has been discussed during recent years has cleared everybody's minds as to the orders which a commander must give to his artillery, for he must give them orders just as he gives orders to his infantry. He has to differentiate in his own mind as to what are technical and what are tactical questions. For instance he would not give orders as to whether ranging was to be carried out by the 'collective' or 'section' method, which is entirely a technical question, but the occupation of a concealed position by the artillery might be an essential part of his general plan of action, and if so he must give orders regarding it. Again he may have to give orders as to when fire is to be opened. | |
Colonel Bingham referred to the Bulgarian artillery, and I may mention that there was a most interesting telegram on the subject in 'The Times' of yesterday (December 4th), from the special corres-pondent with the Turkish army, in which he describes the co-opera-tion between the two arms as not having been very successful. The telegram is most interesting reading. | |
With regard to the question of shooting over an area, I feel convinced that, having in view the desirability of simplicity of method, we would do well to employ exactly the same method whether we fire from an open or concealed position. The objective may at times show itself distinctly, but in real life, it would certainly as it advanced or retired disappear behind ridges, or into hollows in the ground, and direct laying would then be quite useless. | |
With regard to flash batteries, they are a target at which we do a good deal of practice, but what are we going to do if when we go to war there are no flashes, and our infantry are under heavy artillery fire. This is a point we ought all to have in mind, and which we ought to do our best to bring to notice. The solution appears to be the employment of observers in air craft to locate the enemy's guns, and observe our fire, but in order to be of any use this requires much practice in time of peace. | 140 |
Observation wagons have been referred to by the lecturer. I am not aware that any pattern has been finally approved for adoption. I think myself, and I am sure that many officers are of the same opinion, that any observation wagon introduced into the service requires a shield and ought to be able to carry two people on the ladder. I now only wish in your name to thank Colonel Bingham for his lecture, which has given us all food for thought and a great deal of instruction. I am sure we have all enjoyed hearing it, and I must congratulate him upon it. (Loud applause). | |
|