Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/720

658 was not horsed, it followed Lord Granby s cavalry at a trot, and was always ready to engage.&quot; &quot;The English artillery,&quot; says Tempelhof, &quot;could not have been better served ; it followed the enemy with such vivacity, and maintained its fire so well, that it was impossible for the latter to re-form.&quot; In the great blockade and siege of Gib raltar (1779-83), the gallantry and devotion of the garri son artillery were conspicuous. Before passing on to the era formed by the great war against Napoleon, it is necessary to trace the progress made by this arm on the Continent.

The Prussian artillery was very backward at the beginning of this century. In 1688 the Brandenburg (Prussian) artillery numbered only 300 men ; and at the death of Frederick- William I., in 1740, there was only one battalion of field artillery of six companies, and one of garrison artillery of four companies. Nor did Frederick the Great at first place much value upon its services. But experi ence soon convinced him of the necessity for creating an efficient and mobile field artillery. His first efforts in this direction were not successful ; and though the Prussian artillery contributed much to Frederick s victory at Rossbach, it was usually no match for the excellent and well-handled Austrian artillery. But the gradual destruction of his veteran infantry obliged him to devote more attention to this arm ; he considerably raised the proportion of guns, and in 1759 he formed the first horse artillery, consisting of a battery of ten light C-pounders (afterwards changed to six 6-pounders) and two 7-pounder howitzers. Frederick placed great value on howitzers, and made much use of them against entrenched positions, and at the close of the war, after experiments on a large scale, ordered forty heavy howitzers to be attached to each army corps. Frederick seems to have made the mistake during the Seven Years War of trying to bring heavy artillery into the field, instead of trying to lighten his artillery generally. But he gave a great impetus to the progress of artillery. He raised the proportion of guns from 2^ and 3 per 1000 men in the Silesian wars to 5 or G per 1000 at the end of the Seven Years War. He created a horse artillery which in rapidity of movement could rival cavalry ; and commenced the formation of a real field artillery by the adoption of a number of light pieces and howitzers, while the heavier guns were relegated to parks for siege and position purposes. And his wars brought forward three important tactical prin ciples in the employment of artillery, the establishment of smaller batteries at important points in the line of battle in lieu of the old formations at the centre and flanks, opening the battle and protecting the deployment of columns by light guns, and changing the position of batteries accord ing to the course of the action.

Russia and Austria, though they produced no great military leader like Frederick, were ahead of Prussia in the Russia. development of this particular arm. In Russia its import ance had always been recognised, and large numbers of guns employed, while each dragoon regiment had three &quot;licornes&quot; or howitzers attached, with mounted gunners, forming a Austria species of horse artillery. In Austria, though the tactical employment of the artillery was often defective, its general excellence was pre-eminent, and it was ably organised under Prince Lichtenstein, the chief of artillery. But it France. was in France that the experience of Frederick s wars was best utilised, and the great strides to a more perfect system were made. At the commencement of the century French artillery had made but little progress. The carriages and waggons were driven by waggoners on foot, and on the field of battle the guns were dragged about by ropes or remained stationary. Hollow projectiles had made their appearance, and lead tarred balls arranged round an axis and kept together by a net, and termed grape, were employed. But the ammunition generally was of a rough and primitive description. Tow r ards the middle of the century some improvements were made. Field guns and carriages wero lightened, and the guns separated into brigades. Siege cartridges were introduced, the ladle being abolished, and shot with wooden bottoms or sabots invented. But it was under General Gribeauval, in 17 Go, that the great reforms in the French artillery were commenced. This officer had been sent to Austria during the Seven Years War, and had held an artillery command under Prince Lichtenstein. Struck with the improvements effected in Austria, he strove, on his return, to build up a complete system both of personnel and matériel, creating a distinct matériel for field, siege, garrison, and coast artillery. Alive to the vital importance of mobility for field artillery, he dismissed from the park all pieces of greater calibre than 1 2-pounders ; and reduced the length (necessary for the service of guns in embrasures and behind parapets) and weight of those retained. He also reduced the charge and the windage. His reforms were resisted, and for a time successfully; but in 1776 he became first inspector-general of artillery, and was able to carry through the improvements which will ever cause his name to be celebrated. For many years artillery had been separated into regimental or battalion guns, artillery of position, garrison, and siege artillery, the position guns being distributed in large batteries on the flanks or in front of a position, and the siege artillery collected in a park or train. The field artillery of the new system included 4-pounder regimental guns, and for the park 8 and 12 pounders, with 6-inch howitzers. The am munition was improved by the introduction of &quot; case &quot; or canisters of sheet-iron holding cast-iron balls, the old grapo and case being abolished. The carriages were constructed on a uniform model, strengthened with iron, the limber-wheels heightened, and the draught diminished. Iron axletrees were introduced, straight pintails on the top of the limbers, and poles took the place of shafts. Boxes on the carriage held part of tho ammunition. Travelling trunnion poles were introduced. The horses were harnessed in pairs, instead of in file as formerly, and the prolong of rope was introduced to unite the trail of the gun and the limber in slow retiring move ments. A new ammunition waggon, carrying fixed ammu nition, was also invented. The service of the guns was improved by the introduction of cross-headed elevating screws and tangent scales, the later experiments exploding the old false ideas with regard to the absolute flatness of the path of a projectile. The manner in which the teams were driven remained much the same ; but the bricole was introduced, a collar with rope and hook, to which the gun ners and foot soldiers harnessed themselves. For siege and garrison service Gribeauval adopted the IG-pounder and 12-pounder guns, 8-inch howitzer, and 10-inch mortar; the 12, 10, and 8-inch gomer mortars being introduced in 1785. Siege only differed from field carriages in having shafts in lieu of poles. Gribeauval introduced for garrison service a carriage with wheels in front and a truck in rear, while for coast service traversing platforms were adopted, having a bolt in front and a truck in rear running upon a circular racer. The great step made was in a uniform construction being adopted for all matériel, and the parts susceptible made interchangeable. In 1765 the personnel of the French artillery was reorganised. The field artillery with an army was divided into regimental guns and corps or reserve artillery. This latter portion was subdivided into divisions of eight guns of the same calibre. A company of artillery was also attached to each brigade of four battalions. The battery or division was thus made the tactical unit, with guns, munitions, and gunners complete, the horses and drivers 