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 ceased firing and had sought protection in his trenches. The following statement is made by one who fought on the Boer side:

"The artillery supported the advance until the latter had arrived within 300 or 400 m. of the enemy; then it ceased firing. After a brief period of preparation by fire, the British infantry began the assault simultaneously in one long line. This assault, made without fire support, was repulsed without trouble by the Boer fire. On several occasions, short lines of our opponent had begun to advance, but these were in every instance forced to throw themselves down after a few moments had elapsed. Thereupon the whole British line, in my estimation at least 300-400 men strong, began to advance. One could clearly hear the British leaders call to their men to cease firing, could clearly hear the command 'fix bayonet', and the cheer 'God save the Queen'! run along the British line. Then the whole hostile line rose. As they rushed toward us, they looked to me like a grayish yellow swarm, the men being almost shoulder to shoulder and the line being in places three to four men deep, just as frequently happens in charges made during our own peace maneuvers. At the same moment, we began firing. Our fire was at first somewhat wild, but was soon better controlled by our more experienced fighters calling, 'Steady boys, steady, then none of them will reach us'. More and more men fell in the British line, and, when it had arrived within 100 or 80 paces of our position, its energy had spent itself. A part of the men threw themselves down behind boulders and fired, while the majority rushed back to the shelter of some bushes; but even there it was for the most part impossible to hold them. An assaulting enemy who does not fire, is not dangerous, even if he is numerically superior. In this case, the defender can fire a number of times, and the closer the assailant is to the defender's position the more quickly and certainly will his force dwindle away. No one will, however, be able to induce the same men to advance again under hostile fire over an open field, that is, to expose themselves without shelter to the hostile fire."

The same lesson was learned long ago at Gorni Dubniac and at Plevna.

It is obvious that fire support is essential to the success of such an assault. This should be furnished in the first place by the artillery. In furnishing this support, artillery can employ time fire only until the infantry arrives within 300 m. of the enemy, while percussion fire may be continued until the infantry arrives within 150 m. of the enemy. During the