Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/496

 XV. THE EXPENDITURE AND SUPPLY OF AMMUNITION.

1. HISTORICAL SKETCH.

The question of ammunition supply in action is of vital importance to the infantry. To solve it correctly means to assure the success of the infantry in fire action. The first question that needs consideration is, whether the experiences of past wars show that the ammunition at present carried by the infantry is sufficient, under all circumstances, even when ammunition columns cannot reach the battlefield in time because all the roads are choked with troops.

For our purpose, it is sufficient to go back as far as the '''Franco-German war''', in which breechloaders were used for the first time against breechloaders. Every German soldier carried 80 cartridges, and the 6-horse battalion ammunition wagons carried 20 additional rounds per man.

When one considers the total number of cartridges expended during any campaign, it seems impossible that a shortage of ammunition could ever have taken place. In the Franco-German war, the expenditure of ammunition in the Ist Bavarian Army Corps amounted to 4,163,000 rounds (166 per rifle); in the IInd Army Corps, 1,105,600 rounds (44 per rifle); and in the Saxon Army Corps, 1,450,000 rounds (about 58 per rifle). The compilation of a table, showing the amount of ammunition expended in the Prussian army, was begun, but was soon discontinued, as it was found that the necessary data were lacking, the only information available being the record of the number of rounds issued by the reserve ammunition parks. The troops sent to the field army from the depot battalions, must have brought with them in each case a very considerable amount of ammunition, as each man carried 80 rounds, but no records are available to show how much ammunition was forwarded in this way. Furthermore, there is no record of the number of rounds