artillery will rarely be able to perform all its tasks in a single position, its first position is selected with due regard to the position of the hostile artillery. The most important position is that from which the hostile infantry attack is to be repulsed. This should be selected far enough in front of the artillery to enable the latter to fire over it, and to deprive the assailant's artillery of the opportunity of hitting the defender's infantry and artillery at one and the same time. (Par. 401 German I. D. R.). A distance of 600 m. between infantry and artillery is considered sufficient for this purpose. In view of the protection afforded by gun shields against infantry fire, it is scarcely necessary to post skirmish lines in advance of the artillery. But, where the infantry line is not continuous in front of the artillery, troops should be posted, so as to protect the artillery personnel from being annoyed by hostile patrols. It will seldom be possible for a commander to do justice to the requirements of both arms; in every compromise, one or the other arm is only too apt to be placed at a disadvantage. The needs of the infantry, whose choice of a position is more restricted, take precedence. While infantry can govern its action by that of the artillery during the preparatory stage of an attack, this is impossible in defense, as the infantry is obliged to carry the fight through to its logical conclusion in the position in which it is begun.[1]
3. FORTIFYING THE POSITION.[2]
The apprehensions formerly entertained in regard to prematurely fortifying a position, and which are still shared by the French regulations, are no longer to be found in the new
- ↑ As the artillery is less restricted in the choice of positions, and as the final outcome of the fight depends, after all, on the outcome of the infantry action, the demands of the infantry, contrary to par. 292 German I. D. R., must be considered in the first place.
- ↑ Germany: Manual of Field Engineering, 1905. France: Instruction pratique sur les travaux de campagne (December 24th, 1906). England: Manual of Military Engineering, 1905. Russia: Mitteilungen vom Ingenieur Comité, No. 41 (1906). The Austrian and Italian regulations are undergoing revision.
