Inundations caused by checking a water course can only be drained by destroying the dams or opening a breach which can often be accomplished by artillery. Fougasses, or land torpedoes, can be rendered harmless by breaking the connections for firing, if they have not already been destroyed by the artillery fire.

High explosives are particularly adapted for destroying obstacles. The special instructions for pioneers give the necessary information on this point.

To surmount obstacles, the following means can be employed. Passage way can be made over ditches, palisades, crows-feet, etc., by covering them with bags, bundles of straw or hay, and boards. Water can be crossed by the aid of planks, fascines, and boughs; walls, gratings, and other high obstacles, by means of ladders, etc. Special instructions give the pioneers the necessary information for crossing obstacles.

When time and other circumstances permit, special exercises are arranged to give the troops destined for the assault, practice in destroying and surmounting obstacles.

An appendix of six and a half pages contains details for the pioneers in executing saps; they comprise the simple sap, the double saps, returns, communications en crémaillère executed by the rolling sap or as simple trenches. These methods differ so little from those of our own "school of the sap" that we will not dwell on them. We will limit ourselves to mentioning the formal direction for the officer in charge of the rolling sap, to take advantage of every favorable opportunity for concealing portions of the sap.

-Revue du Génie Militaire, December, 1895. [G. B.]

Mortar Regiments of Field Artillery in Russia.

There are in Russia seven field mortar regiments which are, or will be, composed of four batteries each. According to the most recent informotion available, relating to these regiments, they are thus distributed over the empire: Dvinsk (Vilna), Biélaia Tserkov (Kiev), Varsovie (Varsovie), Novgorod (Saint Petersburg), Kolomna (Moscow), Kherson (Odessa), Karaklis (Caucasus).

No other official information is given as to the probable use to be made of these mortar batteries in time of war, but they appear to be destined to form a sort of general army artillery.

-Revue Militaire de l'Etranger, January, 1896.

DRILL REGULATIONS AND MANEUVERS.

France: Account of a Practice March.

The 9th battery of the 26th regiment of artillery in April last marched 100 kilometers (621⁄2 m.) in 24 hours. For this march the battery consisted of four pieces of 90 mm. and one wagon. The loading of the carriages and parks was as is required for active service. With the exception of the "cadres" the "personnel" of the battery was entirely made up of young soldiers who had reported during the previous month of November. All the battery horses marched except the five-year olds. Neither men nor horses had undergone any special training.

Details of the march. The itinerary of the battery was as follows (see accompanying sketch map):

From Le Mans to La Flèche, 41 km. (25% m.) by the national road* running from Nantes to Paris.

From La Flèche to Le Mans, 59 km. (36% m.) by roads of less importance to the west of the preceding. The following are the varying elevations of the route :

Between the 2nd and 4th kilometers a rise of 40 m. (131.23 f.) followed between the 4th and 7th by a descent of about the same amount. Between the 18th and 30th kilometers a rise of 65 m. (213.25 f.) followed between the 32nd and 38th by a descent of 70 m (229.65 f.). Between the 50th and 58th kilometers, rises and descents amounting in the whole to changes in level of about 30m (98.42 f.). Between the 68th and 83rd kilometers a rise of 30m. (98.42 f.) followed between the 74th and 79th by about an equal descent.

• Routes nationales, macadamized roads maintained by the government.-J. B. P.

The accompanying table shows graphically the arrangement of the marching time, the gaits and the rests.

The rests of more than half an hour were timed as follows:

9 hours

10 hours

March of 3 hours from 4 to 7 p. m., distance 20 km. (12 m.)
Rest of one hour.

March of 5 hours from 8 p. m. to 1 a. m., distance 27 km. (16% m.)
Rest of five hours.

March of 6 hours from 6 a.m., to 12 m., distance 35 km. (21% m.)
Rest of one hour.

53 km. (33% m.)

March of 3 hours from 1 to 4 p. m., distance 18 km. (11 m.) Weather conditions: Continual rain with wind from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., and from 6 to 10 a.m.; from this time until the end of the march showers.

Details of the movement.—The battery marched out at 3.50 p. m., cannoneers on the chests.

First halt.--At 2 km. (14 m.) from the starting point to inspect the loading of the carriages and the harnessing and packing of the horses. March of 5 km. (3%m.) at a walk, the cannoneers on foot at the head of the battery.

Second halt.-The cannoneers take their places on the chests. The battery does 3 km. (1% m.) at a 200 m. trot, 3 km. at a 100 m, walk, 3 km. at a 200 m. trot, and 3 km. at a 100 m. walk.

Third halt.-This halt lasts one hour. The horses are fed oats. The men take a cold meal and some hot wine. The night has fallen and is very dark, The road is soaked and heavy. The battery starts at a walk, the drivers on the chests, the cannoneers at the horses' heads.

Fourth halt. This halt is made at the end of 14 km. (834 m.) and lasts a half hour. The cannoneers mount the chests, the drivers march at their horses' heads, the driver of the swing team on the off side; each lead driver is required to lock the brake of the piece in front of him when going down hill. Fifth halt. This halt begins at 1 a.m. and lasts five hours. The horses are unsaddled and unharnessed, then groomed with the help of the cannoneers. In three-quarters of an hour they are watered, then sheltered in a cow stable and fed oats. The men have a hot meal and lie down in a hay loft. They sleep three hours. At 5 a. m., reveille. The horses are watered and fed. The men eat a hot meal and take a cold one with them. The start takes place at 6 a. m. The cannoneers march at the head of the battery.

Sixth halt.-Half an hour after the start to inspect the harnessing and packing of the teams. March of 10 km. (64 m.) everybody on foot.

Seventh halt. The cannoneers take their places on the chests. The battery does 4 km. (21⁄2 m.) at a 200 m. trot, 3 km. (1% m.) at a 100 m. walk and 3 km. at a 200 m. trot.

Eighth halt.-The cannoneers march for 12 km. (71⁄2 m.) at the head of the battery.

Ninth halt.-This halt lasts one hour. The horses are watered and fed. The men take a cold meal and soine hot wine. The battery marches 15 km. (9% m.) at a walk, the cannoneers on the chests.

Tenth halt.-This halt occurs before entering the town. The battery marches 3 km. (1 m.), the cannoneers at its head, and reaches the barracks at 4 p. m.

Not a man nor a horse remained behind or was indisposed either during or after the march. The next day a careful examination of the horses was made in the presence of the veterinary surgeon. Not a horse was found to Journal 34.

have been hurt nor was any trace of abnormal fatigue to be observed. After one day's rest, all the horses, without exception, resumed their regimental service.

-Revue d'Artillerie, February, 1896.

[Translated by Colonel John Biddle Porter, N. G. Pennsylvania.]

French Field Artillery.

From "Leçon d'Artillerie", a book by E. Girardon, the contents of which have already been referred to in the "Militär-Literatur-Zeitung," we take the following information which may be of interest to a more extended circle. The short 120 mm. gun, model 1890, has been introduced in the field artillery; it will fire shrapnel against covered targets, but a shell filled with melenite will be used against such as possess a strong resisting power. The shrapnel is base loaded, weighs 20.55 kg. (44.8 pounds), contains 630 bullets weighing 12 grams (185 grains) each, and has a bursting charge of 320 grams (0.7 pounds) of powder. The small weight of the shrapnel bullets is noteworthy, for those contained in the shell (obus à mitraille) of the 80 and and 90 mm. mitraille weigh 15 grams (231 grains). The angle of the cone of explosion with the practice charge is given as 140; probably this is a printer's error, and should read 280.

The melinite shell has a bursting charge weighing 6 kg. (13 pounds), and is provided with a simple percussion fuse. The French expect little effect from melenite shell exploded by the time fuse, but expect the more from those exploded by percussion; especially do they consider those of the 120 mm. guns as well adapted against field works as a single hit is sufficient to make a breach. It is claimed that the melenite shell will act against living objects not only by means of the pieces produced by the burst, but also by the resulting air pressure, which it is claimed, will be of sufficient force to throw down living beings with such violence as to produce serious internal injuries; even fixed targets that possess only small resisting powers, such as thin walls, palisades, etc., are expected to be thrown down by this pressure.

If a melenite shell should burst in a closed room all persons in it would be killed by the resulting air pressure. This seems quite probable, for the melenite shell of the 90 mm. gun has a bursting charge weighing 1.4 kg. (three pounds), a charge about eight times as large as that of the German shell C/88. The melenite shell for the 90 mm. gun is not expected to produce great effects against earth targets. The firing regulations for the French field artillery have been undergoing a continuous change for the last few years. Even the latest "Manuel de tir de campagne" of March 15th, 1894, is only an outline. The whole "manuel" is not at our disposal, but the study of Girardon's book gives a good idea of the fundamental principles there set forth, and that is the all important part.

The greatest change consists in the elemination of the method of correcting elevations by the elevating crank, the description of which takes up considerable space in all previous regulations. The older breech sights had to be taken from the gun whenever a change of elevation was to be made. As this required much time and had to be done very carefully, it was generally the

* At another place "les angles des cônes" of the 90 mm. "obus à mitraille," are given as 8° at 150 m., 81⁄2 at 2,500 m., 9° at 3,000 m, and 10° at 4.500 m. Evidently these figures suit wel for one-half of "l'angle du cône," as all other sources give this angle about twice as large. Such angles for shrapnel of short guns are always greater than those of guns having flatter trajectories.

custom to aim but once with the rear sight and after that changes for elevation were made by means of the elevating screw. This was found to be an endless source of errors and misunderstandings. Recently a sight with an arrangement of cogs has been introduced, and by means of this a rapid and accurate adjustment is possible. The new "Manuel de tir" therefore only prescribes commands giving the distances, as is also done in Germany. The quadrant and fuze divisions into degrees and seconds, respectively, are reteined and hence the chiefs of platoons are still compelled to read the required data in range tables or on the sights.

For stationary objects more distant than 1,500 m. (1,625 yards) the range is generally found by means of the percussion fuse, after which the time fuse is used. For less distances the percussion fuse alone is used, as for short distances the advantage of time over percussion fuses is but little, whereas the rapidity of fire can be greatly increased by not having to cut the fuses. Probably this latter consideration is the decisive one, as in fact the cutting of French fuses is a very delicate matter.

Firing with percussion fuses, the range is sought to be found as rapidly as possible by getting a fork of 200 or 400 metres and gradually reducing this to 50 m. To make the results more accurate a repetition of the shots for the wider fork is permissible. Firing is then continued at a range taken to the middle of the 50 m. fork and if, out of the next four shots, two are found short, and two over, no further correction is made; otherwise one of 25 m. is made.

In firing with time fuses, a fork is established, using percussion fuses, which is narrowed down to 100 m.; under certain circumstances a fork of 200 m. will suffice. The range is then taken to the middle of the fork and the battery then uses the time fuse. However, as a rule, one platoon (usually one of the flank platoons) keeps on using the percussion fuse and by means of this pla toon the battery commander endeavors to obtain a more accurate range. At first he will ascertain if his final fork is correct (vérification de la hausse). For this purpose a range is taken to the middle of the fork and one shot is fired. If this shot is short the range is incerased, if over it is diminished 50 m., i. e., the range is taken to the extreme end of the fork. If now a shot is observed to go over in the former case, or fall short in the latter, it will prove that the fork is correct. But if the shot strikes the other way, i. e., short instead of over in the former (over instead of short in the latter), so that for this distance two contradictory observations are recorded, it will be a question whether this latter distance can be used for the "ange or whether the fork has been wrongly established. A further increase or decrease of the range by 50 m. will clear the matter up. An example will make plain the method of procedure. Consider a fork between the ranges of 2,000 m. and 2,100 m.; the following six cases are then possible: