the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

THE FIELD ARTILLERY JOURNAL
with its muzzle turned toward us. The gun had probably not yet
been anchored, for the rapid identification of our location and
the quickness shown in laying the gun, thirty seconds after
which the first shot was already on the way, was rather startling
to me. I had always heard unfavorable comments concerning the
deficiency of the French gun in preparing for action and its
inability to make a rapid change of target. The flashes of our
guns were no doubt quite clearly visible to our opponent, for we
were not very far behind the crest and moreover almost all the
guns of the battalion were firing simultaneously. The smoke
which was thereby developed, especially on humid days,
disclosed our position much sooner than we liked. And this
point must also be considered and will compel us in the future to
go back a little farther behind the crest rather than to take an
open or partly defiladed position so much preferred in the past.
Evidently the rapid manner in which the enemy picked us up can
probably be explained by his use of a range finder which I am
sorry to say we are still lacking.
We saw the long flash of the French gun, heard the
projectile coming and shortly after that saw it burst on impact
with a loud crash scarcely 20 paces in front of us, causing me
to cry out aloud: "Confound it! But that's good." I now gave
directions to increase the rapidity of fire, giving the battery
commanders a free hand, whereupon the opposing gun was
soon silenced in this unequal contest and the cannoneers also
withdrew. I then gave the order to destroy the matériel and
render it harmless by percussion fire, while the other battery
with shrapnel time fire searched the area in the rear in order to
keep the detachments away from the guns, in which we were
successful for the present. It seemed that the battery was
properly despatched and that the personnel was powerless to
make an uninterrupted or successful attempt to recover it. At
that moment the Division Commander was stopping in the
nearby Porte St. Marie and I expressed to him my intention of
capturing the hostile battery with my men. I therefore ordered my
18