Organization: How Armies are Formed for War

by Hubert Foster

The Artillery

The word artillery meant in the sixteenth century the guns used by the artilleur, but did not denote the Arm of the Service till the end of the next century, before which time Artillery had hardly an independent existence, but formed merely a portion of the train, or mass of vehicles which followed an army.

GUNS

Cannon were at first used in fortresses during the fifteenth century, soon after the invention of gunpowder. They were soon mounted on wheels, and then provided with trunnions and a trail. They seem to have been first brought into the field by the Hussites in Bohemia, and then in the French invasion of Italy in 1496. The French added the limber to carry the trail on the march, and thus finally gave guns the form they still have. In the mid-sixteenth century the armies of three great monarchs, the Emperor Charles V., Francis I. of France, and Henry VIII. of England, possessed a train of cannon for the field.

At this epoch there were many descriptions of mobile guns of various calibres: the heavy, 42- and 24-pounders, for siege purposes chiefly, were drawn by several yoke of oxen; the lighter ones, for use in the field, fired 2, 4, or 6 pound shot, and were drawn by horses in single file. The drivers, till the end of the eighteenth century, walked on foot beside their horses, carrying carters’ whips, and were civilians, hired with their teams from the country. To keep them from running away, the train of guns and wagons carrying ammunition were under an escort of Infantry, who were only much later used for protection of the guns.

The working of the gun, and its technical mysteries, were in the hands of the Master Gunner, with his Gunner and two assistants for each gun. In England these gentry were apart from the army, and solely controlled by the Master-General of the Ordnance, as the Artillery and the nearly related Engineers remained down to our own time.

Maurice, about 1600, did away with the great variety of guns which existed, and retained four different calibres only, so as to facilitate the supply of shot. Gustavus, a little later, introduced lighter guns, and cartridges for the powder, which till then had been carried loose in barrels. But his main innovation was the allotment of two light guns to each Infantry Battalion, for action in the intervals between Regiments, an organization retained in most armies till the end of the eighteenth century. These “Battalion guns” were drawn by one or two horses, or by men when under fire, and were often served by the Infantry they were attached to. He used the heavier guns in masses on the wings and in the centre; but no Battery organization came in till late in the eighteenth century. In France, under Louis XIV., the step was taken of creating a Regiment of Artillery, formed of Gunners and Artificers, the Drivers being still hired. This idea was partially copied in England, where the Artillery was organized into a Military Corps in 1716. Other armies formed Companies of Artillery, but had no Regimental organization till much later.

Shells were first used in the field about 1700, they fired from what were called Hautbitzers, now Howitzers, a Czech word taken from Zisca’s organization of the Hussite hosts in Bohemia long before. Grapeshot was also invented; but solid shot was the projectile of Artillery down to the introduction of General Shrapnel’s shell in the British Artillery about 1810, followed much later by the universal adoption of shell fire for field guns. Another invention, Congreve’s rocket, was partially adopted in the English service before the battle of Waterloo.

In the middle of the eighteenth century Frederick the Great made considerable progress in Artillery organization, although the material was unchanged. He increased the number of guns till he had 5 or 6 to every 1,000 Infantry, which is to-day the proportion thought desirable. In 1759 he formed a light Battery with gunners mounted, so as to keep up with Cavalry. This Horse Artillery was eventually adopted by the Austrians in 1783, and by the French and British in the Revolutionary Wars. Frederick abolished Battalion Guns, and grouped them in permanent Batteries, the germ of modern Field Batteries, although drivers were not mounted, or made into soldiers, till near the end of the century. The heavier guns were still dragged by horses in single file, led by civilian drivers on foot, and were called “Guns of position.” They were generally formed in four masses—centre, wings, and reserve. After the Seven Years’ War these guns were everywhere formed into Batteries of uniform calibre, which in France were called Divisions, and manned by one Company of the Artillery Regiment. The teams began to be harnessed in pairs, with the drivers mounted on the near horse. The modern battery system was thus introduced, and may be said to have been adopted in every army towards the end of the eighteenth century, when battalion guns were abolished. Batteries began to be brigaded by threes or fours during the early part of the nineteenth century.

In England and France, about 1800, a corps of drivers for Artillery was formed, in which for the first time drivers had uniform and discipline; but these corps were abolished after 1820, and the drivers became an integral part of the Artillery.

In Austria and Prussia, Batteries were allotted to Infantry Brigades, a system which was kept up in Prussia till after Waterloo, and in Austria till after the war of 1866. In France, during the Revolutionary Wars, the Batteries were allotted to Divisions, in the way which still holds. There was always, in addition, a mass of guns styled the Reserve Artillery, which we find during the Napoleonic Wars, and down to the campaign of 1870. By that time it had been converted in the Prussian Army into Corps Artillery, an arrangement which all other armies have since copied. About 1900, however, the Corps Artillery was abolished in Germany, and its batteries distributed to the Divisions.