OF THE USE OF ROCKETS BY INFANTRY AGAINST CAVALRY, AND IN COVERING THE STORMING OF A FORTRESS.
[Plate 10], Fig. 1, represents an attack of cavalry against infantry, repulsed by the use of Rockets. These Rockets are supposed to be of the lightest nature, 12 or 9-pounders, carried on bat horses or in small tumbrils, or with 6-pounder shell Rockets, of which one man is capable of carrying six in a bundle, for any peculiar service; or so arranged, that the flank companies of every regiment may be armed, each man, with such a Rocket, in addition to his carbine or rifle, the Rocket being contained in a small leather case, attached to his cartouch, slinging the carbine or rifle, and carrying the stick on his shoulder, serving him either as a spear, by being made to receive the bayonet, or as a rest for his piece.
By this means every battalion would possess a powerful battery of this ammunition, in addition to all its ordinary means of attack and defence, and with scarcely any additional burthen to the flank companies, the whole weight of the Rocket and stick not exceeding six pounds, and the difference between the weight of a rifle and that of a musket being about equivalent. As to the mode of using them in action, for firing at long ranges, as these Rockets are capable of a range of 2,000 yards, a few portable frames might be carried by each regiment, without any incumbrance, the frames for this description of Rocket not being heavier than a musket; but as the true intention of the arm, in this distribution of it, is principally for close quarters, either in case of a charge of cavalry, or even of infantry, it is generally supposed to be fired in vollies, merely laid on the ground, as in the Plate here described. And, as it is well known, how successfully charges of cavalry are frequently sustained by infantry, even by the fire of the musket alone, it is not presuming too much to infer, that the repulse of cavalry would be absolutely certain, by masses of infantry, possessing the additional aid of powerful vollies of these shell Rockets. So also in charges of infantry, whether the battalion so armed be about to charge, or to receive a charge, a well-timed volley of one or two hundred such Rockets, judiciously thrown in by the flank companies, must produce the most decisive effects. Neither can it be doubted, that in advancing to an attack, the flank companies might make the most formidable use of this arm, mixed with the fire of their rifles or carbines, in all light infantry or tiraillieur manœuvres. In like manner, in the passage of rivers, to protect the advanced party, or for the establishment of a tete-du-pont, and generally on all such occasions, Rockets will be found capable of the greatest service, as shewn the other day in passing the Adour. In short, I must here remark that the use of the Rocket, in these branches of it, is no more limited than the use of gunpowder itself.
Fig. 2 represents the covering of the storm of a fortified place by means of Rockets. These are supposed to be of the heavy natures, both carcass and shell Rockets; the former fired in great quantities from the trenches at high angles; the latter in ground ranges in front of the third parallel. It cannot be doubted that the confusion created in any place, by a fire of some thousand Rockets thus thrown at two or three vollies quickly repeated, must be most favourable, either to the storming of a particular breach, or to a general escalade.
I must here observe, that although, in all cases, I lay the greatest stress upon the use of this arm in great quantities, it is not therefore to be presumed, that the effect of an individual Rocket carcass, the smallest of which contains as much combustible matter as the 10-inch spherical carcass, is not at least equal to that of the 10-inch spherical carcass: or that the explosion of a shell thrown by a Rocket, is not in its effects equal to the explosion of that same shell thrown by any other means: but that, as the power of instantaneously throwing the most unlimited quantities of carcasses or shells is the exclusive property of this weapon, and as there can be no question that an infinitely greater effect, both physical[A] as well as moral, is produced by the instantaneous application of any quantity of ammunition, with innumerable other advantages, than by a fire in slow succession of that same quantity: so it would be an absolute absurdity, and a downright waste of power, not to make this exclusive property the general basis of every application of the weapon, limited only by a due proportion between the expenditure and the value of the object to be attained—a limit which I should always conceive it more advisable to exceed than to fall short of.
[A] For a hundred fires breaking out at once, must necessarily produce more destruction than when they happen in succession, and may therefore be extinguished as fast as they occur.
There is another most important use in this weapon, in the storming of fortified places, which should here be mentioned, viz. that as it is the only description of artillery ammunition that can ever be carried into a place by a storming party, and as, in fact, the heaviest Rockets may accompany an escalade, so the value of it in these operations is infinite, and no escalade should ever be attempted without. It would enable the attackers, the moment they have got into the place, not only to scour the parapet most effectually, and to enfilade any street or passage where they may be opposed, and which they may wish to force; but even if thrown at random into the town, must distract the garrison, while it serves as a certain index to the different storming parties as to the situation and progress of each party.
Plate 10
Fig. 1