Part 11
_Mortar_-BATTERY. This kind of battery differs from a gun-battery, only in having no embrasures. It consists of a parapet of 18 or 20 feet thick, 7¹⁄₂ high in front, and 6 in the rear; of a berm 2¹⁄₂ or 3 feet broad, according to the quality of the earth; of a ditch 24 feet broad at the top, and 20 at the bottom. The beds must be 9 feet long, 6 broad, 8 from each other, and 5 feet from the parapet: they are not to be sloping like the gun platforms, but exactly horizontal. The insides of such batteries are sometimes sunk 2 or 3 feet into the ground, by which they are much sooner made than those of cannon. The powder magazines and piles of shells are placed as is mentioned in the article GUN-BATTERY.
_Ricochet_-BATTERY, so called by its inventor M. Vauban, and first used at the siege of Aeth in 1697. It is a method of firing with a very small quantity of powder, and a little elevation of the gun, so as just to fire over the parapet, and then the shot will roll along the opposite rampart, dismounting the cannon, and driving or destroying the troops. In a siege they are generally placed at about 300 feet before the first parallel, perpendicular to the faces produced, which they are to enfilade. Ricochet practice is not confined to cannon alone; small mortars and howitzers may effectually be used for the same purpose. They are of singular use in action to enfilade an enemy’s ranks; for when the men perceive the shells rolling and bouncing about with their fuzes burning, expecting them to burst every moment, the bravest among them will hardly have courage to await their approach and face the havoc of their explosion.
_Horizontal_ BATTERIES are such as have only a parapet and ditch; the platform being only the surface of the horizon made level.
_Breach_ or _Sunk_ BATTERIES are such as are sunk upon the glacis, with a design to make an accessible breach in the faces or saliant angles of the bastion and ravelin.
_Cross_ BATTERIES are such as play athwart each other against the same object, forming an angle at the point of contact; whence greater destruction follows, because what one shot shakes, the other beats down.
_Oblique_ BATTERIES or _Batteries en Echarpe_, are those which play on any work obliquely, making an obtuse angle with the line of range, after striking the object.
_Enfilading_ BATTERIES are those that sweep or scour the whole length of a strait line, or the face or flank of any work.
_Sweeping_ BATTERIES. See _Enfilading_-BATTERIES.
_Redan_ BATTERIES are such as flank each other at the saliant and rentrant angles of a fortification.
_Direct_ BATTERIES are those situated opposite to the place intended to be battered, so that the balls strike the works nearly at right angles.
_Reverse_ BATTERIES are those which play on the rear of the troops appointed to defend the place.
_Glancing_ BATTERIES are such whose shot strike the object at an angle of about 20°, after which the ball glances from the object, and recoils to some adjacent parts.
_Joint_ BATTERIES, _Camarade_ BATTERIES, when several guns fire on the same object at the same time. When 10 guns are fired at once, their effect will be much greater than when fired separately.
_Sunk_ BATTERIES are those whose platforms are sunk beneath the level of the field; the ground serving for the parapet; and in it the embrasures are made. This often happens in mortar, but seldom in gun-batteries. BATTERY sometimes signifies the guns themselves placed in a battery.
_Fascine_ BATTERIES, _Gabion_ BATTERIES, are batteries made of those machines, where sods are scarce, and the earth very loose or sandy. For a particular detail of all kinds of batteries, see _Toussard’s Artillerist_, No. I. c. 1.
BATTERY.--Dimensions of Batteries.
1. _Gun_ BATTERIES.--Gun Batteries are usually 18 feet per gun. Their principal dimensions are as follow:
_Ditch_--Breadth 12 feet. Depth 8
_Note._--These dimensions give for a battery of two guns 3456 cubic feet of earth; and must be varied according to the quantity required for the epaulment.
_Epaulement_--Breadth at bottom 23 feet. Breadth at top 18 Height within 7 Height without 6 ft. 4 in. Slope, interior ²⁄₇ of h’gt. Slope, exterior ¹⁄₂ of h’gt.
_Note._--The above breadths at top and bottom are for the worst soil; good earth will not require a base of more than 20 feet wide, which will reduce the breadth at top to 15 feet; an epaulement of these dimensions for two guns will require about 4200 cubic feet of earth, and deducting 300 cubic feet for each embrazure, leaves 3600 required for the epaulement. In confined situations the breadth of the epaulement may be only 12 feet.
_Embrazures_--Distance between their centers 18 feet Openings, interior 20 inc. Openings, exterior 9 feet Height of the sole above the platform 32 inc.
_Note._--Where the epaulement is made of a reduced breadth, the openings of the embrazures are made with the usual breadth within, but the exterior openings proportionably less. The embrazures are sometimes only 12 feet asunder, or even less when the ground is very confined. The superior slope of the epaulement need be very little, where it is not to be defended by small arms. The slope of the side of the embrasures must depend upon the height of the object to be fired at. The _Berm_ is usually made 3 feet wide, and where the soil is loose, this breadth is increased to 4 feet.
2. _Howitzer_ BATTERIES.--The dimensions of howitzer batteries are the same as those for guns, except that the interior openings of the embrazures are 2 feet 6 inches, and the soles of the embrazures have a slope inwards of about 10 degrees.
3. _Mortar_ BATTERIES.--Are also made of the same dimensions as gun batteries, but an exact adherence to those dimensions is not so necessary. They have no embrazures. The mortars are commonly placed 15 feet from each other, and about 12 feet from the epaulement.
_Note._--Though it has been generally customary to fix mortars at 45°, and to place them at the distance of 12 feet from the epaulement, yet many advantages would often arise from firing them at lower angles, and which may be done by removing them to a greater distance from the epaulement, but where they would be in equal security. If the mortars were placed at the undermentioned distances from the epaulement, they might be fired at the angles corresponding:
At 13 feet distance for firing at 30 degrees. 21 20 30 15 40 10
over an epaulment of 8 feet high.
A French author asserts, that all ricochet batteries, whether for howitzers or guns, might be made after this principle, without the inconvenience of embrazures; and the superior slope of the epaulement being inwards instead of outwards, would greatly facilitate this mode of firing.
If the situation will admit of the battery being sunk, even as low as the soles of the embrazures, a great deal of labour may be saved. In batteries without embrazures, this method may almost always be adopted; and it becomes in some situations absolutely necessary in order to obtain earth for the epaulement; for when a battery is to be formed on the crest of the glacis, or on the edge of the counterscarp of the ditch, there can be no excavation but in the rear of the battery.
4. BATTERIES _on a coast_--generally consist of only an epaulement, without much attention being paid to the ditch; they are, however, sometimes made with embrazures, like a common gun battery; but the guns are more generally mounted on traversing platforms, and fire over the epaulement. When this is the case, the guns can seldom be placed nearer than 3¹⁄₂ fathoms from each other. The generality of military writers prefer low situations for coast batteries; but M. Gribauvale lays down some rules for the heights of coast batteries, which place them in such security, as to enable them to produce their greatest effect. He says the height of a battery of this kind, above the level of the sea, must depend upon the distance of the principal objects it has to protect or annoy. The shot from a battery to ricochet with effect, should strike the water at an angle of about 4 or 5 degrees at the distance of 200 yards. Therefore the distance of the object must be the radius, and the height of the battery the tangent to this angle of 4 or 5°; which will be, at the above distance of 200 yards, about 14 yards. At this height, he says, a battery may ricochet vessels in perfect security; for their ricochet being only from a height of 4 or 5 yards, can have no effect against the battery. The ground in front of a battery should be cut in steps, the more effectually to destroy the ricochet of the enemy. In case a ship can approach the battery so as to fire musquetry from her tops, a few light pieces placed higher up on the bank, will soon dislodge the men from that position, by a few discharges of case shot. It is also easy to keep vessels at a distance by carcasses, or other fire balls, which they are always in dread of.
Durtubie estimates, that a battery of 4 or 5 guns, well posted, will be a match for a first rate man of war.
To estimate the materials for a battery.
Fascines of 9 feet long are the most convenient for forming a battery, because they are easily carried, and they answer to most parts of the battery without cutting. The embrazures are however better lined with fascines of 18 feet. The following will be nearly the number required for a fascine battery of two guns or howitzers:
90 fascines of 9 feet long.
20 fascines of 18 feet--for the embrazures.
This number will face the outside as well as the inside of the epaulement, which if the earth be stiff, will not always be necessary; at least not higher than the soles of the embrazures on the outside. This will require five of 9 feet for each merlon less than the above.
A mortar battery will not require any long fascines for the lining of the embrazures. The simplest method of ascertaining the number of fascines for a mortar battery, or for any other plain breast work, is to divide the length of work to be fascined in feet, by the length of each fascine in feet, for the number required for one layer, which being multiplied by the number of layers required, will of course give the number of fascines for facing the whole surface. If a battery be so exposed as to require a shoulder to cover it in flank, about 50 fascines of 9 feet each will be required for each shoulder.
Each fascine of 18 feet will require 7 pickets.
Each fascine of 9 feet will require 4 pickets.
12 workmen of the line, and 8 of the artillery, are generally allotted to each gun.
If to the above proportion of materials, &c. for a battery of two guns, there be added for each additional gun, 30 fascines of 9 feet, and 10 of 18 feet, with 12 workmen, the quantity may easily be found for a battery of any number of pieces.
The workmen are generally thus disposed: one half the men of the line in the ditch at 3 feet asunder, who throw the earth upon the berm: one fourth upon the berm at 6 feet asunder, to throw the earth upon the epaulement, and the other quarter on the epaulement, to level the earth, and beat it down. The artillery men carry on the fascine work, and level the interior for the platforms. This number of workmen may complete a battery in 36 hours, allowing 216 cubic feet to be dug and thrown up, by each man _in the ditch_ in 24 hours.
Tools for the construction of the battery.
_Intrenching_--1¹⁄₂ times the number of workmen required; half to be pick axes, and half shovels or spades, according to the soil.
_Mallets_--3 per gun.
_Earth Rammers_--3 per gun.
_Crosscut Saws_--1 to every two guns.
_Axes_ or _Hatchets_--2 per gun.
This estimate of tools and workmen, does not include what may be required for making up the fascines, or preparing the other materials, but supposes them ready prepared. For these articles, see the words _Fascine_, _Gabion_, _Platform_, &c. and for the construction of field magazines for batteries, see the word _Magazine_.
_Note._ The following estimate of the quantity of earth which may be removed by a certain number of workmen in a given time, may serve to give some idea of the time required to raise any kind of works. 500 common wheel barrows will contain 2 cubic toises of earth, and may be wheeled by one man, in summer, to the distance of 20 yards up a ramp, and 30 on a horizontal plain, in one day. In doing which he will pass over, going and returning, about 4 leagues in the first case, and 6 in the last. Most men, however, will not wheel more than 1³⁄₄ toise per day. Four men will remove the same quantity to four times the distance.
In a soil easy to be dug, one man can fill the 500 barrows in a day; but if the ground be hard, the number of fillers must be augmented, so as to keep pace with the wheel barrow man.
BATTERY-_Planks_ are those planks or boards used in making platforms.
BATTERY-_Boxes_ are square chests or boxes, filled with earth or dung; used in making batteries, where gabions and earth are not to be had. They must not be too large, but of a size that is governable.
BATTERY-_Nails_ are wooden pins made of the toughest wood, with which the planks that cover the platforms are nailed. Iron nails might strike fire against the iron-work of the wheels, in recoiling, &c. and be dangerous.
BATTERY-_Master_, whose duty formerly it was to raise the batteries. This officer is now out of use.
BATTEURS _d’Estrade_. See SCOUTS.
BATTLE, implies an action, where the forces of two armies are engaged; and is of two kinds, _general_ and _particular_, general where the whole army is engaged, and particular where only a part is in action; but as they only differ in numbers, the methods are nearly alike.
There is no action in war more brilliant than that of pitched battles. Their success sometimes decides the fate of nations. It is by this action a general acquires reputation. It is in battle that his valour, his force of genius, and his prudence, appear in their full extent; and where especially he has occasion for that firmness of mind, without which the most able general will hardly succeed.
_Battles_ have ever been the last resource of good generals. A situation where chance and accident often baffle and overcome the most prudential and most able arrangements, and where superiority in numbers by no means ensures success, is such as is never entered into without a clear necessity for so doing. The fighting a battle only because the enemy is near, or from having no other formed plan of offence, is not the way of making war. Darius lost his crown and life by it: Harold, of England, did the same; and Francis I. at Pavia, lost the battle and his liberty. King John, of France, fought the battle of Poictiers, though ruin attended his enemy if he had not fought. The king of Prussia lost his country, and the reputation which Prussia acquired from Frederick II. by the battle of Jena.
A skilful general will give battle when his army’s situation cannot be worse, if defeated, than if it does not fight at all; and when the advantage may be great, and the loss little. Such was the duke of Cumberland’s at Hastenbeck, in 1757, and prince Ferdinand’s at Vellinghausen, in 1761. The reasons and situations for giving battle are so numerous, that to treat of them all would fill a large volume; the following are a few exigencies of state that require an army to attack the enemy at all events. Such were the causes of the battle of Blenheim, in 1704, of Zorndorff, in 1758, of Cunnersdorff, in 1759, and of Rosbach, in 1757, of Austerlitz, in 1805. An army is also obliged to engage when shut up in a post. An army may give battle to effect its junction with another army, &c.
The preparations for battle admit of infinite variety. By a knowlege of the detail of battles, the precept will accompany the example. The main general preparations are, to profit by any advantage of ground; that the tactical form of the army be in some measure adapted to it; and that such form be, if possible, a form tactically better than the enemy’s; and, in forming the army, to have a most careful attention to multiply resources, so that the fate of the army may not hang on one or two efforts; to give any particular part of the army, whose quality is superior to such part in the enemy’s army, a position that ensures action; and finally, to have a rear by nature, or if possible, by art, capable of checking the enemy in case of disaster.
The dispositions of battles admit likewise of an infinite variety of cases; for even the difference of ground which happens at almost every step, gives occasion to change the disposition or plan; and a general’s expedience will teach him to profit by this, and take the advantage the ground offers him. It is an instant, a _coup d’œil_ which decides this: for it is to be feared the enemy may deprive you of those advantages or turn them to his own profit; and for that reason this admits of no precise rule, the whole depending on the time and the occasion.
With regard to battles, there are three things to be considered; what precedes, what accompanies, and what follows the action. As to what precedes the action, you should unite all your force, examine the advantage of the ground, the wind, and the sun, (things not to be neglected) and chuse, if possible, a field of battle proportioned to the number of your troops.
You must post the different kinds of troops advantageously for each: they must be so disposed as to be able to return often to the charge; for he who can charge often with fresh troops, is commonly victorious. Your wings must be covered so as not to be surrounded, and you must observe, that your troops can assist each other without any confusion, the intervals being proportioned to the battalions and squadrons.
Great care must be taken about the regulation of the artillery, which should be disposed so as to be able to act in every place to the greatest advantage; for nothing is more certain than that, if the artillery be well commanded, properly distributed, and manfully served, it will greatly contribute to gaining the battle; being looked upon as the general instrument of the army, and the most essential part of military force. The artillery must be well supplied with ammunition, and each soldier have a sufficient number of cartridges. The baggage, provisions, and treasure of the army, should, on the day of battle, be sent to a place of safety.
In battle, where the attacks are, there is also the principal defence. If an army attacks, it forms at pleasure; it makes its points at will: if it defends, it will be sometimes difficult to penetrate into the designs of the enemy, but when once found, succour succeeds to the discovery. Ground and numbers must ever lead in the arrangement of battles; impression and resource will ever bid fairest for winning them.
The most remarkable on record are
_B. C._ 1225. The Theban war of the Seven Heroes against Eteocles.
1184. Troy taken after ten years siege.
1048. Jerusalem taken by David from the Jebusites.
750. War of the Romans against the Sabines.
743. The first Messinian war begins and continues 19 years, to the taking of Ithome.
721. Samaria taken.
685. The second Messinian war begins, continues 14 years to the taking of Ira, after 11 years siege.
624. Scythians make war in Asia Minor.
612. Nineveh destroyed by the Medes.
596. The war of the Persians against the Scythians, who are expelled by Cyaxeres.
587. Jerusalem taken by Nebuchadnezzar after a siege of 18 months.
548. War of Cyrus against Crœsus.
509. Civil war at Rome, the Tarquins expelled, monarchy abolished, and consuls chosen.
504. The Athenians take and burn Sardis.
490. Battle of Marathon.
480. Battle of Thermopylæ.
Battle of Salamis.
479. Platea}Same day Persians defeated at both places. Mycale}
470. Cyprus, Persians defeated.
Eurymedon, Persians defeated.
465. Third Messinian war begins, continues ten years.
448. First sacred war concerning the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
439. War between Corinth and Corcyra.
431. The Peloponnesian war begins the 7th of May, lasts 27 years.
409. Carthage makes war on Sicily.
405. Battle of Egospotamos--the usurpation of Dyonisius.
404. Lysander takes Athens--end of the Peloponnesian war--30 tyrants reign.
401. Battle of Cunaxa--the younger Cyrus killed--the glorious retreat of the 10,000, and expulsion of the 30 tyrants.
396. Agesilaus carries the war into Persia.
395. The Corinthian war--Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Argos, against Lacedæmon.
394. Battle of Cnidus--Lacedæmonians under Pisander defeated by Conon.
A few days after Agesilaus defeats the allies at Choronea.
390. Battle of Attia--Rome taken by the Gauls.
387. War against Cyprus--ends in two years.
371. Leuctra, battle of--Epaminondas, general of Thebes, defeats the Lacedæmonians.
363. Mantinea battle gained by Epaminondas.
360. Methone, the first victory of Philip of Macedon over the Athenians.
357. Second sacred war, on the temple being attacked by the Phoceans, ends in 9 years.
340. Battle of Agrigentum--Timoleon defeats the Carthaginians.
338. Battle of Cheronea.
335. Thebes destroyed by Alexander the Great, when he left only Pindar the poet’s house standing.
334. Battle of Granicus--Alexander.
333. Battle of Issus.
331. Battle of Arbella.
301. Battle of Ipous--Antigonus defeated.
312. Tuscan war commenced.
278. Battle at Delphi. Gauls under Brennus cut to pieces.
264. First Punic war lasts 23 years.
262. Sardis, Antiochus Soter defeated there by Eumenes.
256. Regulus defeated by Xanthippus.
234. Sardinian war continues 3 years.
222. Battle of Sellafia.
218. Second Punic war begins, lasts 17 years.
217. Battle of Thrasymene.
216. Battle of Cannæ.
208. Battle of Mantinea.
202. Battle of Zama.
197. Battle of Cynocephale--Philip defeated.
168. Battle of Pydna. This battle closed the Macedonian empire.
149. Third Punic war.
146. Carthage destroyed by the Romans.
111. Jugurthine war begins, continues 5 years.
105. Battle on the Rhine, the Tuetones defeat 80,000 Romans.
102. Tuetones defeated by C. Marius at Aquæ Sextia.
91. Social war begins, continues three years, finished by Sylla.
89. Mithridatic war begins, continues 26 years.
88. Wars of Marius and Sylla, last six years.
73. War of the Slaves under Spartacus, lasts two years, ended by Pompey and Crassus.
54. England invaded by Julius Cæsar.
48. Battle of Pharsalia.
45. Battle of Munda.
43. Battle of Mutina.
42. Battle of Philippi. Death of Brutus.
31. Battle of Actium. Death of the Republic; beginning of the Empire.
_A. D._ 10. Varus the Roman general, defeated in Germany.
70. Jerusalem destroyed by Titus, August 31.
73. Byzantium taken by the Romans.
196. Byzantium destroyed by Severus.
269. The Goths conquered by Claudius, who massacres 300,000 of them.
340. Battle of Aquileia, Constantine the younger defeated and killed by Constans.
405. Battle of Fesulæ, Stilicho defeats 200,000 Goths.
410. Rome taken and plundered by the Goths.
440. England ravaged by the Picts and Scots.
455. Rome taken and plundered by the Vandals.
547. Rome re-taken by the Goths.
553. Rome re-conquered by the Emperor.
613. Jerusalem pillaged by the Persians, and 90,000 inhabitants killed.
622. Carthage destroyed by the Saracens.
637. Jerusalem taken by the Saracens.
640. Egypt conquered by the Saracens.
787. Danes, their first descent upon England, at Portland.
895. The Danes under Rollo, make their first descent on France.