DEFENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 14

DEFENCE NOTES.

(Br EdnEioN.) 1 " Secretaries of Volunteer Corps and .!Riflo Clubs are-.invited to . contribute i items of .interest* for insertion in this • column. COMING JEVENTS. ;r / ; Nopior'Military March 25. TRAINING THE RIFLEMAN. Iu Tm Dominion of March 2 there ap- ■: • - peared an- article on tho isubject of "Trainv; the Rifleman." In amplification of'the .v- .. - point raised in that - article, the following • <>■■■■ notes'from a lecturo delivered by Brigadier- • General.T. D.<Pilcher, 0.. B.j A.D.C., before , ' the• Aldershot Military Society, ;may be of interest. • ■: Quoting from tho ■ official ■ report on the Senior Olficors' Course at tho School of Musketry, tho lecturer said:— JUDGING DISTANCES. '.'The. importance' of. judging distanco, v. - - though evident from' the trajectory: tables/ is sometimes.overlooked, even by .men ; \vho are ■ expert shots (at known/ distances);; yet such a marksman, making tho normal error, in judging distance, would rarely hit a second- : class target-at 600 yards. In collective fire .' valso,-;tho: closely i grouped., shots ,of . highly- • trained men, fired at. medium- distances .with • the normal error-' in. judging, - .will bo less- • . effective than tho firo of third-class shots do- .;. .. - livered ;with the same sighting.. Hence it is : clear;that for the.fire: unit commander, judg-. ■ ing distanco is , tho first --requirement■, of .-• • ■ musketry • - training; and : for '.the - private ■ ; : soldier it. is, between point blank range, and ; about .600 yards, as necessary as, if not more p..;.- ■ Vj;so'than;''accurate.shooting.","'■ 1 COMBINED SIGHTS. ; . .•i IV ' "The advisability.: of using combined sights -when ~the'. range 'is." hotcertain "is strongly urged. . When combined sights are used .four. : ■ different ranges _might,be'.given,,'and in order I > to 'avoid confusion somo definite word of • command-on. which, subordinate^;commanders ! may know.how. to;act.-If; a 'captain'-,sees.a target. and estimates 1 the' distanco at 1500-yards,' it -will •take Hime'.'and possibly ! ; causo. confusion for-him to givo .the com-1 - mand- 'So.-1-Section,'.l3oo; No. 2, 1400;-No.-i • 3, 1500; N0..4,-1600 yards.' A Tho better plan i j•: - would be for hmr to simply give-the word:! : .'Mean range, ioOO yards, upon which No.; 3 I Section : fires at - that rango, ' No. A; at 100 : yards, over it, - No.-2 at'loo -yards-, under- it, i and No. lat 200 yards under it." . I - -This view- is .-.not-, agreed by another autho-1 ;• ; 1 rity,'-:onmusketry,',, who says that .-.it, would ;i r involve : Jess.; confusion, ->if'\the;;order, giv4n were to (the following i effect:—"Right' Sec- - tion—1000; No : 2—1200; No. 3-1-100; No. : 4—1600."-..' ' ''•* ■ -• r ; FINE PROBLEMS. . Brigadier-General . Pilcher illustrated his ;■ >>: '■i points by enunieratiug three or four'fine.pro-, blems, of which tho following is an ex- : ample.— • • . . . . , ■- ■ '"Take the caso: of a company, tho ad- -- . vance guard of a battalion. . On reaching a ■ certain- point the commander finds that th'o . . , •enemy is m, a. position from,-:which ■ tho-coni-pany alone cannot dislodge-him." 'Ho knows . that it is ..the intention of his battalion com;mander.to attack, and ho -succoeds m-bnng-<o::.V: '-ing his-.company, without Appreciable loss, up : ■.' ™;- a '. . c ' some- 80(byards from the enemy. , hat principles-should 'ho gmdo \ his fire . action in these .- Should he ; uso combined sights'or not?'- '■> - : . Col | sl der that-ho should sum up tho situation more or less as -follows —'The re- . . n:amder. of the battalion -will- probably bo able to. reach, this bank where. I have.estab- ■ Jishcd myself and to line it thickly,-but un. • ™' We have established a firo superiontv it will bo. impossible, for us to advance from this pftce. 1 consider, therefore, that I can-best helP-my commander by. making every effort to discover the exact rango, whichj can.do '.' ,- as company than ,with - a .battalion. .If.-the country'he-grass ■°/ ,P'P U S?' /W he-lias no accurato rance- , .... nnder, .his a.-difficult ojie.-but should, thero bo a chalk pit, a mound of sand or sheep or cattle grazing near the enemy's , > position, his task would bo much facilitated,' , for. the splash.of the.bullets from tho chalk ,pit or tho effect his bullets had on the catitJo would 'soon. enable him to .pick up the range. Above all things, he-should .be most ;;y careful to divide the front between his sec- - tions and to . see that only /picked shots fired . "{"'or . direct oiders of their section commandors, who must bo most careful in direct-ing-their fire,-not to confuso matters 'by-fir-ing at . any object also aimed at by. another ; .I" .tho .Evelyn:.. Wood':, competi- .. tion this year some teams; 'fearful of wa't- 1 :ing. their ammunition, failed'.- to :■take their ranges by dropping a few shots into sand heaps near the targets, and, in their 'penny wisdom fired all their . rounds'.at l an in•i -accurate range." OBSERVATION OF FIRE. '.'Thero are. many things, ill' which infantry, ' -ii ' ? vo a l°ng shooting'weapon. mtll adyantago follow; in sui't of tho artillery .v . Captain Neznamo'v,' in speaking .; of observing fire should be the same as that lor .artillery, but on a much. smaller scale the., most., advanced-positions' the Soldier - ■ himselt:observes duriiig the' lulls in, tho fir- ..... . .ring; .three or', four. men.per section,''should; however,"be . especially- detailed for this pur-' pose Ho goes on to say that all hillocks, ; . , houso tops, etc., should.be utilised with-this object.' " i i..■.„, . "The German regulations lay down that tho - v ..... ... Dcst .juugGs, of distance, in .tho conipciny/ accompanying the captaip and.tho section-corn-' mauders, assist them with thoir advice as to ~ \v ranges '.and, during the .action do not' fire, ; but observe tju> eifcct fire 'and look' - , out .for , new targets, ..and. this system cer- .-. ■ jtainly has . much to; commcnd ,-it. : ' • .-~ : '; 4■ : . ' ' '" : . LIGHT RIFLE SHOOTING. WAR OFFICE TRAINING CONDITIONS. The recent announcement of tho' War Office concerning the tiainmg course to be adopted, during- the current :ycar may' be'of •interest to thoso who indulge in riflo .sbootironi a civilian poiut or view, says-Mr LS'aihohff; of "" / Se "" j i.The .War-Offico-states'that;the 'trained .... man at Aldershot .for 1908 is'to con-thirty-hve rounds, five of. .which -'are to be fired, at yards, not particularly at a bull s-eye, but; in order to ' form as , - good a group as possible on the target. That -V - 18 '"an, whoso-group of five shots ; -could: he. inducted m a four-inch circle at the bottom of the target,would score.moro ' jWho, placing'-all, his shots on • the bull s-eye, occupies a largor ; space'than . • four inches ■ in'diameter. The next fifteen rounds are to be fired in one, minute at 200 fch.jbayonefc fixed. -This "scries is to beVfollowedv by. five, shots ; .'at'3oo yards- at a , disappearing target, and fivo shots at 500 and five shots.at 600 yards, deliberate sliootujg,,at a figure target. We quite appreciate that it has long been considered by inany , experts , that. practice beyond 500 yards is more or -less unnecessary,, inasmuch' as in' actual warfare hits beyond this distance arc' more a question of luck than design; but we .: must .say that to the,.ordinary.-lay mirid ■it does appear somewhat, peculiar, that, practice with ' thirty-five;. , rounds of ammunition 'in the manner suggested'is/likely to place the British soldier ; among, the foremost, ranks .. of marksmen in the world.' We tako it that the American army experts know equally "as - niuch-about- musketry- as the officers who puido the instruction of our 'soldiers, henco , it is, rather difficult to reconcile our War Offico, decision with-that arrived, at'by the American authorities, whose, training is designed -not; only to give accuracy of'shooting • at short: ranges, but also -the utilisation of the:range and energy, of the riflo at its longest distance. When one bears. in mind that - during tho last South. African .war; it .- required 250,000 soldiers- trained,under our . military system, with a hundred field guns and no fewer than 66,000,000 small arms cartridges, ■ .to effect -20,000 casualties, it is quite apparent. that a, deal'must have been left to chance rather than design in , the training of our men, and if the British rifle is to be looked on as anything more than, the' handle for' a bayonet, thirty-five rounds of ammunition ■, a - yeiar is ' a ridi- * ; culously inadequate number to be. used for i tho training of cach man.