IN TIME OP WAR.

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otherwise, the greatest efforts should be made at the pointwhere the exterior ground presents some advantages : the in-fantry being disposed in several columns, connected withother troops and supported by a second line of infantry,with the cavalry drawn up in the rear, ready to gallop intothe intrenchment the instant the infantry have entered andopened breaches large enough to admit them.

The previous dispositions being made and the signal givenfor the attack, the troops march forward in quick time ;since it is only by advancing rapidly, that the defendants canbe deprived of the advantages they have over the assailants :for the sire of the latter is, at the best, but uncertain ; whilethey are exposed to a very heavy and well-directed fire frombehind the works : common fense and experience agree onthis point.

25c. In the assault of field-works, it depends on the posi-tion of the intrenchment and the nature of the ground wherethe troops form, whether the whole or a part only of theartillery can be employed. The general rule is for the artil-lery to keep a very heavy fire previous to the advance of thetroops, that they may meet with less resistance and penetratemore easily. The principal cafes in which artillery is usefulin this kind of attack are :

1. When the artillery of the works can extremelyannoy the assailants, a superior number of guns arebrought up to silence them ; and when there is anycommanding ground at 200 or 300 paces from theworks, some infantry is posted on it to throw in as heavya fire as possible (199).

2. When there are any forts or redoubts with twostages of fire within the works, the fire of all the artilleryis directed against them to throw the troops that defendthem into disorder; the instant this is perceived, theinfantry advance rapidly to the assault. Red-hot shotand howitzer shells filled with combustibles are throwninto intrenched villages or houses to set them on fire ;it should be laid down as a maxim in the attack of townsor villages, never to Ut the infantry advance before theartillery has thrown the garrison into confusion.

3. Any ground in the vicinity of the intrenchment,that enfilades or commands it, should be occupied by asufficient number of guns to take full advantage of thisfavourable circumstance.

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