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Special pages :
Ammunition
| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 18 September 1857 |
Reproduced from The New American Cyclopaedia
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 18
New American Cyclopedia
Engels intended to write the article "Ammunition" in July 1857, as is evident from his letter to Marx of July 11-12 of that year. But being busy with other articles for The New American Cyclopaedia he did not begin writing it until the middle of September. It was dispatched to New York on September 18, 1857, as is shown by an entry in Marx's notebook.
Ammunition, comprises the projectiles, charges, and articles used for priming, required for the use of fire-arms, and, as the word is generally understood, supposes these articles to be made up ready for use. Thus, small-arm ammunition comprises cartridges and percussion caps (the latter, of course, are unnecessary where flint-locks or the needle-gun are in use); field-artillery ammunition is composed of shot, loaded shell, case shot, shrapnell, cartridges, priming tubes, matches, portfires, &c, with rockets for rocketbatteries. In fortresses and for sieges, the powder is generally kept in barrels, and made up in cartridges when required for use; so are the various compositions required during a siege; the hollow shot are also filled on the spot. The proportion of ammunition accompanying an army in the field varies according to circumstances. Generally an infantry soldier carries 60 rounds, seldom more; and a similar quantity per man accompanies the army in wagons, while a further supply follows with the park columns a march or two to the rear. For field-artillery, between 150 and 200 rounds per gun are always with the battery, partly in the gun-limber boxes, partly in separate wagons; another 200 rounds are generally with the ammunition-reserve of the army, and a third supply follows with the park columns. This is the rule in most civilized armies, and applies, of course, to the beginning of a campaign only; after a few months of campaigning, the ammunition-reserves are generally very severely drawn upon, perhaps lost after a disastrous battle, and their replacing is often difficult and slow.