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Special pages :
Cannonade
| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 8 January 1858 |
Reproduced from The New American Cyclopaedia
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 18
Cannonade, in a general sense, the act of firing artillery during a battle or a siege. As a technical expression in tactics, a cannonade means an engagement between 2 armies in which the artillery alone is active, and the other arms are either passive or do not, at least, overstep the bounds of mere demonstration. The most celebrated instance of this kind is the cannonade of Valmy, in 1792.[1] Kellermann awaited the attack of the Prussian army on a range of heights, his artillery placed in front of his troops. The Prussians drew up on the opposite range of the hills, brought forward their artillery, and the cannonade began. Several times the Prussian infantry formed for the attack and advanced a little; but, the French remaining firm, the Prussians withdrew again before coming within musket range. Thus the day passed, and the next day the Prussian army began their general retreat. In most general engagements such cannonades occur. They often form the 1st act of the performance; they serve to fill up the intervals between a repulsed attack and another attempt to dislodge the enemy; and they form the finale of most drawn battles. In most cases they serve more for purposes of demonstration than for any thing else, causing by a great waste of ammunition at long ranges that almost incredibly small proportion of hits to misses which characterizes the artillery practice of modern battles.
- ↑ On September 20, 1792 at Valmy (Northeastern France), the French revolutionary forces under Dumouriez and Kellermann halted the AustroPrussian interventionists, under the Duke of Brunswick, and a detachment of French émigré nobles accompanying him. The interventionists were compelled to retreat and on October 5 were thrown back over the French border.