Field service regulations for not
quick-firing mountain artillery
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First
drill regulations for mountain artillery with order in Bulgarian were published in 1889, but concerned only the gun
training. After ten years of application, they were revised,
adding the battery training. In 1897, cpt. Georgi Kukureshkov wrote a
draft that was published in the Военен
Журнал and
submitted to the attention of the mountain artillery officers. The
final version of the new Устав
за строевата
служба в планинската
артилерия
(Field service regulations for the mountain artillery) was
published in 1899 and remained in force for not quick-firing mountain guns
even during the Balkan Wars, with few emendations added in 1909, after the
introduction of quick-firing guns. The
main difference compared to the field artillery regulations concerned the
loading and unloading of the pack guns. As for fighting, firing procedures
and choice of the positions, the mountain artillery acted like the field
artillery, since there was only one Direction
for firing both with field and mountain artillery. The Regulations list the orders relate to gun service, explaining
precisely the actions that the individual servants must perform in each
situation (fire, manoeuvres, movement). Composition and subdivision of the units The
75mm mountain battery is organized as follows : – fighting
battery : 6 guns, 12 ammunition loads with 2 boxes with 8 shells each, 1
load with case shots, subdivided into three sections; – battery
reserve : 12 ammunition loads with 2 boxes with 8 shells each, 1 load
with case shots, 1 pack forge, 1 load with drugs and bandage for men and
horses, reserve troops, reserve horses, hors rang troops; – transport
train : 24 ammunition loads with 2 boxes with 8 shells each and the pack
supply train. The
servants (прислуга)
of the mountain artillery piece are : – one
gun sergeant (фейерверкер)
as leader, – one
ammunition sergeant, – six
gunners, one more than the field artillery : No. 1 with a bag for ordinary fuzes and the ignition
cord for primers; No. 2 aimer, with a bag with oily rags, a case for the back sight and
knee pad; No. 3 with a bags with stems for percussion fuzes
and keys for percussion and time fuzes; No. 4 loader; No. 5 and 6 shell handlers; No. 7; – 11 drivers, 3 for the gun – 1
for the barrel, 1 for the carriage, 1 for wheels – and 8 for the ammunition. The
ammunition boxes are divided into 1st and 2nd
echelon. In 1st echelon there are 4 boxes, i.e. 2 pack horses (near second
and fifth gun there is also a box with case shots), in 2nd echelon there are
12 boxes i.e. 6 pack horses. The ammunition sergeant leads all the boxes of
the 1st and 2nd echelon only when they are together, when they are separated, he leads the boxes of the 2nd echelon. Disposition
of the gun in park.
In park, the gun is placed in battle order, detached
from the limonière, and with the muzzle forward.
The limonière is put onto
the carriage in such a way that its traverse rests on the trail and its
shafts on the wheels. The boxes are put on 4 piles,
30 paces away from the trail. The left piles are placed one pace behind each other : in the front pile there are 2 boxes, one on to the
other, and in the back pile there are 3 pairs of boxes one on the other,
facing out. The right piles are placed 3 paces to
the right and in line with the left piles, so that the extended axis of the
gun tube coincides with the middle of the boxes arrangement. If there are
case shot boxes, they are placed on one of the outer
sides of the front piles (Чер.
1). The
Regulations report the orders
relating to the entry and exit of the servants and the drivers from the park,
indicating the place that each of them is required to occupy in all
circumstances. Once the crew has entered the park and unloaded the
boxes from the ammunition horses, the servants go to the gun : No. 1 and 2
are respectively to the right and to the left of the gun, one pace away from
the carriage, No. 3 and 4 are behind Nr. 1 and 2, half a pace away from them
in the same line, No. 5 is one pace to the left to No. 3 facing him (Чер.
2). Firing instruction To load the gun. At the
order Load the gun with shell (with shrapnel, with case shot, with blank
shell) – with shrapnel also Fuze x seconds –
No. 6 takes the projectile and the battering charge from the first ammunition
horse and hands them to No. 5. No. 3 with its key sets the T&P fuze of the shrapnel for the correct number of seconds or
arms the percussion fuze of the shell. No. 2
pierces the primer twice with the spine and open the breech-block,
No. 3 puts the projectile and the charge in the bore and No. 4 push first the
projectile and then the charge with the rammer. No. 2 lock the breech-block and pierces the charge, leaving the spin in
the primer. To fire. At the
order Gun fire at one target, elevation
x (firing with case shot, instead of graduations meters are indicates),
No. 1 primes the charge, No. 2 sets the sight and the lateral adjustments
mechanism to the commanded number of graduations to give to the gun the
correct elevation and direction. At the order Gun, No. 1 prepares to open fire and when No. 2 orders Light he fires
the shot. After
the first shot, No. 2 opens the breech-block and No.
4 takes the rammer and holds it until the order Stop or Not loaded. No.
5 goes to the first ammunition horse and together with No. 6 unloads the
bags, taking a charge and a projectile. No. 6 goes with its horse to the
other driver and when the projectiles are finished, comes with another
ammunition horse. The gun is loaded as above, except that No. 2 does not
pierce the charge. Firing
with case shot, for the first round No. 2 takes the case shot from the fore
part of the carriage, opens the breech-block and put
it in the bore along with the charge received by No. 5. For the following
round No. 5 take a case shot from the second or fifth ammunition horse and
running carries it to No. 2. Blank
shell is loaded from the muzzle with the aid of the piassava brush. Firing
with every kind of projectile, excepting blank shell, the gun must be braked with rope to reduce the recoil. Therefore,
after having unlimbered the guns, No. 1 and 4 detach the ends of the rope
from the axis of the carriage and hook them to the spokes of the wheels. At
the order Backwards, they release
the wheels and hook the brake rope straps to the axle, each on its side. In
all cases, except when firing with case shot or blank shell, immediately
after firing and without waiting for an order, the gun is
rolled to its first place, loaded with the same projectile (the
shrapnel with the same fuze) and directed at the
same target. To roll the gun, No. 1 and 2 act on the wheels by grabbing the
spokes, No. 3, raises the trail with the lifting handle and pushes forward.
Then, No. 2 immediately directs the gun to the target. To change kind of the projectile.
The name of the new projectile is ordered, also determining for the shrapnel the
number of seconds for which the fuze must be set.
If a shrapnel is to be fired instead of a case shot, the order is : Shrapnel
without fuze. When changing the distance or the
target, the order is : Sight x, or for this target sight x. To change the shrapnel fuze setting only, the order is :
Fuze x seconds. To stop firing. At the
order Stop, No. 1 takes the fuze out of the bore, and puts it and the ignition cord
it in his bag. No. 2 lowers the sight, takes the spin from No. 1, and pierces
the charge, leaving the spin in the primer. No. 3 gives the initial position
to the gun. No. 4 leaves the rammer in its place. If the order is given when the gun has not yet been loaded, it must
first be loaded with a shell. If it is loaded, No. 5 leaves the projectile and
the charge in the box. To resume fire the order is :
Fire at this target, sight x
graduations. To
stop loading after the shot, the order is : Not loaded. No. 2 pierces the igniter,
passes the spin to No. 1, and lowers the sight. No. 1 puts the ignition cord
in his bag and takes the spin from N. 2. No. 4 and 5 act as above. To discharge a gun. If the
gun is loaded with shrapnel, it is discharged by firing a shot, if it is
loaded with shell, case shot or blank shell, at the order Discharge the gun, No. 2 unlocks the breech-block and, after the gun has been unloaded, locks
it again. No. 4, after having inserted the brush into the gun muzzle,
gradually pushes the projectile through the barrel. No. 3 takes out the charge
and the projectile. If it is a shell, he unscrews the stem of the percussion fuze and put it in his bag. Then he gives the shell and
the charge to N. 5. If it is a case shot, he puts it in the fore part of the
carriage and gives the charge to No. 5. At
the order Free, the servants stands
freely without moving. At the order : At
ease, No. 4 puts the rammer and the brush in their post, and the servants
can move and sit without moving away from the gun. At the order Halt, the servants stand in their
place and No. 4 takes the rammer. If the order Shot is given before the order Halt, they prepares to open fire (as
above). At the order Attention, the
servants stand near the gun. To replace the servants. During
training, in order for men to learn the duties of the different servants,
they have to change their occupations. At the orders For change – Right (left) side round – March – Attention, in
succession each takes the place of its neighbour to the right or left.
However, each time only some of the servant can be replaced,
leaving the others in their place. If
one of the servants goes out of line, No. 2 is replaced
only by No. 3. As for the others, the first is replaced
by No. 4, No. 2 performing also his duties, the second by No. 5, No. 3
performing also his duties, the third by No. 6, No. 3 performing the duties
of No. 3, 4, 5 and 6. No. 7 is not replaced. Mounted instruction Formations. In
mountain artillery, the following formations are adopted : a)
Towed advancing order : the gun towed to the limonière, the ammunition loaded behind the gun horses; b)
Towed retreating order : the gun towed to the limonière, ammunition loaded in front of the gun horses; c)
Packed advancing order : the gun packed, having the
gun loads in front the pack horses and the barrel load at the head of the
column; d)
Packed retreating order : the gun packed, having the
gun loads behind the pack horses and the barrel load at the rear of the
column; e)
Battle order : the gun unhooked from the limonière or unpacked with the horses distant behind one
of its flanks; f)
Flank order : the gun hooked
to the limonière or packed with the pack horses on
its side. Movement. Mountain
guns move only at walk. They can be towed by a horse or
transported by pack horses dismantled in three loads. At first
Bulgarian gunners tended to tow their guns, to avoid dismantling them, but
this might damage the guns, since the wheels of the mountain guns were little
and not designed for towing, but only for firing. To move, the order is Gun walk – March. At the second order
the movement starts. When
moving in a straight direction, the sergeant should look straight ahead and
walk towards the object he sees. The drivers follow behind him, keeping their
distance according to § 17. To
stop the gun, at the order Gun halt,
the sergeant takes three more paces and stops. The drivers stop their horses
gradually behind him, pulling lightly with the bridle slightly to the
opposite side of the movement. If
it is not possible to move in column of two horses, at the order Drivers by one – March, all the even-numbered horses slow down and move behind
their corresponding odd-numbered horses. To double the row, at the order Drivers by two – March, all the horses quicken their pace and the even-numbered
horses double, joining to the left of odd-numbered horses and shortening the
distance between the pairs. If the road is narrow and does not allow the
servants to go near the towed gun, at the order Servants behind the gun - March, they line up behind the gun in
three rows: first No. 5 and 7, then No. 3 and 4 and finally No. 1 and 2. When
the road widens, at the order Servants
in their places, everyone resumes his regular marching order. The
direction of movement can be changed either by turning or
rolling out. There are three types of turns: full 90°, round 180° and
half turn 45°. Rolling out can be done at any angle up to 90°. All turns and
rolling out can be done from a place and on the move and with gun towed or
packed. In all other turns and turns, after the preliminary command, which
indicates the turn or rolling out, the pace is stated
only when until the execution of the movement, the gun has remained
stationary. The various ways to turn or roll out are showed
in Чер. 11-14. When
the gun is in flank order and it is necessary for all unhooked horses to go
behind the gun, at the order Drivers
behind the gun - March, the
drivers turn to the gun and line up behind it according to § 17. Packing. To pack
the gun the drivers lead their horses as follows : the carriage horse is
placed 2 paces right and 10 paces behind the gun, then in single file, 2
paces away one from the other, the wheels, the barrel, and the two ammunition
horses. At the order Load!, the
drivers hod their horses by the bridles with both
the hands, while three servants first raise and load the barrel, then raise
and load the carriage, and the other three servants first raise and loads the
wheels and the limonière, and then load the
ammunition boxes. The horses are unpacked in the reverse order of packing,
the same servants handling the different parts of the gun (Чер.
7-10). Supplying. When the
battery occupies the fighting position, it is followed by
the first group of ammunition horses that was unloaded 2 paces right and 3-8
paces behind the gun. The second group, along with
the unloaded horses, is leaded by the drivers in the place designed for the
gun horses. When the position is changed, the second group goes with
the gun horses, while the first group gets to the park unit to resupply the
ammunition boxes. |