limbers) ammunition wagons, store and provision carts or wagons and
forage wagons. On the amount of ammunition that should be carried with a
field battery there was formerly a considerable diversity of opinion.
The greater the amount a battery carries with it, the more independent
it is; on the other hand, every additional wagon makes the battery more
cumbrous and, by lengthening out the column, keeps back the combatant
troops marching in rear. But since the introduction of the Q.F. gun it
has been universally recognized that the gun must have a very liberal
supply of ammunition present with it in action, and the old standard
allowance of one wagon per gun has been increased to that of two and
even three. Formerly batteries were further hampered by having to carry
the reserve of small-arm ammunition for infantry and cavalry. But the
greater distances of modern warfare accentuate the difficulties of such
a system, and the reserve ammunition for all arms is now carried in
special "ammunition columns" (see AMMUNITION), the _personnel_ and
transport of which is furnished by the artillery.