front of a marching column is perhaps best expressed in the phrase of
Prince Kraft von Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, "save hours and not minutes."
The Germans in 1870 so far acted up to the principle that Prince
Hohenlohe, when asked, at the beginning of the battle of Sedan, for a
couple of guns, was able to reply, "You shall have ninety" (see, for
details of the march of the Guard artillery, his _Letters on Artillery_,
6th letter). The German regulations for field service say, very plainly,
"the horses have not done their work until they have got the guns into
action, even at the cost of utter exhaustion." A notable march was made
by the 62nd battery, R.F.A., in the South African War. On the day of the
battle of Modder River, the battery marched 32 m. (mostly through deep
sand) arriving in time to take part in the action. Such forced marches,
if rare, are nowadays expected to be within the power of field artillery
to accomplish. Horse artillery is capable of more than this, and as to
pace, manoeuvring at the cavalry rate. Heavy guns are the least mobile,
and would rarely be able to keep pace with infantry in a forced march.
Field artillery walks 4, trots 9, and gallops at the rate of 15 m. an
hour. A fair marching pace (trot and walk) is 4 m. an hour for field, 5
for horse batteries. A march of 14 m. would, according to the German
regulations, be performed by
a field battery in 5 hours,
a horse battery in 4 hours,
under favourable circumstances (Bronsart von Schellendorf).