Field service regulations for quick-firing mountain artillery

The tactics of the mountain artillery was dealt with the manual Устав за строевата служба в планинската скорострелна артилерия (Field service regulations for the quick firing mountain artillery) published in 1906 and finally adopted with modifications and additions in 1909. It was an adaptation of the French Règlement de manovre de l’artillerie de montagne published on 25 August 1905 that nevertheless referred to the old De Bange not quick firing guns. The Regulations dealt with the quick-firing guns, but gave also some instructions about the employment of the old not quick-firing guns on the new conditions, in order to allow training for both kinds of mountain gun according with only one normative text. Composition and subdivision of the units The 75mm QF mountain battery was organized as follows : – fighting battery : 4 guns, 8 ammunition loads with two boxes with 8 shells each, 1 load with section bags, 1 load with entrenching tools, subdivided into two sections; – battery reserve : 24 ammunition loads with two boxes with 8 shells each, 2 pack forges, 1 load with drugs and bandage for men and horses, reserve troops, reserve horses, hors rang troops; – transport train : 4 loads for bags, 1 load for water flasks, 2 loads for field kitchens, 3 loads for food supply, 10 loads for forage, 2 loads for the officers baggage, 1 load for spare horseshoes and boots, 1 load for carpenter and saddler tools, 1 load for medical instruments. The 75mm not QF mountain battery was organized as follows : – fighting battery : 6 guns, 12 ammunition loads with two boxes with 8 shells each, 1 load with entrenching tools, subdivided into three sections; – battery reserve : 24 ammunition loads with two boxes with 8 shells each, 2 pack forges, 1 load with drugs and bandage for men and horses, reserve troops, reserve horses, hors rang troops; – transport train : 6 loads for bags, 1 load for water flasks, 3 loads for field kitchens, 3 loads for food supply, 14 loads for forage, 2 loads for the officers baggage, 1 load for spare horseshoes and boots. Every battery carried 8 Linnemann spades, 8 picks, 8 hatchets and 2 axes as entrenching tools. In order to provide communication between the units every battery had 4 field telephones with 500 metres of cables each. Every mountain artillery regiment had 3 Goerz rangefinders, 1 for every artillery division. Mountain artillery, like field artillery, had introduced battery telescopes, dial sights and mechanical fuze setters. The Q.F. mountain artillery piece (оръдие, pièce) was commanded by a non commissioned officer, the gun commander (командир на оръдието, chief de pièce), and was attended by six cannoners (прислужници, servants): – two shell-handlers (раклен, pourvoyeur) carried the boxes with the ammunition to the gun; – the fuze-cutter (поставач, déboucheur) set the fuze and gave the cartridges to the loader; – the loader (пълнач, chargeur) put the cartridge into the chamber; – the firer (стрелец, tireur) opened and closed the breech-block and fired; – the aimer (мерач, pointeur) gave the angle of sight and the deflection, pointed and aimed the gun.
Route formation The gun can be towed by two horses or transported by pack animals dismantled in four loads. The mountain artillery moved only at walk: 5 km in a hour on flat ground, 4 km in a hour on uphill car-track. It could climb a height of 400 m in a hour. During the march the gun and its six pack animals usually advanced in succession, one after other, and they were preceded by the commander. The detachment was composed by six horses’ drivers and six gunners. The order of succession of the loads was : carriage, wheels, barrel, cradle and the two ammunition boxes. For mountain artillery usually native ponies were employed. Mules were not much used in Bulgaria, since they were regarded as vicious and troublesome. Donkeys were largely employed for carrying light loads.
Packing. To pack the gun the drivers leaded the horses as follows : the carriage carrier was placed 2 paces right and 10 paces behind the gun, then in single file, 2 paces away one from the other, the shaft, the barrel, the cradle and the two ammunition carriers. At the order : “Load!”, the shield, the fore-carriage and a bag with the accessories were loaded on the first horse; the trail, the wheels and the shaft on the second; the barrel and a bag with sighting apparatus on the third; the cradle, the sledge and the recoil gears on the fourth; the ammunition boxes on their relative horses. The weight of the load with the pack saddle varied from 159 kg to 172 kg, depending on the kind of load. The horses were unpacked in the reverse order of packing, the same cannoneers handling the different parts of the gun.
	Battle formation In battle formation the guns were deployed side by side usually at spaces of 40 paces. The battery reserve was in a covered position at 300 / 500 paces behind the battery and the transport train was near this detachment. The manual stressed that it was important to pay attention to have a good observation point near the firing line, since the effectiveness of the fire greatly hung on it. Usually the battery should be unpacked in a covered position and the gun were carried to the firing line by the gunners. If the ground did not allow the deploying of the guns in the prescribed way, every gun should be carried to the best position separately. As for fighting, firing procedures and supplying of ammunition, mountain artillery should follow the general regulations introduced for the quick firing field artillery.