Practical Manual of Artillery

among them, and the other provokes them to perpetual hatred and incredible disdain. And from here it comes that men who are disdained are rarely seen to be obedient. He must, however, make himself obeyed in such a way that he commands without speaking, and by commanding one, he threatens all; and he must amend and punish those who dare to contravene his orders with a single severe word. He should also try to always honor his bombardiers with words, favor his subjects with deeds, show himself a diligent defender of their immunities and privileges, and try to reserve them from the extortions of taxes and other payments. Let him be solicitous and importunate in ensuring that their pay is given to them, and in this way, the General will be obeyed, loved, and feared by all. Above all things, he should try to drive out from his company men who are blasphemers and litigious if he desires to live in peace and have good successes.

In addition to the aforesaid things, the General of Artillery must command and order that all officials and other men of duty, together with the bombardiers, sappers, and other service men, with all the ammunition and other things subject to his government, have their tents or pavilions and other lodgings so close and around his own lodging that, should the need arise, at the slightest sound of a trumpet or another sign assigned to them, they all find themselves united and ready to perform any service.

The captains, master-craftsmen, and other gentlemen whom the General will choose to command in the management of the artillery must be men versed in such exercise and of much practice. Because if it is not so, besides the great confusion it would cause him, most urgent occasions will occur every hour where he will not only be forced to be present to load, set, and make any artillery fire, but also to put himself in danger of his own life.

The captains and heads of squads who will be placed at night for the guard of the artillery must be most diligent watchers over the good guard of it. He will have the rounds and super-rounds, or secret sentinels, doubled at night according to what the time and the need require. These guards must be continuously admonished by their officials not to let any man approach the artillery who is not known by them and known in practice. For from men who are not known, one must perpetually have some suspicion in the armies: namely, that they are sent by the enemy as spies and scouts of the camp, and often to spike the artillery and cause some other sinister effect in the enterprise.

When the artillery is marching on the road, and even more so if the enemy army is stationed nearby, then the most diligent General must be much more careful and solicitous in the things of his charge, always placing ahead of the artillery and at its flanks diligent listeners from the light cavalry, who, once they have discovered any ambush or other treachery of the enemy, should immediately give warning in the camp. And always taking true information from the practical guides of the army regarding what quality the roads are that must be traveled with the artillery, if they are rough or flat, if there are mountains, woods, or hills in them, if there are deep ravines or marshes of water, if there are rivers that require the making of bridges to pass, how deep and wide they are, what bottom or bed is found in them, and finally all the other difficulties of bad passages and harmful impediments. And finding those, he must try with great diligence to facilitate them as much as possible, leveling those that are mountainous, filling the deep ones, breaking and smashing the stones, and cutting the woods. This labor will be done by the sappers, and at times, due to a lack of these, by applying some companies of soldiers who, with only swords at their belts and in their hands, one a pick and another a shovel, some with a basket, and others with a hoe, will set themselves diligently to do the work. They will do this much more willingly when they see their captains and other officials be the first to put their hands to work. This should similarly be done at the time of planting the battery, with the people deputed to the guard of it always standing in arms, to aid with speed against any sudden assault.

And regarding the order of marching with the artillery, he will govern himself in the following manner: namely, that primarily in the vanguard goes the scout of the light cavalry, as we said above, and after that a band of sappers, all of them divided squad by squad, of which the first of them must carry an axe each, and those of the second squad will each carry a large hoe, and the rest will then carry billhooks, shovels, and baskets or panniers, and after the aforesaid sappers