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ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from See also: term originally applied to all engines for discharging missiles, and in this sense used in See also: English in the early 17th century
.
In a more restricted sense, artillery has come to mean all firearms not carried and used by See also: hand, and also the personnel and organization by which the power of such weapons is wielded
.
It is, however, not usual to class machine guns (q.v.) as artillery
.
The See also: present article deals with the development and contemporary See also: state of the artillery arm in See also: land warfare, in respect of its organization, personnel and See also: special or " formal " employment
.
For the materiel—the guns, their carriages and their ammunition—see ORDNANCE and See also: AMMUNITION
.
For See also: ballistics, see that heading, and for the See also: work of artillery in combination with the other arms, see TACTICS
.
Artillery, as distinct from ordnance, is usually classified in accordance with the functions it has to perform
.
The simplest division is that into See also: mobile and immobile artillery, the former being concerned with the handling of all weapons so mounted as to be capable of more or less easy See also: movement from place to place, the latter with that of weapons which are installed in fixed positions
.
Mobile artillery is subdivided, again chiefly in respect of its employment, into See also: horse and See also: field batteries, heavy field or position artillery, field howitzers,
See also: mountain artillery and siege trains, adapted to every kind of terrain in which field troops may be employed, and work they may have to do
.
Immobile artillery is used in fixed positions of all kinds, and above all in permanent fortifications; it cannot, therefore, be classified as above, inasmuch as the raison d'etre, and consequently the armament of one fort or battery may be totally distinct from that of another
.
" Fortress," " Garrison " and " See also: Foot " artillery are the usual names for this branch
.
The dividing See also: line, indeed, in the See also: case of the heavier weapons, varies with circumstances; guns of position may remain on their ground while elaborate-ARTILLERY 685
fortifications grow up around them, or the deficiencies of a field army in artillery may be made See also: good from the materiel, more frequently still from the personnel, of the fortress artillery
.
Thus it may happen that mobile artillery becomes immobile and See also: vice versa
.
But under normal circumstances the principle of See also: classification indicated is maintained in all organized military forces
.
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