ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of

See also:

• WAR
• WAR (O. Eng. werre, Fr. guerre, of Teutonic origin; cf. O.H.G. werran, to confound)

war, probably comes from

See also:

• LATE

Late

See also:

• LAT

Lat. articulum, dim. of ars,

See also:

• ART

art, cf. "

See also:

• ENGINE
• ENGINE (Lat. ingenium)

engine " from ingenium, or of artus,

See also:

• JOINT (through Fr. from Lat. junctum, jungere, to join)

joint)  , a term originally applied to all engines for discharging missiles, and in this sense used in English in the early 17th century . In a more restricted sense, artillery has come to mean all firearms not carried and used by 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 present article deals with the development and contemporary state of the artillery arm in land warfare, in respect of its organization, personnel and special or " formal " employment . For the materiel—the guns, their carriages and their ammunition—see ORDNANCE and AMMUNITION . For ballistics, see that heading, and for the 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 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 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 horse and field batteries, heavy field or position artillery, field howitzers, 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 " Foot " artillery are the usual names for this branch . The dividing line, indeed, in the 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 good from the materiel, more frequently still from the personnel, of the fortress artillery .

Thus it may happen that mobile artillery becomes immobile and

vice versa . But under normal circumstances the principle of classification indicated is maintained in all organized military forces .