Account of the Plevna Delay

[EDG]

http://www.militaryrifles.com/turkey/Plevna/ThePlevnaDelay.html

[Bent Ramrod]

That was interesting! That trick of surveying the battlefield for distances for rifle fire in advance of the battle must have been a radical innovation in the art of warfare. Actually expecting your troops to hit something when they fired and incorporating it into the battle plan; Osman Pasha was a genius for daring to think like that.

I knew that snipers triangulated various target distances in WWI on the Western Front, but that was more or less after the fact.

Thanks for the link.

[beagle]

Not too distant from the practice in our army of using aiming stakes in defensive positions for night emplacement of auto weapons./beagle

[Scharfschuetze]

Go to two minutes on the slider on this Youtube video of "Zulu Dawn."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gF52K_qiP4

As mentioned above, the Army still surveys the battlefield with range cards. Crew served weapon's crews as well as snipers prepare a range card with ranges and bearing to significant terrain features as well as their final defensive fire azimuths. In this way they can quickly engage a target or engage area targets during low visibility or at night. They are often left for the replacing unit when the departing unit is relieved.