The Field Artillery Battery of the S.V.C. entrained at the Shanghai North Station on Sunday morning and proceeded to Woosung, where, by kind permission of the authorities, firing with the 4.5 howitzers took place. Major R. W. Davis was in command, and the occasion was fully appreciated by the officers of other branches of the 8.V.C. who attended to watch the practice.
Two targets were towed out into the Yangtze, and as soon as the battery had detrained and proceeded to what is locally known as the Willow Patch, the customary methods were put into operation for measuring the distance. The farthest away target, a square structure, was put down at 3,600 yd. and the Tight section of the battery was ordered to range on it. With the second series of shots they stray it, and thereafter, when ther "with individual shooting or in salvoes, the battery made excellent practice. Subsequently a target at about 2,500 yd. range was shot at, and again the results were excellent. In certain instances extreme high-angle fire was used, and here, as well as in the case of the lower elevations, the work was to be commended.
The whole practice was carried out under what may at the present day be considered as the nearest approach to service conditions possible. Guns and ponies were entrained at the station, detrained at Woosung, ridden through a patch of extremely treacherous country,.the range found, and there was then practice with an O.P. and F.0.0.'s in full operation. The Maritime Ca. of the S.V.C. were in charge of the duties on the observing launch, while the Signal Section of the Battery. carried out the rest of the work requisite for the successful operation of such a battery in the field.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.