The idea of using our accurate, long range rifle at long ranges in defense, thus bringing it into effective play, at a time when the danger to our own troops is still very small, is, at first glance, very tempting. Military history shows that such fire was successful here and there, especially where one of the contending parties was armed with a much superior weapon, or where the enemy failed to apply the proper remedy. But even in these cases it was successful only up to a certain point. There is this to be said against employing long range fire: Its effect is insignificant when compared with the expenditure of ammunition entailed; it is difficult to replenish ammunition and it tires the eye and the arm of the skirmisher. Poorly trained troops finally do not raise their rifles at all, but blaze away without aiming. To be sure, fire opened at an early moment annoys the advance of the enemy, but it cannot seriously retard it. Once the fire is opened, we want it to be effective; we don’t want to injure the enemy--we want to annihilate him. Although we fully appreciate the good results obtained at long ranges on the target range, we prefer to utilize the entire staggering fire effect of our weapons at short and mid ranges, wholly for the purpose of annihilating the enemy. Since only small targets, often scarcely discernible by the naked eye, present themselves to the attacker, the fire of the defender should not be returned at once. The forward movement should be continued by utilizing every expedient (rushes with breathing spells, and cover) until serious losses are sustained and the leader has reason to fear that his men will lose their morale and throw themselves down without orders. Frequently several groups will open fire while the others continue to advance. The endeavor should be to open fire only when the attacking force has gotten as close as possible to the lower limit of mid combat range (800-1200 m.).[142] [142] At Paardeberg (18th March, 1900), the left wing of the Highland Brigade advanced, without firing a shot, to within 450 m. of the hostile position. This advance, to be sure, was made under cover of the fire of the right wing of the 9th Brigade, which had made a lodgment within 750 m. of the enemy’s position. Errors in estimating the range are offset by the flat trajectory of the rifle only at short ranges, and only at these ranges can there be any question of an effective preparation of the attack by fire. These views are expressed in the German regulations. Recent wars demonstrate that, whenever the attacker opened fire at long ranges, the attack finally came to a standstill, that the troops in many cases fired away all their ammunition, and that the whole attack failed.