platoon firing
platoon firing
this firing plan for musketry ensures an infanty unit keeps up a continual barrage of shots against an enemy. nearly all line infnry carry soothbore, muzzle-loading muskets. these take considerable time to reload after firing: anything up to a minute for poorly trained or nervous troops. during that time, the enemy can close or return fire unmolested. in the time it takes to reload, a unit can be cut down, its half-loaded weapons useless in the face of an aggressive foe. it is sensible to make sure that not everyone in an infanry unit is reloading at the same moment; this, in turn, means that not everyone should be firing at the same time. platoon fire is a way of dividing a unit into saller groups that each fire, reload and fire again in turn. the result is a “rippling fire” down a line formation and, as the last platoon fires its muskets, the first is ready to fire again. a unit can always give some fire to the enemy at all times, even if this is less than a complete volley. when more than one unit is involved all the troops in every first platoon fire, followed by all the second platoons, and so on, creating several rippling barrages down the battle line. the word “platoon” in this context does not hae the modern meaning of being a sub-unit of a military company. platoon assignment to what was a “fire group” was made on an ad hoc or informal basis, and could mean a whole regiment being assigned to a “platoon”
轮射
这种开火方式能够保证步兵向敌人倾泻连续不断的火力。几乎所有的战列步兵都使用前装滑膛枪。重新装填这种武器实在是一件麻烦事：对于缺乏训练的新兵来讲，战场气氛带来的紧张足以使这个过程持续一分钟以上。在这段时间里，敌军足以接近到能发起冲锋的距离或者跑到射程以外。一支装填了一半的步枪在面对白刃冲锋的敌军时没有半点用处，它的主人将被无情地刺死。因此，明智的做法是让士兵们装填弹药的时间错开，也就是说，不能进行全齐射。
轮射战术将步兵们分为较小的单位，每个单位处于开火或装填的不同状态。结果就是步兵阵线上的火力如涟漪般连绵不绝，当最后一组士兵开火之后，第一组士兵已经装填完毕，可以再次开火了。这样，步兵阵线就可以保持不间断的火力。当然，这种火力没有全齐射那么凶猛。当较大的步兵单位排成战列线时，往往第一排首先开火，然后是第二排，依次往下实现轮射。
在这里，“排”并不是指现代部队中的排级编制。“排”仅仅是一组同时开火的士兵，可以是临时编制的小群，也可以是一整个团。
