The reduction in controlled volleys did not go unnoticed. Many military leaders sought to address this problem without rejecting the new emphasis on a higher rate of fire. In France, where the infantry continued to deploy in three ranks, the various traditional methods of delivering fire continued to be employed. A series of formal tests demonstrated that the fire of the third rank was ineffective.

Obstructed by the first two ranks, most of the muskets in the third rank were fired harmlessly in the air. To put the soldiers in the third rank to more effective use, and at the same time to address the problem of irregular fire, which tended to occur in sustained volley fire, after the Seven Years War the French military developed a new method of delivering fire. This was the feu de rang or 'fire by two ranks', known throughout the English-speaking world as 'firing by files', file firing or running fire. In this system, although the three ranks were to remain standing, only the first and second ranks were actually to fire. The responsibility of the third rank was to reload muskets and pass these to the second rank.

After the command to fire by independent files was given and the men assumed their proper positions, the first and second ranks presented their muskets and fired together. The men in the first rank now reloaded their weapons, delivered and fired again. This process was repeated so that the men in the first rank fired as quickly as possible. The men in the second rank, however, did not reload their weapons but passed their weapon with their right hand to the man directly behind them in the third rank. The man in the third rank gripped the musket with his left hand while handing the soldier in front a loaded musket with his right hand. The latter was now able to present and fire the musket he was just handed. However, after firing the musket he now reloaded his weapon himself and fired it a second time. Only after this second fire did he once again exchange muskets with the man behind him. This routine allowed the man in the second rank to fire twice with the same weapon before passing it back. This ensured that the man in the rear had finished reloading his musket so that as little time as possible was lost between fires.

It was always dangerous to have a front rank stand idle and unarmed as it awaited the efforts of those behind.

While the men in the second and third ranks followed this routine, the first rank concentrated on firing and reloading their own muskets. There was no attempt to coordinate their efforts with those behind them. Clearly, one of the chief aims of this new system was to allow the men to fire as quickly as possible.

Although the fire by files method of firing is generally seen as a late eighteenth century development, there are some grounds to believe that its origins can be traced to the fertile mind of Maurice de Saxe. Writing in 1732, de Saxe described a method he recommended to be used when firing at an enemy positioned behind hedges, a river, etc. The leader of each file was to step forward a pace and aim at individual targets among the enemy in front of him. After firing, he was to hand his musket to the rear and take a loaded one in its place. Because during de Saxe's time the French army still deployed along four ranks, the file leader, chosen from among the best shots, could fire four times before he had to rely on a musket loaded by one of the rear ranks.

Though there are obvious differences between de Saxe's method and that used later by French Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies, such as when it was to be used, and the supervision of the fire of each group of two files by NCOs in de Saxe's version, both methods obviously share the loading of muskets by the rear ranks and aimed fire in the sense that the individual soldier chose the exact moment when to fire rather than on the word of command. If the fire by files method did not originate from the early fire delivery system described in Mes reveries, it would not be the first tactical practice or method that French authorities had borrowed from the great French marshal.

More Small Arms Tactics

Introduction
The Quick Fire Philosophy
Firing By Files Philosophy
The Development of Accurate 'Levelling' Practices