it exhibited relatively modest free recoil. That was a combination of attributes that made it popular with both soldiers and sportsmen alike. The qualities of the 7×57mm as a military round were shown in the Spanish–American War of 1898. At the commencement of the American assault on the strategic Cuban city of Santiago, 750 Spanish troops defended positions on San Juan and Kettle hills. The attacking force numbered approximately 6,600 American soldiers, most of them armed with new smokeless-powder Krag–Jørgensen rifles in .30-40 Krag caliber, and supported by artillery and Gatling gun fire. Though the assault was successful, the Americans suffered more than 1,400 casualties, nearly 20 per cent of their forces. A U.S. board of investigation later concluded that the casualties were primarily due to the superior firepower of the Spanish Model 1893 Mauser rifles. During the Second Boer War in South Africa, British authorities were obliged to re-evaluate rifle and ammunition design and tactics after facing Boer sharpshooters and snipers armed with Mauser Model 1893 rifles and Mauser Model 1895 rifles firing 7×57mm rounds with withering effectiveness, easily outranging the .303 British cartridge as regards accurate long-range fire. The .303 British cartridge at that time was still using cordite propellant, in contrast to the Mauser's higher-performance ballistite type smokeless powder. Military ammunition The oldest 1893 pattern military ball ammunition was loaded with a long round-nosed bullet fired at a muzzle velocity of with muzzle energy from a long barrel. It had a maximum range of . In 1893 this ballistic performance made it the high-performance service cartridge champion of its day when compared to other 1893 pattern smokeless-powder cartridges such as the 8mm Lebel, .303 British, and 8×50mmR Mannlicher. In 1913, following the lead of French and German Army commands in developing the spitzer or pointed-tip bullet shape, the Spanish ordnance authorities issued a redesigned 7×57mm cartridge with a spitzer bullet (7 mm Cartucho para Mauser Tipo S). It was loaded with a spitzer bullet fired at a muzzle velocity of with muzzle energy from a long barrel. It had a maximum range of . The new spitzer bullet style was partially responsible for the cartridge's improved performance as it significantly reduced air drag within normal combat ranges and withstood higher accelerations in the barrel. Reverse engineering the trajectory from the previous sentence indicates a ballistic coefficient (G1 BC) of approximately 0.33. After that military ball ammunition loaded