Foot
French company 45 men frontage deploys over about 40 yards
A 500 man British line deploys over about 220 yards
Cavalry
Artillery
British gun battery 5 guns and 1 Howitzer
British in the pennisular used half batteries of either 3 guns or 2 guns and 1
Howitzer
British can use Shrapnel after 1804 (invented 1784)
British
batteries pooled and parcelled out not grouped as a grand battery, a lack of
major co-operation between British guns.
1792 block tail introduced to artillery
Congreve
rocket range 1500 yards, then increased by larger rockets range 2000 yards. 12
pounder range 1000 yards ground fire or 2500 yards on a frame , 24 pounder
range 2500 yards the final 32 pounder rockets range 3000 yards. Rockets good
for burning towns first trial Boulogne 1806 though the target the fleet. First army
use Copenhagen, though part of action to neutralize the Danish fleet.
First army rocket troops from 1809 when posted the brigade split. A Troop with
Swedish army and a troop with Wellington Southern France 1813. A successful rocket
action at the mouth of the Ardour supporting a small Guard detachment. Second
troop saw action at the Battles of Gordhe 1813 and Leipzig also 1813. In 1815 2nd
rocket troop part of Wellington’s army in Belgium. An order to remove their
rockets and replace with guns was partially carried out though a number of
12pdr rockets were maintained. A few rockets in action during the retreat from
Quatre Bras. Likewise a few used vs D’Erlon’s Corps at Waterloo. 24pdr rockets
used Waterloo.
Naval
guns
32 pounder range 1220 2 degree elevation
18
pounder range 1770 5 degrees elevation
France
French gun battery 8 guns including 2 Howitzer
French 2 gun sections
French Horse gunners counter charged cavalry (1800)
French battery 140 Horses 8 guns and 9 gun carriage total around 30 vehicles as
each gun had two caissons.
French battery marching in column down a road would string out over 400 metres
Double column 200 metres approx
There would be an escort for the guns of 2 infantry company
When firing depth deployed 100m from position of gun to 2nd caisson.
Frontage each gun minimum of 6m apart maximum 20m. A deployed French battery
took up between 42m and 120 metres. Deployment varied depending on the enemy
and where the guns set up.
Gassendi’s
artillery manual
12pdr effective range 900m maximum range 1800m (first bounce).
8pdr effective range 800m maximum range 1500m.
4pdr effective range 700m maximum range 1200m.
David Marks article in the Wargames Journal gives ranges of 600-700m for 6pdrs
and 500-600m for 4pdrs. A 12pdr maximum range over 2000m. A howitzer effective
range 400-500m smaller 800-900m larger calibre.
A third article
gives a French 12pdr a maximum range 2400m and canister 600m
a 6pdr 1850m and 500m canister, and howitzer canister range 275m.
Usual firing rates
12 pdr 1 per minute and a 4 pdr 2 per minute in dire situations this rate of
fire could be increased but not maintained.
France adopted the
Austrian Howitzer in 1803
Gribeauval’s
reforms of the later 18th century likely to be influenced by
Liechtenstein’s earlier reforms of the Austrian artillery with which Gribeauval
served 1756-1762.
Gun to men ratio
1805 Austerlitz
2:1000
1809 Wagram 4:1000
1812 Borodino 4.5:1000
1815 Ligny 2.5:1000
1815 Waterloo 3.5:1000
Other nations
3pdr
6pdr
6pdr Austrian Maximum range 1200 400m canister
6pdr Russian Maximum range 1600m 400m canister
12pdr Austrian Maximum range 1800m 500m canister
12pdr Russian Maximum range 2000m 550m canister
18pdr
24pdr
7pdr Howitzer
10pdr Howitzer
18pdr Unicorn canister maximum range 400m
Rockets Austria after 1808
Battalion guns
maintained by Austria.
Russian guns
standardised into two main calibres 1805
1813 Russia and
Prussia adopted corp level artillery reserve officers
Hard ground made
artillery more effective where as soft ground lessened its impact.
Guns try to site on some form of elevation the best being just behind a ridge
as provides height and cover.
Horse guns often slower to come into action though have good manouverability.
Horse guns even slower to react at night due to gunners trying to find their
own horses
Battlefield visibility poor after cannonades started due to smoke.
A gun battery could be manhandled through thick woods (Mouton-Duvernet’s guns
at Kulm 1813)
There are quite a
few differences in what an effective artillery range is and likewise the
maximum range which is achieved when a gun fires at certain elevation. Due to
the siteing of the barrel on the carriage the elavation from which a gun can
fire to achieve its maximum range may not actually be achievable.
Artillery links
outside this website
Artillery tactics
1800-1815
Artillery
tactics
Napoleonic artillery
Napoleonic artillery
Napoleonic
Artillery Equipment
Rockets