Part 18

The Battalion Guns include all the light pieces attached to regiments of the line, which they accompany in all manœuvres, to cover and support them.

The following kinds of field ordnance are attached to battalions of infantry, by different powers in Europe:

French --two-- 4 Prs. per battalion. English --two-- 6 do. do. Danes --two-- 3 do. do. Austrians --three-- 6 do. do. Prussians --two-- 6 Prs. to a battalion in the first line. Prussians --two-- 3 Prs. to a battalion in the second line. Hanoverians --two-- 3 Prs. per battalion.

The Artillery of the Park is composed of all kinds of field ordnance. It is destined to form batteries of position; that is to say, to occupy advantageous situations, from which the greatest effect may be produced, in supporting the general movements of an army, without following it, like the battalion guns, through all the detail of its manœuvres. The park of artillery attached to an army in the field, generally consists of twice as many pieces of different kinds, varied according to the country in which it is to act, as there are battalions in the army. Gribauvale proposes the following proportion between the different kinds of artillery for the park or reserve, viz. two-fifths of 12 Prs. two-fifths of 8 Prs. and one-fifth of 4 Prs. or reserve for battalion guns. In a difficult country he says, it may be ¹⁄₄ of 12 Prs. ¹⁄₂ of 8 Prs. and ¹⁄₄ of 4 Prs. and for every 100 pieces of cannon he allots 4 Howitzers; but this proportion of Howitzers is much smaller than what is generally given.

AMMUNITION for Field Artillery.

A proportion of Ammunition and Stores for each Species of Field Ordnance, viz. 1 Medium 12 Pr.--1 heavy 6 Pr.--2 light 6 Prs. as they are always attached to Battalions of Infantry--and one 5¹⁄₂ inch Howitzer; according to the British Service.

---------------------------+---------+---------+----------+----------- | 12 | 6 | 2 | Proportion of |Pounders,|Pounders,| Light 6 |5¹⁄₂ Inch Ammunition and Stores. |Medium. | Heavy. |Pounders.|Howitzers. ---------------------------+---------+---------+----------+----------- Shot fixed to wood bottoms --case 24 30 68 24 Shot fixed to wood bottoms --round 120 120 188 00 Shells, fixed 00 00 00 24 Shells, empty 00 00 00 120 Carcasses, fixed 00 00 00 4 {4 lb. 120 00 00 00 {3¹⁄₂ lb. 00 00 00 00 {2¹⁄₄ lb. 00 120 00 00 Cartridges of {2 lb. 00 30 00 00 flannel filled {1¹⁄₂ lb. 00 00 188 00 with powder. {1¹⁄₄ lb. 00 00 68 00 {10 oz. 00 00 125 00 {1 lb. 00 00 00 144 {12 oz. 00 00 00 28 Cartridges flan. empty 12 12 100 12 Ditto of paper for bursting 10 oz. 00 00 00 120 Tubes of tin--N. P. 172 178 560 190 Portfires--long small 18 18 62 18 Fuses--drove 00 00 00 132 Powder, mealed lbs. 00 00 00 ¹⁄₂ Travelling carriages and limbers 1 1 2 1 Aprons of lead 1 1 2 1 Spunges with staves and heads 2 2 4 2 Wad hooks, with staves 1 1 2 00 Handspikes, traversing 2 2 4 2 Tompions with collars 1 1 2 1 Trucks, Hanoverian 00 1 2 1 Straps for lashing side arms 00 3 8 00 Tarpaulins, gun 1 1 2 1 Tarpaulins, limber 00 1 2 1 Lintstocks with cocks 1 1 2 1 Drag ropes with pins, pairs 2 2 4 2 Padlocks with keys 2 3 5 4 Match, slow--lbs. 28 28 56 28 Spikes{Spring 1 1 2 1 {Common 2 2 4 2 Punches for vents 2 2 4 2 Barrels budge 1 1 1 1 Couples for chain traces 00 6 12 6 Spare heads, spunge 1 1 2 1 Spare heads, rammer 1 1 2 1 Hammers, claw 1 1 2 1 Priming irons, sets 1 1 2 1 Draught chains, prs. 2 1 3 2 Powder horns, N. P. 00 1 00 00 Water buckets French 1 1 2 1 Intrench’g tools, felling axes, 1 1 2 1 pick axes, 1 1 2 1 hand bills, 1 1 2 1 spades, 2 2 4 2 Marline, tarred-skeins 1 1 1 1 Twine, tarred-lbs. 00 1 00 00 Hambro’ line, tarred-do. 1 1 1 1 Packthread, tarred-do. 00 1 00 00 Grease-firkins 1 1 1 1 Grease-boxes 3 2 3 3 Tallow-lbs. 1 1 2 1 Lanthorns, dark 1 1 1 1 Jacks, lifting 1 1 1 1 Jacks, handscrew 1 00 00 00 Waggons with hps. and painted covers, Flanders pattern 2 1 1 2 Wad miltilts 2 1 1 2 Tanned hides 2 1 1 2 Men’s harness (12 to a set) sets 1 1 00 00 { {Rope, { {6 do. sets 1 00 00 00 {New {Chain, {pattern{6 do. sets 00 1 00 00 { {Trace, Horse { {4 do. sets 2 1 1 3 Harness.{ {Thill 00 00 2 00 {Common {Trace 00 00 4 00 {Pattern {Bit { {halters 00 00 6 00 {Wanties 2 1 3 2 {Hemp halters 14 10 10 12 Whips, long 00 00 2 00 Whips, short 7 5 2 6 Nose bags 14 10 10 12 Corn Sacks 3 2 3 3 Forage cords, sets 3 2 3 3 Rope, tarred, 2 inch, fathoms 00 00 10 00 {Linch pins 2 1 1 2 For {Clouts, body 4 2 2 4 Waggons.{Clouts, linch 4 2 2 4 {Clout nails, 6d. 64 32 32 64 Spare ladle staves 1 1 1 1 Horses, for guns 6 6 6 4 Horses, for waggons 8 4 4 8 Drivers, for guns 3 3 2 2 Drivers, for waggons 4 2 1 4 Tube boxes, with straps 2 2 4 2 Portfire sticks 2 2 4 2 Cutting knives 1 1 2 1 Drawing do. 00 00 00 1 Scissars, pairs 1 1 2 1 Worsted, ounces ¹⁄₂ ¹⁄₂ 1 ¹⁄₂ Needles, large 2 2 4 2 Cartouches of leather 2 2 4 2 Copper {4 oz. 1 1 2 00 measures{2 oz. 00 1 00 00 for {1 oz. 1 1 2 00 powder. {4 lb. to ¹⁄₄ oz. {sets 00 00 00 1 Thumb stalls 2 2 4 2 Perpendicular 00 00 00 1 Quadrant of brass 00 00 00 1 Diagonal scale 00 00 00 1 Copper salting box 00 00 00 1 Pincers for drawing fuzes, pairs 00 00 00 1 Sheepskins 00 00 00 2 Funnels of copper 00 00 00 1 Compasses of steel, Pairs 00 00 00 1 Saw, tenant 00 00 00 1 Files, square 00 00 00 3 Rasps, half round 00 00 00 2 Flax, oz. 00 00 00 8 Tow, oz. 00 00 00 4 Saw set 00 00 00 1 Mallets of wood 00 00 00 1 Setters do. 00 00 00 2

The 12 Prs. which have a small box on their limbers, carry 6 round shot and 2 case shot, with 6 cartridges of 4 lbs. and 2 of 3¹⁄₂ lbs. of powder, more than the above proportion.

This proportion of ammunition and stores is carried in the following manner:

12 Pr. MEDIUM--Has no limber boxes, but has two waggons attached to it, and the ammunition and stores divided between them.

A small limber box has lately been added to the medium 12 Prs. which carries 6 round shot and 6 case shot, with a small proportion of the small stores. See note preceding page.

6 Pr. HEAVY--Carries 36 round, and 14 case shot in limber boxes, with a proportion of the small stores; and the remainder is carried in one waggon.

6 Pr. LIGHT--Carries 34 round, and 16 case shot on the limber, with a proportion of the small stores for immediate service; and, if acting separately, must have a waggon attached to it, to carry the remainder. But two 6 pounders attached to a battalion, have only one waggon between them.

5¹⁄₂ Howitzer, LIGHT--Has 22 shells, 4 case shot, and two carcasses in the limber-boxes, with such of the small stores as are required for immediate service; and has two waggons attached to carry the rest.

One common pattern ammunition waggon carries the following numbers of rounds of ammunition of each kind:

Kinds. No. of Rounds. 12 Pr. Medium, 72 6 Pr. Heavy, 120 6 Pr. Light, 156 3 Pr. 288 5¹⁄₂ Howitzer, 72 8 Inch Howitzers, 24 Musquets, 20000

Though the waggons will contain 20,000 cartridges, it is customary to load them with only 18 half barrels of 1000 each, and 2 half barrels of flints.

The waggons, however, attached to the different parks of artillery in England, which have not been altered from the old establishment, are loaded with only the following number, and drawn by three horses:

Kinds. No. of Rounds. 12 Prs. Medium, 66 6 Prs. Heavy, 120 6 Prs. Light, 138 5¹⁄₂ Howitzer, 60

The horse artillery having waggons of a particular description, carry their ammunition as follows:

| | | Car-|Total No. | Shot. | |cass-|with each KINDS. |Round.|Case.|Shells.| es. |Piece. -----------------------------+------+-----+-------+-----+--------- 12 Prs. light, on the limber.| 12 | 4 | 4 | 00 } 92 Do. ---- in one waggon. | 52 | 10 | 10 | 00 } 6 Prs. light, on the limber. | 32 | 8 | 00 | 00 } 150 Do. ---- in one waggon. | 97 | 13 | 00 | 00 } 5¹⁄₂ In. How’r on the limber.| -- | 5 | 13 | 00 } 73 Do. ---- in one waggon. | -- | 10 | 41 | 4 } 3 Prs. heavy, curricle. | 6 | 6 | 00 | 00 } 136 Do. ---- ammunition cart. | 100 | 24 | 00 | 00 }

The following Proportion of Artillery, Ammunition, and Carriages, necessary for four French Armies of different Degrees of Strength, and acting in very different Countries, is attributed to Gribauvale, and is extracted from Durtubie, on Artillery.

| Flan- | Mo- | | ARMIES. | ders. | selle.|Rhine.|Italy. ---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------- Number of battalions 80 28 32 48 ------------------------------------ Battalion guns 160 56 64 94 }12 Prs. 32 12 12 16 Park or }8 Prs. 72 24 32 48 Reserve.}4 Prs. 40 16 16 24 }6 In. How. 8 4 4 8 ------------------------------------ Total pieces of ord. 312 112 128 192 ------------------------------------ Carriage }12 Prs. 36 14 14 18 for ord. }8 Prs. 81 27 36 54 including}4 Prs. 215 78 90 129 sp. ones }6 In. Howtz. 9 5 5 9 ------------------------------------ Total ord. carriages 341 124 145 210 ------------------------------------ }12 Prs. 96 36 36 48 Ammunition}8 Prs. 144 48 64 96 waggons }4 Prs. 200 72 80 120 }6 In. How. 24 12 8 24 Wags. for musq. cart. 120 42 48 72 Large wags. for park 10 6 5 8 ------------------------------------ Total am. waggons 594 216 241 368 ------------------------------------ Smiths {Large 14 3 3 8 forges.{Small -- 3 3 4 ------------------------------------ Total forges 14 6 6 12 ------------------------------------ Waggons{Intrench.}Artillery 27 10 12 16 for {tools for}The army 20 10 12 16

Car- {New iron 6 3 3 6 riages{Wood for spr. car. 9 3 3 7 for {Anchors, &c. for {pontoons 4 2 2 4 ------------------------------------ Total store carriages 66 28 32 49 ------------------------------------ Pontoons upon their carriages 36 18 18 36 Spare pontoon carriages 4 2 2 4 ------------------------------------ Total pontoon carri’gs 40 20 20 40 ------------------------------------

RECAPITULATION.

Ordnance--pieces 312 112 128 192 ------------------------------------

{Ordnance carri’gs 341 124 145 210 Car- {Ammunition 594 216 241 368 riages.{Store 66 28 32 49 {Pontoon 40 20 20 40 {Forges 14 6 6 12 ------------------------------------ Genl. total of carri’gs 1055 394 444 679 ------------------------------------

This table contains, beside the proportion of ordnance with each army, also the quantity of ammunition with each piece of ordnance, and the number of rounds of musquet ammunition carried for the infantry; for each waggon in the French service, having its particular allotment of ammunition and stores, it needs but to know the number of waggons of each description, to ascertain the quantity of ammunition and stores with an army. The following is the number of waggons usually attached to each piece of field ordnance in the French service, and the quantity of ammunition carried with each.