In Christopher Duffy's recent wonderful books on the Austrian army, he gives a chart showing numbers of guns by caliber employed in the field during each year of the 7YW. The proportions are interesting, and something like 4 12pdrs to 7 sixpounders and 1 7 pound howitzer; to 24 3 pounders. That makes 12 "position guns" to 24 3- pounders. Some of the 3 pounders were retained in the battle reserve, while 2 were supposed to serve with each infantry battalion. In the last two years of the war, the Austrians had 385 3 pounders; 94 six pounders; 59 12 pounders; and 36 7 pound howitzers.
In books about the Prussians, and in commentary about the Prussians in these Austrian works, Duffy concludes that the artillery personnel in Frederick's army were much lower in status than the other forces. Yet he came up with a 12 pounder, essentially copied from the Austrian light 12-pounder, but with a conicle bore that cut down on powder – and power – behind the shot. These 12's were distributed among the infantry and provided giant shotguns to tear the Ausrtians apart, as at Liegnitz.
Frederick also became enamoured of the 7 pound howitzer, and Duffy states that he gave on to each battalion before the end of the war.
That could mean something like 120 to 180 as in the Austrian mix of 3 pounders, with 200 3-pounders.
At Liegnitz, the Austrians had 130 guns, Fred 120. Fred's 12-pounders with the infantry, plus a lot of 7 pounder howitzers, must have made his artillery much more devastating that we are led to believe.
I would appreciate how you all game, artillery proportions, etc. Does your Prussian artillery have that much more "punch?"
GdeP
snapped some photos of games he didn't get a chance to play in at Council of Five Nations.
