"WAS and SYW Hesse Cassel bataillon gun - scale drawing" Topic

Gentlemen,

Happy Easter to you all.
I have added a scale drawing of a Hesse-Cassel 3-pounder bataillon gun on my blog. A tentative reconstruction of the pieces fielded during the Seven Years War as well as the War of Austrian Successinon.
Feel free to have a look.
Cheers,
Christian
crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com

Happy Easter to you as well.

Your drawings are arriving at a timely moment, as my next project after the SYW are the Allies and mercenaries under Cumberland at Hastenbeck. This should be fun, Brunswick, Hanoverian, and Hessians for a change.

This will also be a good excuse to order more artillery, especially with the possibility of painting some white with red fittings.

Cheers,
Robert

This is great information. Thank you for collecting it and presenting it in a user friendly manner. I only wish that I had similar drawings available for artillery pieces of the American Revolution (or AWI).

Jim

Great – I am building an Allied army inckuding some Hessians. As a matter of interest do you know what colour the Honoverian and Brunswick guns were painted?

@DAF,
One would need to find out whether Hessians brought their own ordnance over to America at all. They might have been equipped with English ordnance.
Also, it is said, Hessians switched to blue carriages with irons painted black during this period.
As per the Marburg archive material, there is indeed evidence Hessian introduced Prussian style carriages sometime between 1774-1780. Maybe along with adapting to Prussian carriages also the colour furnish changed ?!?.

@freecloud
Hanover had carriages painted red, with black painted irons.
The 3-pounder bataillon gun fielded was even more heavy. 850 pounds and a barrel of 24 shots or calibers long.
My best advise would be to choose models from Malbourogh's period with longer barrels rather then use Prussian/Austrian or English 7YW models.
I don't know what furnish the Brunswick guns had. I'd opt for red likewise Hanover.

Beautiful and informative work as always, Christian. Thanks.

Cheers,

David
nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.co.uk

Great stuff. I am currently looking to commission pieces for Hannover, if you have any details that may be of help it would be much appreciated.

regards
Mathew

mathew@wartimeminiatures.com.au

"Napoleonic Artillery" by Dawson and Summerfield provides some information & has some images of scale models of the 1780 range of Hanover ordnance (seem to belong to the Leeds Armory collection or Woolwhich, UK).
I'm not aware of any information or images out for the 7YW period. I know of some written fragments provided by the Hanoverian artillery colonel Scharnhorst in his books published during the 1780's-90's, later Prussian chief-of-staff to Blücher, killed at Lützen 1813. Some of this has been used to edit the kronoskaf articles.
Only last week, I have been directed to a web link that provides wonderful source material of Danish ordnance. Its no less than a detailed complete coverage of late 17th C., the 1706 range as well as that of 1743. I'm only starting to sort it. Fantastic stuff found at
link
Source is an archive in Norway, I was told.
Also the Leuthen Journal provides some more Danish pieces at
link
These, however, should be post 7YW, which can be identified by the carriages bracket cheeks, having no angle. The lower edge from front linking to the trail is straight. This sort of carriage design would have become popular only after 1760. Universally introduced in Prussia only after 1766. Said to be a French invention by a Prussian source, but, so far, missing any evidence for this. The French Gribeauval 1765 carriages all had angles except for the 6'' howitzer, which – oddly enough – was in imitation of the Prussian 7YW 10-pdr howitzer incl. basic design of its carriage ?!?
In any case, this Danish material is so valuable, because it also illustrates the design of what was known as German in distinction to the Spanish/French system. The basics were all the same. The Danish 36-pdr howitzer would resemble a German 18-pdr (Danes identified type by the weight of the iron shell it fired (omitting the weight of the powder charge), while Germans by the weight of a solid stone shot, which is approx. half the weight of the actual iron bomb-shell it would fire.
The Hanoverian heavy 6-pounder had a 27 calibers barrel. Hanover artillery foot scale was the Rhenish or Cologne foot, also equalling Berlin foot, as well as the Danish foot. It is 31,4 cm / 12 inches / 144 lines (Prussian art. foot scale with only 10 lines to the inch).
My best advise now:
To find the dimensions and proportions of a Hanoverian 6-pdr, use my French Vallière 4-pdr as master. It is a 27 shots barrel. Make the Paris 3'' shot equal to the Hanover 6-pdr 3,46'' shot (9,05 cm) plus windage (add a line or two) or approx. 9,5 cm being the caliber. So, you only have to adapt the metric scale. Proportions would be just the same as with the Vallière piece. The barrel should have arrived at about 256,5 cm length. Muzzle design would equal the French, while the base ring and cascabel and button would resemble the Danish piece. Instead of a sphere shaped button, Hanoverian ordnance may have had pointed or "pine cone shaped" ones. Very popular. See my Austrian or Prussian pieces at my blog. The holds were sculptured dolphins. Note the Danes had them facing backwards, and per the illustrations looking more like a sea cucumber, rather then a dolphin. This should be the result of the artists somewhat limited artistic skill, I should say :-).
The carriage design and dimensions, I would do very similar to the Danish ones, as it is effectively the custom or standard design in German gunnery of this period. Differences would only be found with the iron metal fittings. These would be only minor, not subsantial. Hanovers simplyfied 1780's ordnance had all 51'' wheels. Before they were all different.
The Danish 3-pdr had 4' 3'' (51'') the 6-pdr of 1706 had 4' 6'' or 54''. I'd opt for the taller Rhenish 54'' or 141 cm.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Christian
crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com