"Converged Howitzer Actions" Topic

I posted a question on the Yahoo Black Powder list about Howitzer fire and converged Howitzer batteries. It was in turn suggested that converged Howitzer batteries,,(looking at French artillery) was a war gamers myth unless I can find some research that this did in deed happen during the wars of Napoleon. I have very limited research books ,So would some of you greatly gifted knowledgeable gentlemen please help me out with a few examples of what battle the French did use converged howitzer batteries please.

Runicus Fasticus

I'm unsure about the French, but the Prussians in 1806 had them.

..and the Prussians of 1813-1814…

I know about the Prussian batteries. and they were standing batteries, not converged.

The French had no permanent howitzer companies and only had two per each foot company and some of the horse companies.

And while they had no provisional howitzer companies, they did detach howitzers to form temporary batteries for special missions.

This was done at least both at Borodino and Waterloo.

B

Bull's troop, RHA, at Waterloo was all howitzers. There was also another case of a Portuguese howitzer battery at Salamanca. IIRC the French either massed a howitzer battery to fire at Hougoumont at Waterloo, or they simply had all the howitzers in the area fire at it.

French Howitzer sections were employed on the battlefield as needed , given tactical necessity born of orders, or circumstance. Within the division there might be 3 sections.
Added to the corps reserve, possibly 6- but the practical application of that would be to set fire to a built up area quickly, ie Hougomont, rather than to interdict an enemy threat by flesh. That would be left to the guns.
The French artillery officers were well studied and flexible in doctrine. If they had a motto, it would be "whatever it takes"

A section is 2 pieces

So far I have Borodino with howitzers firing into the fletches and Waterloo with howitzers firing into Hougomont. I can just remember a passage I read years ago of another battle ,but not the details of when and what.

I don't have it in front of me but I seem to recall in S. Bowden's translation of Pascal Bressonnet's Tactical Studies of 1806 – specifically the battle of Jena – that the Saxons employed a mortar / howitzer battery against French infantry positioned within and concealed by the forests around Isserstedt and Vierzehnheiligen.

If I am correct the effect was so murderous that it caused some troops to retreat out of the woods and others to attack preematurely. They were repulsed by the Saxon line that retreated in good order until overwhelmed later in the battle.

This explanation didn't mean much to me at the time until I saw the Band of Brothers episode where the company's position in the forest is shelled during the Battle of the Bulge. Having not experienced combat (and never wanting too) .. it was one of those "Ah-Huh" moments … and possibly what the French may have experienced because of the bombardment.

Remember the Saxons used all howitzer batteries made up the the 4-pdr long barreled howitzer on the quick fire carriage that could fire at least double the amount of canister than normal. Tests showed about 6 rounds a minute but probably less in action.
Stephen

Somewhere I remember reading the Prussians used a converged howitzer battery to bomb dead ground.

We are coming up against the limits of evidence here. So much that occurred on Napoleonic battlefields was not recorded. Often those that were there took things for granted that we might puzzle at. Howitzer tactics is maybe a case in point.

Personally I suspect that the converging of howitzer sections from batteries in the same corps was quite common practice. We know this was feasible – at least in armies where batteries had two howitzers each (it was more difficult for the British no doubt, but there was a British howitzer battery at Waterloo). And it makes military sense when you have some tasks that are particularly suited to howitzer fire. But proving this contention is well nigh impossible. The fact that we know that the Prussians did it is evidence that others did too, in my view, as they tended to document and proceduralise things that other armies did informally.

Anyway, in my rules I am fairly free and easy about deploying converged howitzer batteries. I have lots of howitzer models and I like to use them.

I think the problem is one of defining what a "converged" howitzer battery is, and what exactly the OP is referring to.

IMHO, a "converged" battery is one formed from the howitzer sections of regular field artillery batteries on an ad hoc basis. So if a corp commander has to assault a town, he strips the howitzers from the field batteries and masses them under a single officer to shell the town. After the battle is over, the howitzers return to their parent batteries. As these weren't permanent formations, they may have gone unremarked in reports. But if they aren't mentioned, there is no way of telling whether or not they existed. Hence, they might just be a "wargamers' myth."

This is in contrast to "standing" howitzer batteries like the Prussians used. These are batteries that, by design, contain nothing but howitzers. Other examples would be Bull's troop at Waterloo and the Portuguese howitzer battery at Salamanca. They show up in strength returns and OBs, and even occassionaly are mentioned in reports. These are certainly not a "wargamers' myth."

Waterloo with howitzers firing into Hougoumont.

But were those converged from more than one artillery company?

Musketier wrote:

Waterloo with howitzers firing into Hougoumont.
But were those converged from more than one artillery company?

No, they were Bull's Troop, of six howitzers.

Rod

Perhaps somebody more knowledgable than me on Waterloo can help me with the French howitzers and Hougoumont. I have read somewhere that the French had no howitzers when they first bombarded the place, which meant the fire was relatively less effective. Later they found the howitzers and these managed to set fire to the place.

I have inferred from the this that the French had indeed converged their howitzers at the start of the action – but they weren't on the scene at the first attack. The converged battery/batteries were then brought forward. Is there any evidence to support this piece of imaginative wargamers' speculation?

Dear Matt
The French used Howitzers to fire upon the ridge. It seems that shells that fell short and hit Hougoumont that set the farmhouse alight. There are many accounts of shells not exploding and their fuses still burning. This suggests that the fuse was cut for a longer distance.

Also no carcass seems to have been used. Another example of lack of co-ordination in a once great army.
Stephen

Do you have a source for that?

It doesn't make sense to mass howitzers against the ridge and fire over Hougoumont to do that. Plus the gunners had to see their targets in order to hit them. If the ridge is masked by a large farm, effect on target would be 'hit or miss' and not done with any surety and would probably be a waste of ammunition.

From the information I have, the French massed howitzers against Hougoumont in order to assist in taking the farmhouse which makes much more sense. One of the missions howitzers were used for was to set buildings on fire if necessary.

Do you have a citations for the 'many accounts of shells not exploding and their fuses still burning?'

Carcasses were used in siege warfare and the carcass was usually used as an illumination round. There were incindiaries that could be used by howitzers and they are placed in the round to produce the effect. For both carcasses and incindiaries, see Tousard, Volume I, pages 275-279. The correct terminology is important.

B

Musketier wrote:

Waterloo with howitzers firing into Hougoumont.
But were those converged from more than one artillery company?

No, they were Bull's Troop, of six howitzers.

Bull's troop was firing over Hougoumont, at the French attacking through the orchard.

The French howitzers were firing into Hougoumont. The question is whether these were firing as part of their parent batteries, or whether they were combined into a single battery for the purpose.