"ACW Gatling Guns used in the Franco-Prussian war" Topic

I am looking for this topic on behalf of a German friend who is a flat figure collector for this Franco-Prussian War period. He uses 25mm round figure artillery pieces with his flat figures and in our last phone conversation he mentioned the French forces in the north had some Gatling guns. Does anyone know were I might find images from wargames figure manufactures of Gatling guns, specifically those guns with the circular magazine.
Thanks

Hi again Salfordian -I'm pretty sure the Gatlings used had the stick magazines rather than circular. They were used in the Republican period.

During the Franco-Prussian War the French army used a type of volley gun known as the mitrailleuse, with little success.
See link for the details.
This is quite different from the Gatling gun.

In later years the French continued to use this name for other types of rapid fire guns based on the Maxim principle.

Hope that this helps.

I read the topic with a little surprise. I have checked my library and I cannot find any reference to the French Government buying Gatling guns. As Jeff Johnson says, the French had developed the mitrailleuse during the 1860's.

The french saw the mitrailleuse as so effective and secretive that they refused to field them, (nobody wanted one to fall in the German's hands). Plus, the men trained to operate them were very few and far between.

I have never read of the French Government using Gatling guns. My understanding is the same as DerKrampus concerning the Mitrailleuse. The few times they were used they were deployed like cannons in the rear and not very effective as they were too far back. But they also could not be captured that way.

Immediately following the ACW, Gatling launched an aggressive global sales campaign and commenced manufacturing operations in Europe. While the French did not formally adopt the Gatling, there are references to a small number being used by Republican forces. They are definitively described as Gatlings, not any type of Mitrailleuse. The Republican government was scrambling for arms, so it is quite conceivable they purchased (or appropriated) what they could lay hands on. Gatling had manufactured some guns chambered for French ammunition for demonstration purposes; perhaps these were the ones used?

link

The french saw the mitrailleuse as so effective and secretive that they refused to field them

That's a classic war gamers myth. Yes, they were obsessed with secrecy about the weapon before the war, but they certainly deployed them.

But as Wiston01 said, they were deployed as artillery in the "gun line" to the rear and not forward with the infantry where they could have done the most good.

Jim

Wherever they were deployed they were easily spotted as so as they opened fire and the Prussians made an immediate point of shelling the crap out of them.

I believe some Gatlings were imported from the US in time for Chanzy's 2nd Army of the Loire to use them in one of the last battles of the Franco-Prussian War, at Le Mans in January 1871.

Chris

the french name for the first MG was "canon à balle" .
the idea of Napoleon III was to use them between 500 meters (longer grapeshot range ) and 1200 meters ( scharpnel shorter range ) .
But there was the Etat Major …
"canon à balle" were used as artillery pieces , in artillery units, for counter battery fire, at long range with little efficency .
There were the first target for the prussian artillery .

a single battery of gatling was used during Le Mans battle , with no more efficency .

rha.revues.org/6765 (army historical review in french )

Mitrailleuse was simply the French generic descriptor for early machine-guns. During the Republican phase of the Franco-Prussian War a number of foreign designs, including some Gatlings, were employed; they would all have been designated as mitrailleuses.

Sorry you're wrong there; the Mitrailleuse was a very specific weapon, it appeared as two main variants, the Montigny, not put into mass production, and the Reffye which was put into production, one battery of 6 per regular division. It was never intended to be used at ranges of 500m, the spread of shot at that range being too restricted. I think a few Montignys were wheeled out during the republican phase of the war but not in any organised way. The animations below show the guns firing, really excellent.

YouTube link

YouTube link

Sorry, I'm right there (people really should check their facts before making baseless counter-assertions). From the Wikipedia entry under Mitrailleuse, paragaph two, lines five and six: 'Mitrailleuse nonetheless became the generic French term for a machine-gun…'.

Not good enough? How about Collins Pocket French dictionary:
mitrailler vt. to machine-gun… mitrailleuse nf machine-gun.

Chris BBB – thanks for the info about the use of Gatling guns at Le Mans – something concrete I can verify for myself.

Eleve de Vauban – my pleasure – sorry I don't have the exact citation I got the information from to hand right now.

Chris

Gents many thanks for all your help and advice, this is very helpful. Does anyone have any images of 25mm Gatling guns for 1866/1871. I see Minifigs sell a Gatling gun for this period but sadly no picture.
Cheers

@Henry Martini

Normally I wouldn't bother to reply but in your case I'll make an exception. You said -

"Mitrailleuse was simply the French generic descriptor for early machine-guns. During the Republican phase of the Franco-Prussian War a number of foreign designs, including some Gatlings, were employed; they would all have been designated as mitrailleuses"

Well actually they wouldn't, when the French referred to the Mitrailleuse in 1870/1871 they meant either the Montigny or the Reffye, if at some later stage it became a generic term (and if you want to be taken seriously I suggest you try and do better than adducing wiki and the Collins Pocket French dictionary as references) then that is entirely another matter.

I am still on the look out for images of wargames models of Gatling guns the French army had in 1870/71. I saw a picture from a game run by David Marks in WI, issue 313, Nov 2013, page 67. David if you read this could you let me know who produces the model?
Cheers
Roy

Don't OG do Gatlings? What about Foundry?

By the way boys – you are both right. 'Mitrailleuse' DID mean a specific weapon. The term WAS used as a generic term, but subsequently.

So, the word mitrailleuse originated before the Franco-Prussian War as a generic descriptor for various designs of crewed, multi-barreled rapid-fire support weapons, such as the Montigny and the Reffye, and to this day remains the French word for machine gun, but Ramming would have it that during the two years during which the Franco-Prussian War was underway, for reasons unknown,they excepted certain designs from this general descriptor – such as the Gatling.

This begs the obvious question: what generic term did they use to denominate non-mitrailleuse…. mitrailleuses in 1870/71?

Fire stick?

For another source see Proceedings of the USNI 1881,

link

p409