"horse teams of Prussian howitzers" Topic

How large were the horse teams for Prussian 7pdr- and 10pdr- howitzers ?

From 1812 to 1815, Prussian 6pounder guns and 7pounder howitzers were carried by 6 horses each, 12pounder guns and 10pounder howitzers by 8 horses each.

And I'm guessing four horse teams for the one and only 3pounder battery?

Good question !

They had eight 3pounder guns, no howitzers. I couldn't find any regulation concerning the horse teams of this battery.

However, in reports about the strength of the Prussian batteries in August 1813, the 6pounder batteries which had 8 guns, list between 91 and 118 horses (most betwen 100 and 110 horses).

The 3pounder gun battery has got only 72 horses, which seems to indicate that your guess is right. Probably, the ammunition waggons of this battery were drawn by only four horses as well.

By the way, my info given above was incomplete, entirely valid only for the 1812 campaign.

New regulations of March 1813 made a difference between ordinary and heavy ("schwere") 6pounder batteries. The latter had 16 horses more than the former, means 2 horses more per gun.

The ammunition for both types of 6pounder guns was the same. The higher weight of the heavy guns was caused by their longer barrel.

Out of curiosity--did they end up liking the lighter six-pounder guns over the heavier version (reminds me of the Russian twelve-pounders)

Yes, it seems so.

The lighter 6pounder guns (model of 1766, last change in 1796) had the length of 18 calibers, the heavyer ones (model of 1787) of 22 calibers. Before 1806, there were also 6pounder guns with the length of 26 calibers (model of 1766, last change in 1796), but it seems they were no longer used by 1808.

Starting from 1812 (finished in 1816), new models for barrels, gun carriages, limbers and waggons were fixed. Here only one type of 6pounder gun was taken as standard, with a a length of 18 calibers.

Thanks for the info!