"Prussian Artillery Organization 1805-1806" Topic

I am building a early Napoleonic war Prussian army in 6mm and am using the Jena–Auerstedt battles as my starting point. There are some good orders of battle on line. However, I am trying to understand the larger organization of the Prussian Artillery.

What I have found to date is that there were 4 regiments each with 10 companies/batteries and a 5th Horse Artillery regiment with another 10 companies/batteries. (of course, some of the orders of battle I found give the Prussians as many as 14 Horse Artillery batteries but never mind that for now).
What I would like to know is what was the mix of guns was in the 4 foot artillery regiments? How many 12 pound vs 6 or 7 pound gun batteries were there? It seems that the Prussians had more 12 pound batteries than 6/7 pound batteries at Jena and Auerstedt but I don't know if that is reflective of the overall organization or just what was available on the day.

Thanks for any information provided.

The organisation of the Prussian artillery was a bit awkward. In peace time, there were just the companies. On mobilisation, from the men of these companies the batteries and ammunition trains were formed. In the case of the horse artillery in 1806, obviously the men from one company were used to form 2 horse batteries.

From link :

For the 1806 campaign, 6pounder batteries nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8, 12 pounder batteries nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39, as well as 7pounder howitzer battery nos. 1 and 4 were mobilised, together with different artillery train formations. The batteries were usually refered to only by the name of their commander, a practice which was continued to a lesser extend in the campaigns of 1812 to 1815.

Of these, only 6pounder batteries nos. 1 and 8, and 12 pounder batteries nos. 31, 34, 37 and 39 still existed at the end of the war, all of them of the 4th artillery regiment, which was the only of the four artillery regiments which was not dissolved.

Horse batteries nos. 1 to 20 were mobilised for the 1806 campaign, out of which batteres nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 still existed at the end of the campaign. However, the horse artillery regiment was not reformed.

I can't say why some numbers of batteries remained vacant.

Thank you for the information and the link.
Cheers,
Mike

Don't forget the battalion guns for musketeer and grenadier regiments

From my chapter in the same book:

Every infantry company had some artillerymen attached who on mobilisation manned the regimental guns. On campaign, the fusileer battalions received one 3pounder cannon, the other infantry battalions including the grenadiers two 6pounder cannons, and the 3rd battalions, in case that they were mobilised, two 3pounder cannons. The rifle regiment did not have regimental artillery.

On 10 October 1806 it was ordered that the 3rd battallions should have not receive battalion guns on mobilisation. Notwithstanding, due to communication problems and the initiative of general de Courbière, in East Prussia the 3rd battalions of regiments v. Courbière, v. Reinhardt, v. Besser and v. Diericke marched out with their battalion guns, whereas the 3rd battalions of the regiments v. Rüchel and v. Schöning were mobilised without artillery.

For the Füsilier-Bataillone, an order by the king of 5 July 1806 decided thet they should not take the 3pounder guns in the field, and that those alreay mobilised should send them back (Kling, Leichte Infanterie, p. 27, 37). Kling states (ibid., p. 37, citing Malinowski & Bonin, vol. 1, pp. 298 and 293) that the gunners to man the 3pounders of the fusilier battalions were to be sent from the artillery, but each fusilier battalion had to train also a few men as "reserve artillerymen".

On 1 October 1806, general lieutenant v. Rüchel announced for the corps under his command that he might order to form a battery from the regimental guns in each brigade. I don't know whether he actually did it or not. On 23 November 1806, the Prussian king orderd for the army in East Prussia to to unite the battalion guns into batteries of 4 to 8 guns.