"Frontage of battery vs battalion?" Topic

Question for those more educated on this matter than I.
What is frontage of battery vs battalion?
I thought a battery and battalion had about the same frontage, then read this from Clausewitz "Principles" (1812), part 3:

"A battery of eight six-pounders takes up less than one-third of the front taken up by an infantry battalion; it has less than one-eighth the men of a battalion, and yet its fire is two to three times as effective. "
link

Taken from link

"Paddy Griffith in his "French Artillery" P 25 stated that minimum distances were 6 metres between guns but greater, up to 20 metres were preferred so as to avoid excessive casualties due to too much concentration on the gun position.

In "Open Fire – Artillery Tactics from Marlborough to Wellington" by Maj-Gen B P Hughes, it is stated that British preference was a minimum of 10 yards between guns. Hughes also says (P25) that 20 yards between guns was considered the maximum for command and control by voice alone on a noisy battery firing line.

In both cases the distance is defined as that "between" guns so you have to allow approximately 2 metres/yards for the artillery piece itself when calculating frontages."

So a 6-gun British battery would occupy a frontage of between 54 and 104 yards.

A 600-man British infantry battalion would occupy about 180 yards.

Looking over the armies of the time, though the distance between the guns varied, 10meters/yards (sorry for the mathematical inexactitude) seems to have been the average. Therefore, a six gun battery, given a couple of metres/yards for the guns themselves, gives a frontage of 62 metres or yards with 74 for eight guns. The average frontage of a battalion of say 600 men in three ranks would be about 150 metres or 210 if in two ranks. These are of course averages and approximates but it gives you some idea.

Of course the depth of a battery could vary from 100 to 200 metres.

It perhaps also suggests that guns could be crowded together if the situation required it, maximising the kill zone lethality in a more restricted beaten zone.

But yes, batteries should be somewhere around a 1/3 of a line. My line (French battalion) is 270mm, so my fun's should be 90mm upwards. I use 2 gun models on 50mm so reasonable enough. But my older models at 60mm isn't terrible either, as still less than half the line

Of course, my battalions are often bathtubbed to be a regiment (ie one battalion stands in for two in the OOB), so then I can go up to 3 or 4 models and still feel comfortable

The key though is making my ground scale match my troops – and that can be 2mm=1 metre

Not all nations have the same doctrinal distance. Then you need to remember this distance needs be at least the length of the limber teams so they can turn together the between guns to limber up and move back. Horse teams do not have breaks. What keeps the horses from running away besides temporarily blinding them with cache is they are " stored" facing trouble.

Then guns need level spaces to operate. So more space than not is true.
In redoubts or if they don't think they need to move, can be closer.
So allow 12-20 m per gun. French need the most.

The ref to til on three ranks.
Then 15-25 m between battery and neighbour…
6 guns. 80-100 m
8 guns 100-160 m

Bataillon on three ranks
500 m. @ 100 m
600-700 120m
1000 200 m
The French taking a bit more space than Germans.
Clauzewitz: he is writing by the time Prussian full stregth bn are 800-1000 men.

Battery depth is mostly irrelevant. Limbers and one caisson per section up front when deployed within fast leg movement, the rest echeloned back in hiding and deep, on call to reload etc. very porous and mobile.
Except that terrain might interfere.
Russians are known to have huge numbers of small carts cluttering the rear. But again not within our gaming aims.

I find a good way of visualising 10-15 metres is to look at a rugby 'line-out' where the ball is thrown back into play. It is 5 metres from the guy throwing in to the first man and a further 10 metres to the back of the line.

It gives a good mental image of how crowded a 10-15 metre space can be with just 16 or so guys in it.

We hear of guns or sections being carefully deployed (time permitting) to have good fields of fire and a suitable place to fire from.

I suspect the actual deployment distances in battle would often vary from the handbook.

DB

I suspect the actual deployment distances in battle would often vary from the handbook.

Yes. A lot depended on the terrain and whether they wanted an easy 'getaway'. The practice was to have enough space between the guns so the caissons could drive through,[@10 yards] turn around out front of the battery and then move next to the gun trail to hitch up. Much, much faster and easier than trying to backup six-horse teams with a two wheel caissons.

Most distances was a rule-of-thump rather than a hard and fast requirement.

The Kriegsspiel has a 300 file battalion taking 250 paces frontage with an 8 gun battery having a frontage of 200 paces when the guns are placed 24 paces apart.

Caissons carried ammunition and tools. They were not employed to pull the field pieces, limbers were.