"Austrian regimental guns" Topic

Before the 1809 Artillery Organization, does anybody have information on Austrian regimental, and battalion guns?

What OOB have you been looking at?

Really funny (ie strange) the number of accounts that spring to life on here.

I check for them and see they hardly ever respond; have been missing for years- unused; ask questions only a newbie would…
seems like trolling has become an psuedo artform here as well.
Bloody annoying really,….

Oh yes, there is masses of information out there…

Just…wow.

Who made YOU God?

Actually the OP poses a very good question. For the last 40-odd years whenever I have searched published sources for order of battle information about the Austrian army, all I get is information about the 1809 Austrian army. Obviously some researcher decades ago dug this information out and it has been recycled ever since, but never extended to 1805 or 1812-14.

This is a great shame because the 1805 Austrian army allows two different regiment organisations and represents Napoleon's adversary at the height of his powers, i.e. 1805 to 1807. 1812 gives you a chance to pit Austrians against Russians for a change. If you rely on online information to build out either such Austrian army, you'll be relying on guesswork and inference from 1809.

All I know about the subject raised is that nominally, each battalion got a 3-pounder, but that in practice, brigades (2 x 3-battalion regiments) grouped their six 3-pounders together into a six-gun 'brigade battery'; pairs of 3-pounders were frequently replaced by single 6-pounders. I have found no information on which units had 6- rather than 3-pounders, nor anything about how the guns were reallocated when Mack altered the battalions from three six-company battalions to 4.5 four-company battalions.

The best source on Austrian artillery is the old Hollins book although this still leaves many questions unanswered, such as the above, and I'm still not clear on the distinction/equivalence between cavalry, horse, foot, reserve, and position batteries.

Just a point but Mack's reforms resulted in each regiment fielding five 4-division battalions not four and a half. The regimental grenadiers formed with 2 fusilier divisions to form the leib battalion – the only time Austrian grenadiers get to carry the (white) leibfahne.

Otherwise my understanding of regimental guns is broadly as stated – usually grouped as 'brigade batteries'.

Here is something:

Mittheilungen des k.u.k. Kriegs-Archivs 4. (Neue Folge, 1889)

Pages 35 and 36 show line and reserve battery information.

Page 92_2 – top shows infantry battalions with five 3/6 pdrs

Page 92_2 – bottom shows infantry regiment with the battalion guns and a reserve battery interlined.

Page 93_3 has 1769 date

It provides nice details for 1792, here it is stated that at the outbrake of the war each fusilier battalion had 4 three pound cannons and one six pound cannon, grenadier battalions the same, the new troops marching into the Neatherlands 3 – six pound cannon for each battalion, Grenzer battalions 3 – three pound cannons.

This provides some info on austrian artillery.
link
I came across this quote in the article which showed the Austrians using a 200 gun grand battery. I was not aware they formed up such a large concentration of artillery?

"What happened on the battlefield now marked the largest single concentration of artillery to date in the period. Charles withdrew his shot-up and demoralized infantry from the French center, and Oberst Josef Smola, the Artillery Chief for Hohenzollern's Austrian II Corps, organized the artillery batteries assigned to him into one large, 200-odd-gun battery whose mission it would be to destroy the French center and open the way to the Bridgehead to Lobau Island. (…)

@ Zippee

Thanks for the clarification. In effect Mack's reform produced a 4.5-battalion regiment, of which the 0.5 battalion was converged with those of another to make a grenadier battalion. The beauty of this is that if your rules feature companies, you can have either organisation with the same figures on the same bases.

I think Zippee is right; the Austrian regiment of 1805 had 4fusilier and 1 grenadier battalion so 5 battalions. No combining with another regiment.

From the orginal 3fusilier batts (each of 6 companies) plus 2 companies grenadiers were made 1 grenadier battalion which consisted of the 2 original grenadier companies plus 2 companies of the original 1st battalion and 4 other battalion also each of 4 companies.
Source: Rothenburg: napoleons great adversaries.

You're right, I'd forgotten there were 20 companies including the grenadiers.

My thanks to all of you for the info.