Hello everyone,
I search and I search and each time I find the same information a finished by tiring me out!
Well the French artillery was ahead because it is equipped with the famous 12-pdrs howitzer gun, nicknamed the Canon de l'Empereur or Napoleon Canon in homage to Napoleon III, a very innovative gun because it was both a cannon and howitzer of campaign.
Used from 1853, this gun has performances and versatility (its smoothbore is capable of firing round shot, shells or case (canister)) which make it replace the other 8 pdrs and 12 pdrs gun tubes of the old gribeauval system used on the carriages of the Valée system with the limbers of the same system as well as the howitzers of the "Valée system"*.
He himself will be overtaken by the "Lahitte" rifled cannons in 1858.
This gun is used by France during the Crimean War and during the Civil War with some modifications by the States of the Union and the Confederate States of America.
Well, I don't think that all the French artillery was equipped with this famous 12 pdrs howitzer gun, especially the horse batteries.
Does somebody have any information ?
Thanks in advance.
Paskal
*The tubes of the Gribeauval system are mainly reused because the length of the tubes was 18 calibres, as in the Gribeauval system. Marshal Valée (1773-1846) shows the same logic as his predecessor to optimize the possibilities of bronze tubes , whose quality of the alloy is refined to lighten them. The accuracy of the caliber is respected in order to reduce the sinusoidal movement of the round shot inside the tube.
