"Spiking the artillery" Topic

Question: Has any research been done on the percentage of times an artillery unit was able to successfully spike the guns, prior to them being overrun by the enemy?

I have often read historical accounts of operable cannons being captured, and even turned against the defenders. But I have rarely read accounts of artillery crews successfully spiking the guns prior to capture. Perhaps they chose to get in one final point-blank double-cannister shot and were overrun or became casualties before the spiking task could be completed?

I have contemplated modifying rule sets to allow for spiking of the guns (based on a successful dice roll), but have no idea of the realistic percentage of times that artillery crews pulled this off.

I am answering this on the assumption that we are talking about the age of black powder.

Spiking your own guns was not a common incident on the battlefield. Usually gunners would either fight their guns to the last, point blank discharge or they tried to get them away. In just about every nation the gunners were the most professional organisation (even in Spain) and had a close affinity with their guns. They would only give their guns up if driven off or killed.

Most battlefield spikings were done by the enemy to prevent the guns being used there and then after driving off the owners in the context of the immediate battle. Actual 'spiking', driving something into the touch hole to block it could be easily fixed if you had the right tools but could take too long in the context of a day's battle.

Proper disabling usually took place in the context of the deliberate abandonment of guns e.g. in a siege or before a retreat when they could not be dragged along. Trunnions would be smashed and perhaps barrels split by overcharging and setting it off.

So, in summary, in my opinion, trying to spike your own guns while the enemy are charging down upon you would be very unusual if not impossible to organise. However, once captured there would be greater chance of the enemy spiking them to, temporarily, prevent their use if recaptured.

Waterloo is a good example of this from a negative point of view. The Allies did not spike their guns during the great cavalry charges of the afternoon and the French bemoaned the fact that they did not think to spike the guns each time they temporarily captured them!

Artillerymen would not spike their own guns. At Gettysburg, some 40 guns fell into confederate hands, but only 7 were able to be hauled away. The union retook all the rest.

Artillerymen would do everything possible to keep there guns and if driven off without them would hope the infantry would be able to retake them.

Spiking guns in the heat of a fight just did not happen, though captured guns that could nor be hauled away might have been spiked on rare occasion.

Not worth having game rules for this.

Kim

Yes agree with Kim, not worth a rule.

If the artillerymen abandoned the gun, as opposed to staying to the last, I've read they tried to take their implements with them, so the gun could not be serviced. But not something I've read often.

Did read where confederates captured some union pieces. One had not been firing and the rest had. One confederate jumped up on the barrel of the one that had not fired and straddled the barrel. Another confederate seeing him do that, jumped up and straddled one that had been fired. Needless to say he did not last long on it (huevos fritos). 😉

True, who knows? But a funny story to all but the Confederate who did it.

I've never seen a historical description of gunners spiking their own guns. Most commonly, you saw guns spiked during sorties by besieged troops. They knew they couldn't take the guns back or hold them long. "Proper disabling" as described by Artilleryman, took more time than they could count on. But if you spiked them properly, they could be a real bear to put back in service.

I don't recall the ACW battle, but some time back I read a report of two guns being spiked and captured. The capturing unit was able to clear one of the guns within an hour and put it into service. The second piece could not be cleared until after the battle.

Maybe I haven't read enough, but it seems that the only time I read about spiking guns was when the intended spikers failed to do so.
The writer thought it would have been a good idea if the Light Brigade had bothered to spike the Russian guns. Heaven knows what their true intentions were. Cardigan certainly had no clue.

It seems to me that if the commander wishes to have his unit spike guns, he has to have that intention ahead of time. Someone has to be given that order. Not everyone would know how though. So if the Hussars take casualties going in, roll to see if the designated spiker was a casualty.
In a siege sortie, I would assume that some artillerists would be in the party, with proper tools.

This also means that the spiked guns would be out of commission for the rest of the game.
There's a fascinating anecdote in one of the Hornblower books showing a grizzled old gunner fixing a spiked gun. The Dons had had the time to spike the guns in the fort. Hornblower naturally needed at least one, in a hurry.
I could imagine the gunner immersed in his tricky task muttering "Please, Sir. Could you go bother someone else?"
If I ever have to repair a spiked 32 pdr, I want that book handy.

Having said that. Make up a straight D20 die roll for the attempt. A 1 seems reasonable to me. Remember that they have to skedaddle back.

John the OFM that is a great remembrance. The Hornblower books were a wealth of that sort of knowledge. As I recall they had to "fish" a pierced plug through the muzzle up into the vent and seated it by firing. Amazing!

Kim Young has the best answer that I have found. In Gottfried's "The Artillery of Gettysburg", several times gunners had to flee due to lack of infantry support, dead horses, etc. but would take the fuses, rammers and even hole the sponge buckets so their pieces could not be used against them. Spiking your own guns was giving up on the hope that your infantry might be able to recapture them soon.

A great question. One must recognize the relationship between the guns and it's crews. The mentality was really to "serve" their guns. The attachment was encouraged as we see accounts of gunners fighting to the death in melee in hope of saving them. So much so that the Museum d'Invalades and (especially) the Heer museum in Vienna (among others) have special care taken to display those taken in war.

Read recently I think Cossacks in Napoleonic era used a bayonet to spike a gun, but it doesn't seem to be done often. Guns get captured and often saved more than put out of action by spiking them.

According to some sources, to "do it right", you hammered a spike of the proper diameter down the hole, and then bent the pointy end with the rammer.
Naturally, the appropriate tools were in the toolbox, but that seems to be a major operation.

To do a proper job destroying the gun, you need to use far too much powder, and double or triple shot it.
Blasting trunions helps too.

Yes, whoever captured the gun could only spike it if they had something to spike it with.

BTW, I've read of spiked guns being restored to utility within a day or so of being spiked.

Unspiking a gun isn't entirely too difficult. The vent to the firing chamber is in its own bronze fitting/cylinder. With the proper tools, you just unscrew the fitting with the spike in it, and put a new one in.
As others have said, you would need to overcharge and fire the gun, hoping to burst it, to destroy it. Spiking is very temporary.