Chapter 320: Flying Artillery (please follow up)
On the spacious and flat King's Avenue in France, nearly 20,000 French soldiers lined up in an endless march, marching quickly to loud songs.
In the middle and back of the team, the young Napoleon was leaning against a tall artillery cart pulled by four horses, as if he was cuddling with his lover.
Well, the others were sitting in the car, but he would rather walk next to the cannon truck, just so he could see her from all angles and touch her.
It was the latest model of mounted artillery carriage produced by Joseph's Gem Carriage Company.
Joseph ordered the craftsmen to trial-produce them more than half a year ago, and they were just completed a few months ago. A total of more than 20 vehicles were built in the first batch, all of which were equipped for the Guards Corps.
This large-sized mounted artillery carriage, which looks like a long wooden house, was built based on Napoleon's later mounted artillery. Of course, some necessary improvements were made.
The concept of cavalry artillery was created by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.
The so-called mounted artillery, simply put, is to equip the cannon and the gunner with enough horses to drag the cannon throughout the entire process, doubling the movement speed of the cannon, thus greatly increasing the flexibility of artillery tactics.
However, the early cavalry artillery had many shortcomings. For example, the cannons had to be constantly untied and roped to the horses, which resulted in too long preparation time.
The common view of this era was that it took more than one-third longer for cavalry artillery to fire than ordinary artillery.
In addition, mounted artillery is not suitable for equipping heavy artillery. Generally, cannons of more than 6 pounds are difficult to maneuver quickly with horses. A 12-pound cannon requires 8 horses to drag. If the soldiers driving the horses can keep the horses calm, they are already well trained. If you are a vegetarian, it is basically impossible to run faster.
Therefore, at the end of the 18th century, various countries still mainly equipped ordinary artillery, supplemented by a small amount of cavalry artillery.
However, Napoleon, a genius with artillery, took the advantages of cavalry artillery to the extreme, and even converted all the cannons of some regiments into cavalry artillery.
He had many innovations in the application of cavalry artillery. For example, the cavalry artillery uses speed to rush forward quickly, stick to the enemy's face and fire several rounds of volleys, and then quickly retreat. Another example is to assign cavalry artillery to the cavalry battalion, and follow the cavalry to gallop and bombard.
In short, after him, the importance placed by various countries on cavalry and artillery increased exponentially.
But for now, Nahuang is still a newbie who drools over a cannon carriage.
Historically, Napoleon's cavalry artillery had two main core equipment-horse-drawn cannons and ammunition carts.
The long wooden house that Napoleon was "hugging and licking" at this time was the ammunition truck that became very common later, nicknamed the "boxcar".
This thing "integrates" all the logistics support of the cannon. During combat, it can quickly pull out the shells and gunpowder inside, and when moving, it can be loaded in a short time and towed away by horses.
This is much more convenient and time-saving than the powder carts, ammunition carts, and tool carts used by Frederick's cavalry artillery. They all have to be harnessed when moving.
And speed is the biggest advantage of cavalry artillery.
Joseph combined the structure of later load-carrying trucks and added a stationary plow to this vehicle, and the cannonball and gunpowder modules were changed to a pull-out structure. The covers of the gunpowder and shell boxes use automatic locks - this was designed by Louis XVI himself and is strong and reliable.
With these changes, the cannon is ready to fire seven or eight seconds faster than the original version in history.
In addition, Joseph also added 6 seats to the ammunition truck for the gunners to sit on. Soldiers were not allowed to ride in historical "caravans", and the gunners had to follow the car on foot.
But no one can bear it if they don’t ride in the carriage. So the gunners sat on the roof of the ammunition truck, which was shaped like a sloping French roof. Although the buttocks are definitely uncomfortable, if you want to be lazy, you have to endure it.
Joseph knew that it would be extremely difficult to prevent the gunners from riding in the car, so he simply added seats for them, or at most a horse. This can also increase the movement speed of the cavalry artillery a lot.
As for the cannon, Joseph also made some improvements, mainly adding the kind of buckles between later train carriages to the tail of the cannon. Don't underestimate this change. When the cavalry artillery needs to be transferred, the time for holstering the cannon on the horse can be greatly shortened, and the operation is also easier.
Also, a winch was added to the gun mount.
When the cannon was firing, the horses needed to stay far away to avoid being startled. In this way, every time you fire a gun or switch between moves, you need to waste a lot of time to lasso the horse.
Therefore, the cavalry artillerymen of the Napoleonic era invented a unique operation-the rope connecting the cannon to the horse was left extremely long, and the noose was not untied when shooting. In this way, when you want to maneuver, you only need to tighten the rope and you can be on the road immediately.
Joseph went a step further and didn't even need to collect the rope. The horses dragged the long rope and walked away directly. Then the gunner used the winch on the gun mount to slowly collect the rope.
This is the real ability to fight and run!
Napoleon stroked the new mounted artillery carriage that fascinated him, recalling the trained cavalry artillery tactics in his mind, and couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement in his heart.
If these exquisite tactics and sophisticated weapons can be used to equip the Corsican National Army, their combat effectiveness will be doubled.
He took a deep breath. It seemed that following him to Verdun this time was absolutely the right decision.
The troops will soon arrive in Luxembourg, where they will fight the Prussians. They will gain experience in actual combat and grow into a real general!
…
West-Central Luxembourg, Unssele.
Blücher saw more than a hundred Austrian defenders in the town fleeing in panic through his telescope, and said to the herald without expression: "Leave one battalion to garrison, and the others will rest in place for an hour, and then Continue south. I will capture Dikirch before tomorrow afternoon."
After defeating Leo's main force, the battle became very easy, which made him feel a little bored.
Just like when he attacked Wensele just now, he only ordered a dozen rounds of artillery bombardment, and the defending Austrians ran away.
It can be predicted that tomorrow's battle to attack Dikirch will probably be the same. And after winning there, there will be no obstacles on the road to Luxembourg City.
Leo's troops should have about 1,600 men left, and he has brought ten times the strength, so there is no suspense in capturing Luxembourg City.
His staff officer suddenly rushed over and handed him a paper scroll sealed with fire paint: "General, it was sent from Potsdam four days ago."
Blücher opened the secret order, frowned slightly, and looked up at the staff officer:
"The French have entered the war. Although General Driessen routed them at Liegnitz, this is a very dangerous signal."
He shook the horse's reins and said:
"Order to speed up the march. We must resolve the matter here as soon as possible and then return to Silesia to reinforce the Duke."
At this moment, two hussars came galloping towards him and shouted:
"General, a large group of enemy troops have been spotted 2 miles to the south! There may be thousands of them."
Blücher was startled when he heard this: Could it be Austrian reinforcements? How could it have come so quickly? !
(End of chapter)