Chapter 319: Flying Artillery (Please Read On)

Chapter 320: Flying Artillery (Please read it later)

On the wide and smooth King's Road in France, nearly 20,000 French soldiers lined up in a marching column that was endless, marching quickly with loud singing.

In the back of the team, the young Napoleon leaned against a tall artillery carriage pulled by four horses, just like cuddling with his lover.

Well, others were sitting in the carriage, but he would rather walk beside the artillery carriage, so that he could see her and touch her from all angles.

That was the latest model of horse artillery carriage produced by Joseph's Jewel Carriage Company.

Joseph ordered the craftsmen to trial-produce it more than half a year ago, and it was just completed a few months ago. The first batch of more than 20 vehicles was built, all equipped to the Guards Corps.

This horse artillery carriage, which is extremely large and looks like a long wooden house, was made by him based on Napoleon's later horse artillery. Of course, some necessary improvements were made.

The concept of horse artillery was created by Frederick the Great during the Seven Years' War.

The so-called cavalry artillery, in simple terms, is to equip the cannons and gunners with enough horses, towing and maneuvering throughout the process, so that the movement speed of the cannons is doubled, thereby greatly increasing the flexibility of artillery tactics.

However, there were many shortcomings in the early cavalry artillery, such as the cannons had to be constantly untied and tied with ropes connected to the horses, resulting in too long preparation time.

The general view of this era is that the time it takes for cavalry artillery to complete the firing is more than one-third longer than that of ordinary artillery.

In addition, cavalry artillery is not suitable for heavy artillery. Usually, it is difficult to use horses to drag and maneuver quickly with cannons above 6 pounds - 12-pound cannons require 8 horses to drag, and the soldiers who drive the horses can keep the horses in order. It is well-trained, and it is basically impossible to run faster.

Therefore, at the end of the 18th century, countries were still mainly equipped with ordinary artillery, supplemented by a small number of cavalry artillery.

However, Napoleon, a genius in using artillery, took the advantages of cavalry artillery to the extreme, and even turned all the cannons of some legions into cavalry artillery.

He had many innovations in the application of cavalry artillery. For example, the cavalry artillery used its speed to advance quickly, fired several rounds of volleys at the enemy's face, and then quickly evacuated. Another example is to equip the cavalry artillery with the cavalry battalion, and follow the cavalry to gallop and bombard all the way.

In short, after him, the importance of cavalry artillery in various countries has doubled.

But for the time being, Napoleon is still a newbie drooling over the cavalry artillery.

In history, 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 cart nicknamed "shed car" that was very common later.

This thing "integrated" the logistics support of the artillery, and the shells and gunpowder inside could be quickly dragged out during combat, and loaded in a short time when moving, and dragged away by horses.

This is much more convenient than the gunpowder cart, ammunition cart, and tool cart used by Frederick's cavalry artillery, which had to be harnessed to horses when moving, and it saved a lot of time.

And speed is the biggest advantage of cavalry artillery.

Joseph combined the structure of later heavy-duty trucks and added a plow to this type of vehicle, and changed the shell and gunpowder modules to a pull-out structure. The covers of the gunpowder and shell boxes used automatic locks - this was designed by Louis XVI himself, and it is sturdy and reliable.

With these changes, the cannon's firing preparation is seven or eight seconds faster than the original version in history.

In addition, Joseph also added 6 seats to the ammunition vehicle for the gunners to ride. Soldiers were not allowed to ride in the "caravan" in history, and the gunners had to run with the car on foot.

However, no one could stand not sitting in a carriage. So the gunners sat on the roof of the ammunition vehicle, which was shaped like a sloping French roof. Although the buttocks must be uncomfortable, if you want to be lazy, you can only bear it.

Joseph knew that it was extremely difficult to prevent the gunners from riding in the car, so he simply added seats for them, at most adding a horse. This can also greatly increase the movement speed of the cavalry artillery.

As for the cannon, Joseph also made some improvements, mainly adding the kind of clips between the train carriages in later generations to the tail of the cannon.

Don't underestimate this change. When the cavalry artillery needs to move, the time to put the cannon on the horse can be greatly shortened, and the operation is also easier.

Another thing is to add a winch to the gun carriage.

When the cannon is fired, the horse needs to stay far away to prevent being startled. In this way, every time the cannon is fired and the movement is switched, a lot of time is wasted to put the horse.

So the cavalry artillery in the Napoleonic era invented a unique operation-the rope connecting the cannon to the horse is left very long, and the lasso is not untied when shooting. In this way, when you want to maneuver, you only need to tighten the rope and you can get on the road immediately.

Joseph went a step further and even skipped the rope. The horse dragged a long rope and went directly, and then the gunner used the winch on the gun carriage to slowly retract the rope.

This is the real ability to fight and run!

Napoleon stroked the new cavalry artillery vehicle that fascinated him, and recalled the cavalry artillery tactics he had trained in his mind, and his heart couldn't help but be excited.

If these ingenious tactics and sophisticated weapons can be used to equip the Corsican National Army, their combat effectiveness will be multiplied.

He took a deep breath. It seems that coming to Verdun this time is absolutely the right decision.

The troops will soon arrive in Luxembourg, where they will fight with the Prussians. He will gain experience in actual combat and grow into a real general!

...

Wenselle, central and western Luxembourg.

Blücher saw through the telescope that more than a hundred Austrian defenders in the town fled in panic, and said to the messenger expressionlessly:

"Leave a battalion to garrison, and the others will rest for an hour, and then continue to move south. I want to capture Diekirch before tomorrow afternoon."

After defeating Leo's main force, the battle became very easy, which made him a little bored.

Just like when attacking Wenselle just now, he only ordered a dozen rounds of artillery fire, and the defending Austrians ran away.

It can be predicted that the battle to attack Diekirch tomorrow will most likely be the same. And after taking it, there will be no obstacles on the road to Luxembourg City.

Leo's troops should still have about 1,600 people left, and he brought ten times the troops, so there is no suspense in capturing Luxembourg City.

His staff officer suddenly rushed over and handed him a wax-sealed paper roll:

"General, Potsdam sent it four days ago."

Blücher opened the secret order, frowned slightly, and looked up at the staff officer:

"The French have joined the war. Although General Driesen defeated them in Liegnitz, this is a very dangerous signal."

He shook the reins:

"Order to speed up the march. We must solve the problem here as soon as possible and then return to Silesia to reinforce the Duke."

At this moment, two hussars galloped over and shouted to him:

"General, a large group of enemy troops were found 2 miles to the south! There may be several thousand people."

Blücher was startled when he heard this: Could it be the Austrian reinforcements? How could they come so quickly? !