The route to better field guns............

The country that avoids war and the country that fights but has a hard time winning have been combined. The Swiss made some excellent firearms and the French made some unique and occasionally inspiring ones. We have added the Belgian and Dutch since they are neighbors.

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DuncaninFrance
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The route to better field guns............

Post by DuncaninFrance » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:47 am

Country: France
System: La Hitte system (French: "Système La Hitte")
Inventors: French general Ducos, Count de La Hitte and Lieutenant-colonel Treuille de Beaulieu
First saw action in: Franco-Austrian War in Italy.

This particular piece is in the museum at Solferino which we visited this month on our holiday in Italy.
This battle would have a long-term effect on the future conduct of military actions. Jean-Henri Dunant, who witnessed the battle in person, was motivated by the horrific suffering of wounded soldiers left on the battlefield to begin a campaign that would eventually result in the Geneva Conventions and the establishment of the International Red Cross.

I will add more to this post as I get time to process the images. ( In total, I have some 1560 images to go through from the holiday, 51 from Pedersoli :shock: )

The information on the images 'stolen' from a friend on another site :cool:
Attachments
Shells from the time
Shells from the time
Douai is not the name of the cannon but the name of the foundry that produced it. Douai was the main fondry for brass/bronze cannon until 1867 when it closed, having not evolved and facing the new Arty Mecqua built in Bourges with modern industrial equipments.
Douai is not the name of the cannon but the name of the foundry that produced it. Douai was the main fondry for brass/bronze cannon until 1867 when it closed, having not evolved and facing the new Arty Mecqua built in Bourges with modern industrial equipments.
The new rifled guns were used from 1859 during the Franco-Austrian War in Italy. These guns were a considerable improvement over the previous smooth-bore guns which had been in use. They were able to shoot at 3,000 meters either regulars shells, ball-loaded shells or grapeshot. They appear to have been the first case of usage of rifled cannons on a battlefield. The system was muzzle-loading, and the shells could only be exploded at two set distances. The shell, based on the 1847 invention of Captain Tamisier, were oval-shaped and had small protrusions to follow the grooves of the bore. Previous guns, such as the Canon obusier de 12 were rifled to accommodate the system. The system included newly rifled siege guns of 12, 16 and 24, new field guns of 4 (Today MM) and 12, new siege guns of 12 and 24, and a mountain gun of 4.
The new rifled guns were used from 1859 during the Franco-Austrian War in Italy. These guns were a considerable improvement over the previous smooth-bore guns which had been in use. They were able to shoot at 3,000 meters either regulars shells, ball-loaded shells or grapeshot. They appear to have been the first case of usage of rifled cannons on a battlefield. The system was muzzle-loading, and the shells could only be exploded at two set distances. The shell, based on the 1847 invention of Captain Tamisier, were oval-shaped and had small protrusions to follow the grooves of the bore. Previous guns, such as the Canon obusier de 12 were rifled to accommodate the system. The system included newly rifled siege guns of 12, 16 and 24, new field guns of 4 (Today MM) and 12, new siege guns of 12 and 24, and a mountain gun of 4.
Duncan

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Karl/Pa.
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Re: The route to better field guns............

Post by Karl/Pa. » Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:18 pm

Fascinating stuff.
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