14 January 2023

Austrian SYW Artillery

With this article, I will present the Seven Years’ War periods most celebrated artillery. The new fine ordnance fielded by the troops of her majesty, the Empress-Queen of Austria. It was universally regarded as the most modern artillery system of this period until the introduction of the Gribeauval ordnance in France during the 1770’s. It should be noted that the Liechtenstein M1753 ordnance served as the template for Gribeauval’s system, for he had been part of the team modernizing the Austrian artillery during his service in the Austrian artillery before and during the SYW.
Now, the Austrian guns are truly missing among the articles on this subject in my Blog. Its about time I set myself to work. Vivat Maria Theresia!

A few important remarks in advance
(My revised notes January 2022—most new content found with presenting the new M1752 6 & 12-pdr field gun):

Since starting this article earlier this year, I have been forwarded new source material from Vienna during this summer 2021. Apart from the Vienna Kriegsarchiv sourced manuscript by Franz Rubli, forwarded to me by Pavel Jurik from Czechia, I recieved considerable new informations from a gentleman in Austria, who happens to research precisely the same subject at present. He has surveyed a many drafts and texts found in the Vienna Kriegsarchiv, as well as an original set of drafts with its associated explanatory text signed by general Feuerstein dated 1752 found in the Liechtenstein Collections archive in Vienna.
The new information requires a revised dating for the guns I present with the below.
I now present the Austrian ordnance in its state of transition, illustrating the guns of the pre-1750 range, adopted with the Austrian systematisation of 1716/1722, its revised
systematisation or Regulation of 1737, and the new Liechtenstein ordnance introduced with the 15 April 1750 Regulation, as well as with the one of July 1752.  The new barrel design had received its fixation by 1750 and remained unaltered till the end of the SYW with only minor changes introduced with the Regulation of July 1752. They include the withdrawl of the 1750 Regulation 10-pdr howitzer in favor of a lighter 7-pdr howitzer, the lenghtening of the 12-pdr light battery gun from 18 calibres to 21, the introduction of a new trunnion shoulder design, as well as a minor change with the mouldings of the cascabel & button. More important was the introduction of new carriages with the 1752 Regulation. I do have drafts of the latter ones that are found in the papers of the Stuttgart Nicolai Collection, but I initially dated them into the 1770’s—well after the SYW—and therefore ignored them. Apparently, they had already been introduced before, hence, I will now also add the new 1752 carriages for the entire range of the new Austrian field- and battery cannon & howitzers. They will be presented as M1752, for an original 1753 Regulation does not exist. The ones found in the Kriegsarchiv have either a false dating, or refer to documents made only much later during the napoleonic period.  A many guns to the M1750 design presented below should have been fielded during the earlier campaigns of the SYW, nevertheless. Austria's ‘programme’ of supplying the artillery with new lightened ordnance did not start in 1750, but already during the mid- to late 1740’s. The existing carriages found by 1752 were certainly not replaced, but took to the field in 1756. Also pre-1750 barrels of the sort Rubli presents were not re-cast to the new design but have seen service during the war until they were either lost or became unusable.
Meanwhile it could be verified that Rubli presents the range of new guns at around 1749 before the fixation of the new ordnance with the Regulation (Austrian: Verordnung) of 15 April 1750. The mouldings of his barrels have a different design and remain closer to the pattern adopted with the Regulation of 1737. Apparently they are the design of Giuseppe Solonati, in 1744 Feld-Maréchal Liechtenstein appointed him as inspector-general of the Austrian gun casting. Rublis carriages are also rather close to old pattern ones, and so are the carriages of the 1750 Regulation which all come with a pair of centre transoms. Now several changes were made with the carriages that found a general adoption with the Regulation of July 1752. A standard wheel diameter of 51.25 Vienna Zoll for all field guns was fixed and 54 Vienna Zoll for all battery guns. Apart from the 3-pdr, the axletree was placed considerably rearwards, and all guns except the 3-pdr and the heavy 24-pdr recieved an additional pair of trunnion sockets into which the barrel was placed for the march (Austrian: Marschlager).
Below find the M1752 3-pdr field gun on its new carriage.


source:
Vienna Kriegsarchiv, signature: Memoires XIII/463-465; Franz Rubli.
Published with kind permission of the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, department Kriegsarchiv at ka@oesta.gv.at

 


Rubli also presents a light wrought-iron 3-pdr "quick-fire" gun of the sort the Saxons fielded during this period. I have never seen this before. Nor was I aware this type of gun was ever fielded by the Austrians. Under the direction of Feld-Maréchal Wenzel von Liechtenstein—1744 appointed General Director of the Ordnance—Rubli is confirmed being part of the team selected to modernize the Austrian artillery. This makes it a most valuable and reliable primary source. However, by around 1751 he took service in the Hungarian town of Essegg (today Osijek, Croatia). He therefore ceased to be an eyewitness of the changes after he left Vienna. I can also draw from another primary source found in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttart / Germany, as part of the so called Sammlung Nicolai (Nicolai Collection). According to Daniel Hohrath, curator of the Bavarian Army Museum, to his knowledge, this material has also never been used for academic research as well. It has several sheets with detailed tables and some drafts of the new Austrian ordnance presented in Vienna 15 April 1750—as per their caption.
These tables could meanwhile be verified as authentic Austrian.  Also a table with the dimensions of the 1752 Regulation carriages is found here wich has identical figures with a selection of tables found in the Vienna Kriegsarchiv that are now also availabe to me.
That being said, it is important to be aware that all nowadays available literature on the subject I know of entirely fail to do so.  This is probably due to the complete destruction of the old artillery archive in Vienna around 1770, and the thus resulting source situation in todays Vienna Kriegsarchiv. Only scattered papers of the period before 1770 are found. Many of the plans have been seperated from their asociated exlpanatory texts, which make their dating difficult. Existing complete sets of drafts with text exist in the form of the rare printed "Waffenlehre" publ. Vienna 1767, another set of drafts and texts by Carl Callot, the true designer of the new ordnance, that he presented to the Vienna Artillerie Commission after 1770, as they had no plans they could work on.  Now, meanwhile the material had undergone some remastering after the SYW and the range of the so entitled "Light Battery Guns" had been removed from service and are not seen on any tables listing the Austrian range of guns fielded during the SYW. The tables found present "short" and "long" 12-, 18-, and 24-pdr battery guns instead. Their entitlement identifies them as post SYW range, for the tables of the Regulation of 1750 as well as the near identical 1752 Regulation seperate between "light" and "heavy" battery guns only. These tables do not list 18-pdrs with the range of battery guns. As per the souces found in Vienna, the first 18-pdr construcion was tested only at around 1764. It was designed to replace the 18 calibre light 24-pdr battery gun.
With this article I will successively present the initial M1752 Lichtenstein Ordnance. It is the range of guns that saw service during the SYW.
A note on the caliber dimensions I am using, as they will deviate somewhat with figures found elsewhere. Thats because the figures found elsewhere are moreoften rounded figures for a catchier understanding. I wanted to arrive as close as possible to the true Liechtenstein system figures. As a result, I calculate all anew.
Liechtenstein’s constructors where working with the old accepted Nuremberg caliber dimensions, widly in use within the Holy Roman Empire then. Liechtenstein’s team felt compelled to stay with them in order to remain compatible with the ordnance fielded by the many Reichsarmee contingents at that time, as it is quoted from Rubli’s writings in an article on the true ‘Old-German’ Nuremberg artillery caliber system (Oestereichische militärische Zeitschrift, edition 1826, vol 2). Hence, the basic caliber for computing the diameter of all pieces was the diameter of 1 Pfund iron shot for cannons or stone for mortars and howitzers of the Nuremberg Artillerie-Fuss (29.3 cm) expressed in Vienna Zoll.
My employed figures are based on the fixation by the Slovenian 1754 born baron Jurij Vega (in Austrian service known as Gerog von Vega). An Austrian artillery officer & a reknown mathematician. From 1780 on, he was appointed director of the Mathematics Department of the Vienna Artillery School. His fixation—apparently dating well after 1780—being 1 Nuremberg Pfund iron shot has a diameter of Nuremberg 2.04 Zoll or Vienna 1.89 Zoll. Some embarassment is caused here because the Vienna foot scale received a universal fixation for the Habsburg Empire only with the patent of 1756. A gut feeling tells me Liechtenstein’s 1745 team started off with neat Nuremberg 2 Zoll iron—since 1 Nuremberg Pfund stone was neat 3 Zoll, but I dare not mess with this famous lector’s figures. A resulting minor deviation to the true Liechtenstein figures should not corrupt my display of the original 1752 introduced new guns.

Tabella denen metallenen Stücken an beigesetzten Gattungen so den 15ten Aprilis 1750 verfertigt worden in Wien [sic.]
(
Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart / Nicolai Collection).
 

The 15 April 1750 presented and approved range of the new bronze cannon:
A)
a so entitled range of Field Guns:
– 3-pdr field gun, 16 calibres,
a reduced metal strength Regiments-Stück
– 6-pdr field gun, 16 calibres,
a reduced metal strength 1/8 cannon
– 12-pdr field gun, 16 calibres,
a reduced metal strength quarter-cannon
B)
a range of so entitled Light Battery Guns:
– 12-pdr light battery gun, 18 calibres,
a reduced metal strength quarter-cannon
– 24-pdr light battery gun, 18 calibres,
a reduced metal strength half-cannon
C)
a range of so entitled Heavy Battery Guns:
– 12-pdr heavy battery gun, 27 calibres, quarter-cannon
– 24-pdr heavy battery gun, 23 calibres, half-cannon
Note: Note: the only difference between the 1750 Regulation range of ordnance to the one of 1752 is the replacement of the howitzer. The 1750 Reg. accounts for a 10-pdr construction which had been put on hold in favour of a 7-pdr construction with the Reg. of 1752. Another change is found in the explanatory text of the 1752 Reg. found at the Vienna Liechtenstein Archive that mentions the 18 calibre light battery 12-pdr should be made 3 calibres longer, now arriving at 21 calibre barrel length. Much of the older ordnance, illustrated further below with this article would be found among the siege guns or in fortifications during the war, being replaced by the new heavy battery guns only in case of want. The letter pretty much remained unchanged dimension-wise and weight-wise, except for the barrels garnishing elements or mouldings.
I will also illustrate the two non-regulation constructions which Rubli presents in addition to the new Liechtenstein ordnance. In his copy text pages, he entitles them either as Irregular Ordnance or ‘Mountain-Pieces’—i.e. ‘very light guns’. It’s a 2-pdr double-culverin, 30 calibers long, and this wrought-iron 3-pdr quick-fire gun that I mentioned afore.

source:
Vienna Kriegsarchiv, signature: Memoires XIII/463-465; Franz Rubli.
Published with kind permission of the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, department Kriegsarchiv at ka@oesta.gv.at

I believe these two pieces of the old range of guns were still in service at around 1750. Why else would Rubli bother to present them? In fact Horace St. Pauls journal notes the artillery park of the Austrian army at the battle of Prague 6 May 1757 included 24 non-regulation 2-pounders of the old ordnance!
The extensive Esterhazy Armoury Collection at Forchtenstein Castle/Austria does in fact has such a piece on display.

source: Esterhazy Armoury Collection at Forchtenstein Castle/Austria

According to the museums information, we see a bronze 1-pdr cannon mounted on a carriage very similar to Rubli's wrought iron 3-pdr.  It is dated 1741.  This cannon is really very small—much smaller then Rubli's iron 3-pdr.  It has the same iron machinery for laying and loading—i.e. it is a Quick-Firer Gun or German Geschwind-Stück.  In the background you see an array of hussar sabers with blades about the length as the barrel.  The barrel is a short construction of 16 or 18 calibres at most.  Calculating the calibre of 1 pound iron with about 5 cm, the barrel arrives at 80 or 90 cm length.  When I saw the gun at my visit in 2021, I believed this to be a scale model, but now I believe it is the real gun.  It looks like kids-toy really.  With the campaigns of 1756 and 1757 the Grenz-Regiments or Croates where equipped with bronze 1-pdr guns apart from some obscure small calibre howitzers.  I now believe it was guns to this very design the Croates recieved during the first two campaigns of the war.

The next piece is the new 6-pounder field gun on its new M1752 carriage: 

Below see an original set of drafts from the Stuttgart Nicolai collection illustrating the M1752 barrel and carriage bracket cheek. The lower one comes with the applied figures and dimensions for the 6-pdr carriage. 

source: Nicolai Collection artillery folders, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart / Germany
I will continue to peresent also the older M1750 barrels and carriages, as I believe they also saw service during the SYW—especially the barrels continued to be cast with the M1750 mouldings till around 1770, as many original barrels on display at the Vienna Army Museum reveal. In addition, it also sheds some light on the evolution of Austrian gun design starting at around 1744. The 6-pounder Rubli presents is the pre 1750 model, that should have seen service during the War of Austrian Succession fom 1747 on, or even earlier. 

Below see the original Rubli sheet for the pre 1750 6-pounder:

source:
Vienna Kriegsarchiv, signature: Memoires XIII/463-465; Franz Rubli.
Published with kind permission of the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, department Kriegsarchiv at ka@oesta.gv.at

Interesting with this illustration is Rubli’s presentation of the complete team of learned gunners serving the piece just as it is specified in the 1757 Reglement für das gesammte Kaiserlich Königliche Feld-Artillerie-Corps. Since the gunners already wear the new uniform, which is said, has been inroduced only by 1750, his illustraded draft should be dated to around this time. The gunners should be from the Haus-Artillerie Corps—i.e. invalids serving in Vienna, rather then gunners from the Field Artillery Corps.  The gunner serving as gun commander is seen laying the piece. He held the rank of a Stück-Korporal. He was also the one in charge for placing the fuze into the touch hole. One gunner has its position at the trail employing the trail spike to assist in laying the piece. One gunner serving as firer, and on the most left we see the gunner with the sponge in charge for whiping and ramming the cartrige down the barrel. On his right is the gunner in charge for placing the cartige into the muzzle, while the gunner in the background is the one in charge to supply new rounds from the ammunition box or the guns associated ammunition cart located in some distance to the rear of the gun. The team for all field guns was the same—i.e. the new 3-, 6-, & 12-pounders. Only the number of Handlangers changed in size. The 7-pounder field howitzer had a team of 6 Büchsenmeisters and 1 Jung-Feuerwerker (NCO rank) or a total of 7 learned gunners.
Below see the draft of the 6-pounder including limber illustrating the carriage with all its gear and iron fittings by around 1775:

source: Scharnhorst, Handbuch der Artillerie, vol i, edition Hannover 1804
It has often been used as template to illustrate the SYW model. However, this gun would look authentic if seen on the battlefields of Marengo and Austerlitz, but certainly not at Kolin or Lobositz. Note, this cariage has no additional Marschlager. I don’t know at what time the Marschlager was omitted for the 6-pounder—possibly well before 1767. The ammunition chest has been placed onto the limber, introduced only after the death of prince Liechtenstein in 1772. The wheels of the limber come with 6 felly elements and 12 spokes, which is an error. The M1752 limber wheels as well as the small wheels for the ammunition wagons had 5 felly elements and only 10 spokes. A contemporay illustrated manual for the 3-pounder, dating to around 1775, found at the Vienna Army Museum confirms it. 

image source:
Ottenfeld & Teuber, Die Österreichische Armee von 1700 bis 1867, Vienna, 1897.



Above 2 images are another take of the 6-pounder illustrated by Rudolf von Ottenfeld.  They have been dated—somewhat carelessly—as 1762 and 1760 respectively. As per its caption, its supposed to show the 3-pounder field gun, but the dimesions of the barrel in relation to the wheels reveal it is really the 6-pounder field gun that Ottenfeld has illustrated here. It is also indicated by the centre transom seen in the second image.  The 3-pounder carriage did not come with a centre transom througout the period.  The manner of the iron fittings of the carriage are those of the period at around 1800 and clearly not 1753.  Ottenfeld also missed to illustrate the iron pins to take the Keil-Richtmaschine along with the largish iron strap on the bracket cheek somewhat in front of the centre transom.

Below I now present the M1752 12-pounder on its new carriage:



Draft of the 12-pdr Field Gun limbered by 1815/1816. Source: Louis van Beethoven Collection Bonn or Berlin, Germany (?)


The dimensions of the above Napoleonic period piece remaied mostly unaltered. The original M1752 bracket cheek accounted for a length of 27 calibres, while the later construction was somewhat longer. 30 calibres as per the Waffenlehre of 1807, which makes a good match with the above illustration. Also note the difference with the iron fittings.  The wheels come without iron straps and also the manner of iron fittings of the bracket cheeks are different to those, found with the earlier models of the SYW period.  This 12-pdr is seen with its ammunition box mounted on the limber, introduced only during the 1770's and apparently with different dimensions as the 1752 model.

Below see 3 original 12-pounder barrels on display at the Vienna Army Museum:
Image courtesy Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum HGM, Austria

This barrel cast 1761 in the Habsburg Netherlands foundry of Mecheln comes with the 1752 Regulation trunnion shoulder design, but also with the 1750 Regulation pine cone shaped button instead of the 1752 Regulation flattened sphere design. It weighs 1,369 Vienna Pfund or 768 kg, which is a close match to the barrels nominal weight of 1,344 Pfund. The barrel length is 181.5 cm measured from the rear of the lowered fillet behind the base ring to the front of the muzzle.  A close match to its nominal length of 182.25 cm.  Another such M1750 barrel cast in 1768 at the Mecheln foundry you can see below.  This barrel has a length of 183.8 cm—the deviation to the above 1761 cast barrel not being an indication to a different design, but the result of this periods standard of pre-industrial fabrication.
Image courtesy Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum HGM, Austria
It has the trunnion shoulders as well as the button in a variant of the 1750 Regulation, rather then those of the 1752 mouldings. The draft is dated 1765 and found at the Vienna Kriegsarchiv. Its the draft of the 18 calibres Light Battery 24-pdr presented by Wenzel von Callot in Mecheln / Habsburg Netherlands. Also note the variant with the barrels insignia. On the chase, it has the arms of prince Charles de Lorraine, stadholder or govenor of the Habsburg Netherlands, as well as another coat of arms that I was unable to identify. The Habsburg Netherlands department of the Austrian artillery retained a somewhat independent status within the corps and was not subordinate to the command of prince Liechtenstein. Sidenote: the barrel in the background is an Austrian M1716/1722 3-pdr, 28 calibres or 200.5 cm long—longer then the Liechtenstein 12-pdr! Its a 1720 cast of the Austrian gun foundry in Milan/Italy. Also see a somewhat special designed 12-pdr barrel cast in Vienna in 1767:  
Image courtesy Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum HGM, Austria

  This one has the 1752 Regulation mouldings but comes with a rather massive non regulation muzzle swell. The ring accounting for a width of 18/32 instead of the Regulation 12/32. Also the dolphins remain not sculptured. Other barrels on display in Vienna and cast at later dates still continue to have the dolphins sculptored as Pratzen.  This 12-pdr barrel comes with a length of 182.8 cm.

To complete the 1752 Regulation range of new light field guns, I now present the M1752 7-pounder "Howitzer". This piece replaced the M1750 10-pounder howitzer, which was removed from the range of the regulation ordnance in 1752. However, it is believed it has been added to the range again sometimes during the SYW, since Gribeauval states in his March 1762 report to the French Minister of War, that Austrians fielded 7- and 10-pounder howitzers. The other Austrian howitzer designs in use during the SYW I will present further below along with the range of battery guns.



Original barrel on display at the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum


From 1759 on, also a number of 24-pounders start to appear with the tables of guns fielded with the artillery train of the field army. A total of 6 in 1759, 8 in 1760, and 6 again in 1761 and 1762.
According to Gribeauval’s report of March 1762, it was captured Prussian guns. This piece can be identified as the M1744 super-light Holtzmann 24-pounder presented with the below draft.

Gribeauval writes: « On a mené par complaisance quelques pièces de 24 prises sur l’ennemy; c’etoint des espèces d’obuziers qui étoint sans solidité, sans portée et sans justesse; elles entraînoint une suite énorme de caissons. L’atrillerie a toujours protesté contre; elles n’ont jamais produit aucun bon effet; cependant elles ont été soutenues pendant deux campagnes par les calmeurs des admirateurs des productions prussiens [sic.]. »
Transl: For reasons of complacency, we also have some 24-pounders taken from the enemy; their design resembles that of howitzers; they are without solidity, without range, and without accuracy; they require an enormous number of ammunition wagons. The artillerie corps always rejected them; they never produce any good effect; however the artillery corps opposition had been calmed during two campaigns by our admirers of designs “made in Prussia”. These guns had a 6 horse draught and were served by the same number of learned gunners plus Handlangers as the 12-pdr field guns. This bit being found in the tables of: Beiträge zur Geschichte des österreichischen Heerwesens, part 1: Period of 1757—1814 with particular attention to Organization, Supply, Tactics; Vienna 1872.

Now we come the range of the so entitled “Leichten Batterie-Stücke” (Light Battery Guns). This range, along with the field guns is to be regarded as the genuine new creation of Austrian gun design under the direction of Liechtenstein from 1744 on. The first designs should have been fielded already at around 1745 during the War of Austrian Succession. It is the guns Rubli presents with his manuscript. The other range of Austrian battery guns were entitled “Schwere Batterie-Stücke” (Heavy Battery Guns). The figures for this branches designs of the 1750 and 1752 Regulations reveal, that their dimensions remaind mostly unaltered to the old pattern guns in use since 1716/1722.

Below see Rubli's original illustration of this guns barrel fixed into the rearwards Marsch-Lager and limbered for the march.

source:
Vienna Kriegsarchiv, signature: Memoires XIII/463-465; Franz Rubli.
Published with kind permission of the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, department Kriegsarchiv at ka@oesta.gv.at





With the next sheets I present the other howitzers in use during the SYW. The 12-pounder howitzer design, identified as M1737 and the original heavier M1716/1722 regulation pieces were still in use during the SYW and later until they were eventually removed from the inventory during the 1780’s. According to the 1757 campaign journal of Horace St. Paul, 6 such old pattern 12-pdr howitzers took part in the bombardment of Zittau, reducing this unfortunate city to ashes. With near certainty they were also employed with the siege of Schweidnitz/Silesia and in the batteries raised to cover the crossings of the Lohe river with the battle of Breslau the same year. (See: Cogswell, Neil, Lobositz to Leuthen. Horace St Paul and the Campaigns of the Austrian Army in the Seven Years War 1756-57). 


Original draft of the 12–pdr howitzer believed M1737. Source: Württembergische Landesbibliothek/Stuttgart, Germany – Sammlung Nicolai  


With the below sheet, see the new M1752 field and light battery cannons arranged on a single sheet in same scale.



The next range of Austrian ordnance are the Heavy Battery Guns or "Schwere Batterie-Sücke" as per their official Austrian 1752 designation.  It was a 24- and 12-pdr design.



Original 1750 cast 24-pdr barrel on display at the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (HGM)

I am pleased to be able to present an original M1750 barrel with this article on display at the Vienna Heeresgeschitliches Museum, as well as another 1750 cast barrel as part of the Liechtenstein Princely Collections. 

Source: © Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna. Online Archive at
https://www.liechtensteincollections.at

It confirms that the 1750 designed ordnance wasn't produced for testing only, but serial casts commenced right away, as the HGM barrel was cast in the foundry of Budapest and the Liechtenstein Collection barrel was cast in Vienna the same year.  All the new guns for testing purposes would have been cast in Vienna, only.  The two other barrels seen behind the rather stylish roccoco HGM 1750 cast 24-pdr are M1716/1722 24–pdrs of the old pattern.  This gun deserves a closer observation, as it should have been found in service during the SYW. I present it with the below sheets.



I did not bother to do an illustration ot the M1750 barrel mounted on its M1750 carriage.  It was basically the same as the one Rubli illustrates. 

Original M1716/1722 24-pdr barrel on display at the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (HGM)

Also see a wonderful 3D animation of a 1724 cast Anton Zechenter barrel with all details:  

24-pounder barrel on display at the Vienna Heeresgeschichtliches Museum 

This animation is provided with the kind permission of Florian Böttcher/Austria.

Below see another sheet by Frantz Rubli where he demonstrates that the new 18 calibres barrel 24-pdr Light Battery Gun, if mounted on a ship or rampart carriage, reaches as far into the embrasure as the old pattern heavy 1/2 Carthaune mounted on its custom ‘travelling’ carriage (using this periods English denomination here).

source:
Vienna Kriegsarchiv, signature: Memoires XIII/463-465; Franz Rubli.
Published with kind permission of the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, department Kriegsarchiv at ka@oesta.gv.at


This piece is a M1716/1722 barrel—easy to identify by its eagle designed cascabel and button.  As mentioned afore, the old pattern carriages bracket cheeks are about 42 calibres long, instead of Rubli’s 32.  The wheels arrive at 64.5 Vienna Zoll or near 170 cm diameter, just like the wheel Rubli recommends with his documented 1737 design.  Its total weight including the barrel arrives at 8,946 Vienna Pfund or 5,021 kg while the new light 24-pdr structure weighs no more then 3,550 Vienna Pfund or 1,992.5 kg, as Rubli writes in the accociated captures on this sheet.  His
illustrated wooden parts of the heavy 24-pdr carriage are coloured near black.  I believe he illustrated an older more weathered carriage that has received a furnishing treatment with tar in addition to its initial linseed oil treatment.  His other ‘new’ carriages for his new ordnance guns are all illustrated in a much lighter shade of wood brown—i.e. treated with linseed oil furnish only.  Somewhat irritating remains his take of the bronze for the barrels.  It looks like plain copper, not bronze.  Possibly his palette of colours may have lacked sufficient yellow. We don’t know.
Below see also two images of an origninal 1643 manufactured carriage on display at Forchtenstein castle, Burgenland / Austria, as part of the extensive Estherhàzy Armory Collection exhibited here.  As said with the afore, it already includes many details seen with the carriages Rubli presents a 100 years later.  As far as I can recollect, its the carriage of a 12-pdr.  Note the long top face of the bracket cheek from the trunnion cutouts to the bow or angle.  It indicates that the carriage mounted a long barrel of around 30 calibres length, or even longer.  Please excuse the poor quality of the photos.  This piece is on display inside the castles gateway to the inner castle.  It was pitch dark here.
source:
Original carriage on display at Forchtenstein Castle, Burgenland / Austria at
esterhazy.at/en/forchtenstein-castle


source:
Original carriage on display at Forchtenstein Castle, Burgenland / Austria at
esterhazy.at/en/forchtenstein-castle


Below find the last piece of the new Liechtenstein ordnance M1752 as well as its M1737 predecessor.





Since I have already presented two pieces of the old pattern M1716/1722 ordnance in use before the introduction of the new Liechtenstein guns, I decided to also present some of the lighter guns in use. Next comes the 6-pdr cannon known under its name "Faclon" or German Falcaune.
The next gun is the 3–pounder cannon, entitled common "Regiments–Stück" or Engl: "Regimantal–Gun" or "Battalion–Gun", allthough this term became in use only much later, since the regular assignment of light guns to infantry battalions was unknown in the Austrian army prior to the SYW.
With this sheet, I also include the complete table of the Austrian Ordnance accepted for service by 1722.  
image source:
Ottenfeld & Teuber, Die Österreichische Armee von 1700 bis 1867, Vienna, 1897.

Above image illustrates what I would identify as a 3-pounder cannon on its carriage limbered during the period of the War of Spanish Succession.
Finally, I present a sheet with two samples of very light guns in use.




37 comments:

  1. Thank you Christian for an excellent article. It is very useful that "information gap" was covered and we know much more about marshal Liechtenstein´s artillery reform in 1750-1757. He and his team leaded by general and later marshal Anton Ferdinand von Feuerstein and his brother Andreas Leopold - both born in Prague, created a new cannon generation.

    "Liechtenstein artillery" has a big share on marshal Leopold von Daun victory over Prussian army at battle of Kolin June 18, 1757, as recognised both king Friedrich II and marshal Daun. Battle near of town Kolin (where I live) is named as "Day when Habsburg monarchy was reborn".

    Much of the artillery reform works took place in South Bohemia near of Budweis (Ceske Budejovice) - there Feldzoigamt and General Staff of Artillery had HQ, in nera town Rudolfov was founded the first artillery school on Central Europe (1744) and near of town Tyn nad Vltavou (Moldauthein) was artillery training ground where all the guns and howitzers were tested. So far there are remains of a large training fortress called "Polygon" with three bastions and ravelin, or shooting target "Epolement". These are to be restored as military monument of common Czech-Austrian history.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. great information. my grandfather in 9th generation was royal gun founder in budapest, he built these kind of cannons. His Son was Generalmajor Joseph von Zechenter, he worked with Liechtenstein, Daun and Joseph II. Maybe you have more information regarding budweis for me, because i live nearby in Austria. my email would be florian.boettcher@gmail.com thx

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    2. Wow, this is such an excellent source that you provide here! Congrats / Thank you very much.
      May I place a special question about the K.u.K. artillery of SYW here?
      It is about the Uniforms of the train fellows, driving the limbered pieces as well as the caissons, i.e. in German the "Trossknechte" or the "Rosspartei". They as kind-of civilian backoffice staff rather than outright frontline soldiers are seldom covered in pictures or explicit descriptions, probably they weren't as propperly regulated in clothing as the core teams at the gun. But what is the best guess? You have one pictured abouve in the 1710 picture. I wonder what it was around 1760, i.e. SYW outright.
      They very likely wore a kind of grey or brown. But the question is whether it is the same shade as with the "Büchsenmeisters" or wether it was an intended distinction. Some of my sources have it more towards grey for the train versus rather brown for the artillrists themselves. In German I sometimes read it as "perlgrau vs. wolfsbraun/wolfsgrau".
      Do you have any insight to this issue.
      I collect and paint flat 30 mm tin figures myself (though not for gaming plates). And the Trosskechte for my limber teams are due nex. Thus any help for the shading would be highly welcome.
      Holger Schulz

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  2. Thanks for sharing. This is a very interesting article and I am looking forward to the next part.

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  3. This is a very interesting and informative article.

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  4. Liked the info, have a 20mm Austrian and Prussian, Plus Hanoverians.

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  5. This is very interesting. However, I have some remarks:
    1. According to my research the Keilschraubenrichtmaschine was introduced only by the reform of 1772. Prior to this date, the Austrians used a Schraubenrichtmaschine similar to that of the French Gribeauval System.
    2. The plates of the Rubli Manuscript a very remarkable, since they show that the Lafetten had two "Ruheriegel" as used in the times when the gun barrel was alleviated by a simple "Richtkeil". Accordingly, I assume that the drawings were made prior to 1752 when the Lichtenstein System was formally introduced.

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    1. A Schraubenrichtmaschine similar to the French Gribeauval one??? Where is this bit from? Very doubtful. Gribeauvals design was actually based on the one in use with Hanover's artillery. I do have drafts of the Keil-Richtmaschine that come along with drafts of the Prussian M1747 Keil-Richtmaschine, hence should be dated to around the same period.
      Both are quite similar and with the lower lying wedge to be placed ontop the two centre transoms. A vertical standing screw bar would indeed have required a single largish centre transom, as found with the English or Hanover's guns.

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    2. The Liechtenstein Collection (Sammlung Lichtenstein) in Vienna owns the original manuscript of the Feuerstein directive of 1752. This directive includes drawings of the entire artillery material (gun barrels, howitzers, mortars, gun carriages, etc.). This drawings show Schraubenrichtmaschinen for the guns. The only difference is that the French system is not using a wheel for srewing, but a cross-handle. According to my knowledge Gribeauval served in the Austrian army until the end of the 7 years war in 1763, with the specific purpose to study the Austrian military. He introduced his artillery system in France in 1765.

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    3. This is most interesting. I had a phone call with the Vienna Kriegsarchiv last week. Dr. Hochedlinger also recommended to consult the Liechtenstein Haus-Archiv, as the entire registry of the artillery prior to 1770/1772 is lost. Hence, research in the Kriegsarchiv would likely become VERY time consuming and without certainty of finding what I am looking for. Are you willing to share your research. Do you have the signature or inventory no. of this Feuerstein directive of 1752? Any images? I would be happy if you contact me under christian.ka.rogge et web-dot-de.

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  6. Very interesting article. Is there any information regarding the Reichsreserveartillerie of the 7YW period?

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    1. I'm afraid no. I would have to look it up. But the term "reserve artillery" was used in the Austrian army during the 7YW and later. I think in 1760, an Austrian major v. Grumbach was in command of Zweibrückens Reichsarmee artillery. The reserve arty here should have been Austrian guns for the most part.

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  7. Thanks! I'm also looking to track down information on the quick firing amusette. There are illustrations of the mechanism, but nothing I have found on the barrel or carriage.

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  8. Hi Christian, i'm an italian wargamer and a fan of your work and also a fan of SYW. I'm in trouble for determining if howitzer artilley have or not a "dead zone" of fire in front of them, due to their curve trajectory fire. In some sources if find that dead zone it's like 200-300 meters, is it true? many thanks for you answers. Davide

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    1. Not that I know of. The field howitzers such as the 7-pdr even employed canister for close range fire. They fired shell moreoften with very little elevation not so different from the cannon. Mortars would have a dead zone, but not howitzers.

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  9. That's great work. Is there some chance that you will make something similar about the earlier ordonance, which was in service during the War of the Austrian Succession?

    Cheers,

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    1. Yes, I will. The heavy battery guns M1750 pretty much resembled the older ones. In addition I will also do the long barreled 3- & 6-pounders M1722 or M1737 respectively. I have loads of source material that needs to be shared with a wider audience. It just will take some time.
      The 3-pdr I present here at present is really state of the art at around 1749. Pieces to this design should have seen service even earlier from about 1745 on – but in more limited numbers.

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  10. Hello, I also deal with the Lichtenstein artillery system, I have carried out several constructions of works in a 1: 1 scale according to the original documentation obtained from the Vienna State Archives, if you are interested here a link to my FB profile https://www.facebook.com/ales.prostrednik.9/

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  11. Splendid article - thank you!

    Cheers,

    David.

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  12. I'm not sure exactly why but this web site is loading extremely slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I'll check back later and see if the problem still exists. find civil war ancestor

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    1. Hmm. May be because of the many images I have in this article. May be, I should split the article in two or three seperate articles.

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  13. Hello, I am a researcher from Romania doing work on a former Austrian ironworks in Bocșa, Romania, and I found a diagram of an iron cannon barrel cast there: https://ibb.co/348sDtR
    I found your blog while trying to find more information about Austrian artillery and I must congratulate you on the quality of your work. I noticed while reading this article that the example I found doesn't match the Lichtenstein system of 1753, despite the drawing being from 1783. The length (26 calibers) and diameter (3,6 zoll) don't match up. Could this have been a stationary gun, such as for fortifications? In addition, I noticed that all of the field guns in the article are bronze. Did the Austrian army not use cast iron cannons as field guns or am I missing something?

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    1. Hi Dragos,
      I had a look at your soure. I do not know what it sais. The drawing looks like Austrian source, but the caption maybe wrong. The barrel looks like the heavy 24–lib cannon. Not very accurate. What source is it? 3.6 Zoll calibre should be the 6 pounder bore diameter.
      As a general rule, all field guns were cast bronze. However, Austria did field also cast or wrought iron guns during the 18th C. But in very limited numbers. All were irregular non official Reguluation guns. I do not have any informations. I'm sorry.

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  14. Christian another excellent article - I too look forward to future additions. The clarity of the explanation and artwork is superb. Could you get in touch with me - I have some questions again re your flats Jonmarcus@mac.com Thanks JM

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  15. Top notch, just excellent. Were these guns horizontally bored from a solid cast? And if so, how different was this method from the one employed in the Vallière/Martiz system?

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  16. Christian, thanks for your articles - I found them very useful when started investigating 12-pounder Prussian cannon in a museum, where I work.
    Maybe you could help me find some sources to reveal its past? If you are interested, please contact me: shishov dot 94 at gmail dot com

    Cheers,

    Vladimir.

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    1. I sent you an email. Thank you for your request.

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  17. Great work. My grandfather in 9th generation Antoni Zechenter was the royal gun founder which casted the Liechtenstein cannon. I scanned them also at the museum in vienna and was able to cast some little copies in metall. Would be great if you can provide me your work regarding these cannons and maybe also some material you collected. my mail address is florian.boettcher@gmail.com and here you can see the scanned cannons: https://skfb.ly/oyttK

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  18. I have no information other than the model I have from a Russian miniatures foundry found in my article
    https://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com/search/label/My%20SYW%20gun%20models
    See at the very lower end for an image.

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    1. Thank you very much indeed! Really appreciate you reading . Many thanks once again!

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  19. I entered the following comment above a few minutes ago, but might have misplaced it as a "reply" to some former comment.
    It rather is an outright stand alone new comment. Thus I rewrite/replace it here; sorry for the doubling.
    Wow, this is such an excellent source that you provide here! Congrats / Thank you very much.
    May I place a special question about the K.u.K. artillery of SYW here?
    It is about the Uniforms of the train fellows, driving the limbered pieces as well as the caissons, i.e. in German the "Trossknechte" or the "Rosspartei". They as kind-of civilian backoffice staff rather than outright frontline soldiers are seldom covered in pictures or explicit descriptions, probably they weren't as propperly regulated in clothing as the core teams at the gun. But what is the best guess? You have one pictured abouve in the 1710 picture. I wonder what it was around 1760, i.e. SYW outright.
    They very likely wore a kind of grey or brown. But the question is whether it is the same shade as with the "Büchsenmeisters" or wether it was an intended distinction. Some of my sources have it more towards grey for the train versus rather brown for the artillrists themselves. In German I sometimes read it as "perlgrau vs. wolfsbraun/wolfsgrau".
    Do you have any insight to this issue.
    I collect and paint flat 30 mm tin figures myself (though not for gaming plates). And the Trosskechte for my limber teams are due nex. Thus any help for the shading would be highly welcome.
    Holger Schulz

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    1. Hi Holger, Unfortunately I have zero information here. My sole sources would be contemporary paintings. They show moreoften men with wolfsgrau coats and red facings. Some show blue or light blue coats. An illustration showing the handling of the 3-pounder (dating to around 1775-1780) depicts a Trossknecht with perlgrau coat, vest, and breeches, no lapels, yellow cuffs and collar, perlgrau turnbacks; and wearing the Lacy style casket. A similar dress may have been introduced by 1758???

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    2. Thank you Christian for the fast response and the hints provided.
      About the mentioned “light blue” coat: I believe I saw one such application in one of your game-battle scenes (or was it a similar, but different blog?). I don’t re-find here, I am still novice exploring your newly found blog which is a real treasure trove!
      But what I believe to remember to have seen was a limber with a mounted “Trossknecht” with a horse pair. It was set up back to an Austrian gunner team. And he was colored light (blue). I am not sure whether the limber part really was an original k.u.k. figure or whether that limber was rather “borrowed” for that game from one of your different armies. Could it be?
      But your other sources confirm the “perlgrau” possibility? At least some?
      Then I will likely head for that solution.
      I found your blog as a source just in time for this doublecheck and discussion. My waiting (16 altogether) unmounted Trossknechte are already prime coloured. (I would post a photo of them, if I knew how.)
      They stem from the “Scholtz” offizin, that you obviously know well. I recognized the Büchsenmeister teams that you use, the original stock from that firm. I also spotted the “overridden by cavalry” gun defenders, that you elaborate on and which I own as well. The latter are sold by Scholtz now, though I think he took over these molds from a different engraver some 10 (very rough estimate) years ago.
      The Trossknechte that are due for my painting are very similar in engraving to the Büchsenmeisters from the traditional Scholtz sets (the six phases of firing).
      The waistcoats and overcoats are very similar to those of the Büchsenmeisters and Artilleriefüsiliers, without opened flaps at the coattails though.
      The cuffs in the engraved figures are very similar in size, basically the same for Gunners, Fusiliers, and Knechte. And for the cuffs I am in fact pretty sure that they all get the same fire-red colour of the outright artillerist. It that aspects there seems to be a clear majority in that regard among the different sources.
      Due to the overall high similarity between artillerists and train personnel in the engraving of the figures I was/am very hesitant to head for a different coat basic colour.
      But I tend to the pearl vs. wolf distinction now.
      Thanks again for the encouragement in that regard and the confirmation that at least “some” of your sources have it in pearl.
      Regards
      Holger

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  20. Hi Holger,
    You can mail me at christian dot ka dot rogge at web dot de. I can provide you with images etc that might be usefull. I take it you are German. Cheers, Christian

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    1. Hi Christian,
      thanks for providing the mail opportunity.
      You should have received a notice from derschulle there by now.
      Regards
      Holger

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  21. Your post is a beacon of brilliance! Insightful, well-crafted, and truly valuable. Thanks for sharing your perspective with us.

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