Gribeauval Cannon

Gribeauval Cannon

As a former Artillery-officer, Napoléon was very concerned by this branch. Massively regrouped in a tactical area, the cannons broke the defences of the ennemy under a deluge of projectiles before the infantry was forwarded.

"Les Etains du Prince" present to you the famous Gribeauval cannon, which was firing cannon-balls of eight pounds each up to 2000 meters twice a minute. The full cast-iron balls could be replaced by grapeshot boxes. As the scene shows it, eight servingmen were necessary to work this cannon.

Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval introduced several devices which allowed the guns to be manhandled with ease, thus bypassing the horse team for many movements in battle.

In the first place he introduced a set of drag ropes called bricoles and levers by which the gun crew could pull their cannon easily in any direction. He also used a split trail with a rounded base which did not stick in the ground when the cannon was pulled backwards.

Combined with this was the use of a long rope called prolonge which could be attached to the rear of the gun-carriage at one end, and to the limber at the other. The prolonge was very handy for rapid advances and retreats under fire.