Artillery
A NEW USE FOR AN OBSOLETEÂ WEAPON
Here is a photo of a Priester. The firer is a bit close to it. Normally it was fired by tugging a cord about one metre long. The strange name Priester is allegedly due to the fact that the weapon was invented by a Hungarian priest named Vecer. Originally deployed with the Austro-Hungarian army, it was made under license by…
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EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH SMOOTHBOREÂ ARTILLERY
David Morier, the British artillery train at the camp of Roermond (Flanders) in 1748. Lt. â Gen. Albert Borgard, 1st Col. â Commandant of the Royal Artillery, in Holland â centre. The successes of Gustavus Adolphus âs field artillery in the seventeenth century exerted a profound effect throughout Europe. The…
German WWI Anti/Tank Experience
Mauser Tankgewehr M1918 German troops using the minenwerfer as an anti-tank gun in October 1918 September 15, 1916, began as a routine day for the German infantrymen in the forward trenches around Flers on the Sommeâas routine as any day was likely to be after two and a half months…
Henry VIIIâs Ordnance
Demi-culverin circa 1587 cast locally The modern term âordnanceâ apparently derived from the time of the reign of Englandâs Henry VIII (b. 1491; r. 1509-1547). Cannons in Henryâs artillery train were typically referred to at the time originally as âpieces of ordinanceâ or âordinance guns,â to denote their casting according…
Meaux Falls 1422 Part II
He was employing more cannon than ever before â bombards, culverins and serpentines â more guns of all shapes and sizes arrived every day. Some may be seen at the MusĂ©e Militaire in the Invalides at Paris. He also had ribaudequins which were battle carts mounting several small cannon side…
IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ARMY â RUSSOâJAPANESEÂ WAR
On the eve of the RussoâJapanese War, Russian land forces were the biggest in the world, numbering 41,079 officers and 1,067,000 other ranks, and with full deployment of more than 3 million including the reserves. The sum of Russian troops stationed at that time east of Lake Baikal (the Priamur…
152mm Gun 2A36Â M1976
During the 1970s the Soviets developed a new towed 152mm gun. It was first seen by NATO Intelligence sources in 1976, and so was dubbed the M1976. However, it did not enter service until 1981, when it replaced the M-46 130mm field gun. It was another four years before the…