Light Ammunition Wagon for Horse Artillery
I've read somewhere that Napoleon's horse artillery had used an ammunition wagon shorter and lighter than the classic Gribeauval ammunition wagon. Supposedly, this smaller wagon had no spare wheel at the rear and no additional chest or tool box at the front to keep the vehicle as light as possible.
I don't know if such vehicles were ever used by the French line (i.e. regular army) or Guard horse artillery, and if so if they were widespread but the principle seems to make sense. As the horse artillery, whose gunners were mounted on horses and whose guns were no heavier than the relatively light 8-pounder, was able to deploy more quickly and was nimbler than the foot artillery, it's logical that they could've wished for lighter ammunition wagons able to follow the horse artillery's movements as closely as possible so that the guns could be loaded and used without having to wait for the longer and bulkier wagons to arrive.
It's worth reminding though that the horse artillery's guns (similarly to the guns of the foot artillery) would've come equipped with a small chest containing a few rounds of ammunition so that the gun could fire even if an ammunition wagon was not around. Although, theoretically, these few rounds might've been considered primarily like a reserve to be used if the ammunition available in the wagons had been spent already.
In any case, as I had planned to, maybe, use a smaller wagon for my horse artillery, here we are. The wagon is of the park wagon model used to transport tools among other things.
A park wagon used to transport tools, front, and a similar wagon without a front chest, a rear spare wheel or a spare shaft used as an ammunition wagon for the horse artillery
If such a streamlined ammunition wagon was ever used by the Napoleonic French horse artillery, it was because a little fewer rounds of ammunition right now was deemed preferable to a little more rounds but potentially too late (if a bigger ammunition wagon was unable to follow the horse artillery around the countryside and battlefield as closely as a smaller wagon could). My light wagon contains 12 rounds instead of the 18 available in the longer wagons.
Although the ammunition wagon used by the horse artillery is not equipped with a spare wheel to keep it as light as possible, the wagon being of a standard "park wagon" model is fitted with a rear axle to carry a spare wheel if need be. Similarly, space and support are available at the front to accommodate a removable chest and on top connectors are provided
to fix a spare shaft.
the Horse Artillery of the Imperial Guard
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