British Artillery

Cannons

Britain had a small, but highly effective, artillery arm - the Royal Artillery - that was exceedingly well trained, but suffered from light guns and a lack of resources.

The basic guns were 3-6 pounders, although 9-pounders became available during the Peninsular War (1808-1814), and the British found themselves at a distinct disadvantage against French cannons.

So much so, that the Duke of Wellington forbade his gunners to engage in counter-battery fire against the bigger French weapons and ordered them to concentrate on firing on enemy troops.

The anti-personnel bias of British artillery was boosted by the invention of a fused spherical case-shot that was designed, by General Sir Henry Shrapnel, to explode over the heads of enemy troops and shower them with musketballs.

British cannon barrels were brass, with the carriages, wheels and limbers painted grey while metal pieces were black.

Ranges
Crews
Firing Sequence
Ammunition

Rockets

Another major British invention was the Congreve Rocket, which would shoot a barrage of 12-pounder explosives in the general (hopefully) direction of the enemy.

Unfortunately, accuracy was not a major success with the rockets and although they did see action in Spain and Portugal, as well as in Germany, they were not viewed as being particularly useful.