I was quite surprised in looking at the table given in the above article (MULLER'S TREATISE ON ARTILLERY) to see that the French 6 in. howitzer had a maximum range of 1200 yards...at 10 degrees elevation!!! It suddenly appears to me that we treat our howitzers like modern mortars and that the Napoleonic Howitzers had a much flatter trajectory than we think. It is true that howitzers have a higher trajectory than field guns but not much higher especially at the beginning of the trajectory when the shell has been fires. Let us see if we can figure out how far back an howitzer would have to be positioned to have its projectiles clear a 4 yard obstacle (1 man and security margin of 2 yards). A short diagram allows us to find the distance to be about 23 yards so since we are using 1 in. to 10 yards at least 2 inches behind a man and that is at maximum elevation. For an elevation of only 5 degrees the distance doubles and becomes 46 yards. I suggest to change the rule and not to allow firing an howitzer over the heads of foot soldiers when firing on the same level unless the howitzer is back at least 4 inches from them. The distance would be 6 inches for firing over cavalry, and then also the distance would be increased 1 in. for each contour the Howitzer wants to fire over. I don't see how an Howitzer can fire over a wood or a tall building. It is where the siege mortar may become of interest. Anybody know about siege mortars? Comments please. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 8 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com