Napoleonic Peculiarities in the March issue. The statement that the Prussian had no howitzers is incorrect. By 1809 the Prussian artillery was organised. In three Brigades of twelve foot and three horse companies each. Each company was equipped with six cannon and two howitzers. Whilst it is certainly true that by 1813 some companies were equipped only with cannon, at least one company, in the Schlesische Brigade, was equipped entirely with 7pdr howitzers. In addition to the 7pdrs, the Prussians also employed 10pdrs. They possessed 200 howitzers by 1812. These weapons were painted, as were all the Prussian pieces, light blue. Details of the Prussian artillery, together with an illustration of a Prussian howitzer may be found in David Nash's book "The Prussian Army 1808-1815". Furthermore, I would question the statement concerning the light artiilery organic to the Grenadier battalions. However to be fair, I only base this on the fact that I have never seen it said before and it seems unlikely. Regarding Prussian skirmishers. The Prussian infantry were based on the regimental system. A regiment consisted of three battalions, two of musketeers and one of Fusiliers, plus a division, two companies, of grenadiers. The grenadiers were detached and grouped into autonomous Grenadier battalions. The remaining three battalions operated together. Under normal circumstances it would be quite wrong to depict one of these battalions operating independently. The light infantry element within the Regiment was supplied by the Fusilier battalion. It was this battalion that under normal circumstances would furnish any skirmishers. In addition to the fusilier battalion .. many regiments had a volunteer Jager unit, of up to company strength, attached to them. These were also available as skirmishers and were armed with rifles as were the regular Jager and Schutzen battalions. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 173 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1976 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com