[.ca] British Napoleonic Artillery 1793-1815 (1): Field Artillery (ISBN 1841764760)

The Royal Artillery:
This is an excellent effort on the British field artillery of the Napoleonic period. There is interesting and useful information throughout the book. The subject is covered quite thoroughly, and there are sections on, among others, organization, ammunition, tactics, drill, and the guns and limbers that were used to pull them. It is a ready reference work, but a few things could have been done to make it better. There are no illustrations of British caissons, which would have been very helpful. The section on the Indian artillery, with one of the attendant color prints in the center of the booklet could have been left out. That was a very minor theater during the wars, and the space devoted to it could have been better used for material, such as Congreve's rockets, that would be more helpful for the period. Further, there are only four data tables, which seriously hurts the overall presentation. Three of these were taken directly from Adye's indispensable Bombardier and Pocket Gunner, the other being done for the book. There is nothing, data wise, on ranges in table form which would have been useful and something that is a must for an artillery presentation. The period illustrations which permeate the text are excellent and picture everything from guns in the field, to the use of an artillery gin, to showing the interior of the Royal Brass Foundry at Woolwich. The illustration of the 9-pounder field gun in the center color portion of the booklet has two errors: the axle and the trunnions are misidentified. The illustrations of the 6-pounder gun team, the 5.5-inch howitzer and crew, and the gun tubes and gin are really excellent, especially as one of the howitzer drawings shows the chambered bore. The glossary at the end of the text is both useful and accurate and is a plus for the volume. All in all this is a valuable booklet for British artillery and is recommended. It has a companion volume on British siege artillery of the period by the same author, which is actually the better of the two. It is highly recommended. Taken as a set, these two booklets should be owned by every historian and enthusiast interested in the artillery of the period. It is another 'arrow in the quiver' so to speak, and the information is solid and reliable, just like the guns that are described therein.