Having finished my rereading of Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars by Kevin Kiley, I quote three passages that I think contradict what is done in JTS Napoleonic Battles :
Quote:
Artillery seldom took position directly behind friendly troops, for two reasons: first, the troops did not like it, as a round could fall short and cause friendly casualties; and secondly, the reaction of those troops to their own artillery might be detrimental to the offending artillerymen’s state of mind and personal safety.
However, it is a very good tactic in NB to put artillery right behind your infantry, just one level higher.
Quote:
It should be remembered, when studying the field artillery of the period, that all of the guns and howitzers were direct-fire weapons, in that the gunner had to see his target, whether he was firing a gun with a flat trajectory or a howitzer with a more parabolic trajectory which allowed it to fire into ditches, behind walls, etc. Modern fire control methods were unknown during the Napoleonic period.
On the contrary, in NB, howitzer are indeed indirtect-fire guns (think about artillery in FWWC which must have a free direct line of fire to shoot at 5 or 6 km (so with a parabolic trajectory)).
Quote:
The reason for so many caissons assigned per battery was that Napoleon required that there always be a double “approvisionment” (standard load) of ammunition per gun with the army– 300 to 350 rounds per gun. The system worked very well, and the Grande Armée never ran out of ammunition.
No out of ammo french guns...
About Kiley's book, I found it full of very interesting things, including technical data summarized in large, clear tables. Unfortunately, there are repetitions and the book is badly structured.