French artilleryman with field cannon COBI 20093 - Napoleonic Wars 1:35

Did you know:

• The field cannon Canon de 12 Gribeauval was constructed by French inventor Jean-Babtiste Vaquette de Gribeauval already in 1765.
• At the time of its creation, it was the heaviest artillery piece of the French army.
• It was first deployed during the American War of Independence.
• The firing had a great psychological effect on the enemy, and later Emperor Napoleon increased the number of cannons for his armies up to 5000 pieces. 
• The cannon fired spherical projectiles at a distance of up to 900 meters. At short range, it fired canister shots called Caramboles.
• On October 15, 1765, the French army secretly introduced into service a whole artillery system consisting of cannons of different calibers 4, 8, and 12 pounds.
• Cannons were organized into batteries, always 4 pieces each.
• The operation required 12 soldiers and 6 horses. Four horses pulled the cannon and two the ammunition wagon Caisson.
• A trained crew was able to fire once per minute.
• A very important member of the crew was the 3rd gunner with the rammer and the soldier with the brush rod. The barrel had to be cleaned of the remains of glowing gunpowder after each shot to prevent premature ignition of the new powder charge. If this happened, it usually resulted in injuries to several crew members.
• Napoleon Bonaparte is also the author of the first successful strategy for deploying cannons. He placed batteries at a distance of about 600 meters so they could provide mutual support.
• From 1829, these cannons were gradually replaced by lighter howitzers of the Valée system.

Technical parameters:

• dimensions: barrel length 231 cm
• weight 985 kg
• material cast iron
• caliber 121 mm
• front loading
• effective range 900 m
• maximum range 1,800 m

Napoleon I. Bonaparte on artillery:

,,Our cannons rule the battlefield. There is no country that has better cannons and artillerymen. They are my beauties."

About the construction set :

• construction set COBI French Artileryman is made of 97 high-quality ABS parts
• the complete set contains 1 figurine
• Napoleonic Wars collection
• pad printed - no stickers
• faithful design
• made in EU