The La Hitte system (), named after the French general Ducos, Count de La Hitte, was an artillery system designed in March 1858 to implement rifled

muzzle-loading A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading fire ...

guns in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

Conception

The La Hitte system was developed through the collaborative work of Lieutenant-colonel Treuille de Beaulieu ("Directeur de l'atelier de précision") who had developed the principle and General de La Hitte ("Président du Comité d'Artillerie") who had implemented it:''The Edinburgh Review'' - Page 499 1864
/ref>

Specifications

The new rifled guns were used from 1859 during the Franco-Austrian War in Italy.''French Army 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War (1)'' by Stephen Shann p.37
/ref> These guns were a considerable improvement over the previous smooth-bore guns which had been in use. They were able to shoot at either regular shells, ball-loaded shells or grapeshot. They appear to have been the first examples of rifled cannons used on a battlefield. The system was muzzle-loading, and the shells could only be detonated at one of two set distances. The shells, based on the 1847 invention of Captain Tamisier, were oval-shaped, and had small protrusions to follow the grooves of the bore. Previous guns, such as the Canon obusier de 12, were rifled to accommodate the system."Napoleon went so far, however, in 1858, as to order his SB guns rifled, under the bastard system known as the "Lahitte System," which continued in general use in France until 1870" in ''The Long Arm of Lee'' by Jennings Cropper Wise, Gary W. Gallagher p.3

/ref> The system included newly-rifled siege guns of , and bore, new field guns of and bore, new siege guns of and bore, and a mountain gun of bore.

Change in meaning of gun designations

With the introduction of rifling and elongated shells replacing the old roundshot, guns could fire projectiles of nearly twice the previous weight possible for a given bore (calibre). The rifling gave a far greater range for a given propellant charge, hence a minimal increase in gunpowder was needed for the heavier shells. While the La Hitte guns retained the traditional ''4'' designation, the number now approximated to kg rather than the livre (French pound) as previously. Hence the Canon de campagne de 4 La Hitte fired a shell weighing nearly .

Obsolescence

The La Hitte system was superseded in 1870 with the work of

Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye (; 30 July 1821 – 6 December 1880) was a French artillery general of the 19th century, and superintendent of the works at Meudon. He was a former ordnance officer for Napoleon III. He also established the gun m ...

and the development of

breech-loading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...

rifled guns.

Image gallery

Image:Canon de campagne raye 1858.jpg, Rifled muzzle-loading gun "Canon de campagne de 4 rayé modèle 1858, ''L' Aubry''". Caliber: . Length: . Weight: . Ammunition: shell.

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, cast in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in 1859, re-tubed with steel. Image:Canon de montagne de 4 modele 1859.jpg, Rifled mountain cannon "Canon de montagne de 4 rayé modèle 1859". Caliber: . Length: . Weight: . Ammunition: shell. Captured in

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

(

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) in 1912. Image:Canon de 12 La Hitte Modele 1859.jpg, Canon de 12 La Hitte, Modele 1859, cast in 1869 at

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

, bronze. Caliber: , rifled. Length: . Weight: . Ammunition: shells. Image:Canon_de_24_L_Aubepine_1867_Bourges.jpg, Canon de 24, ''L'Aubépine'', 1867,

References

{{French weapons of the 19th century Artillery of France American Civil War artillery Second French intervention in Mexico