What actually Happened?

[EireEmerald]

After playing this game I have become incredibly curious as to what artillery actually did to people. For instance, I never knew that they predominently used round shot in this period and that it never broke up but just bounced. What did these actually do to men when they hit them? I am well aware of decapitation but what actually happened when these balls hit the torso? did they rip the body in half or just smash into it and then push it to the side rather than penetrate the body? I know it sounds really unusual to ask but I am very curious to know what these things actually did to people.

[bigcheese]

It killed them.

Seriously though: if a cannon ball hit you in the chest it would probably go straight through you.

[GenWolfe]

They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way... the wounds would be pretty mangled and not a clean cut.... I saw some pictures that a field surgeon had drawn.. its wasn't pretty stuff.

[Ataraxie]

...and even a spent roundshot, rolling along the ground, could take a foot off/break legs/bounce up and gut someone.

Artillery engaging cavalry would've been horrific, if they could hit 'em, a horse would make a rather spectacular mess.

[Mediteran]

They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way...

is it possible to rip apart someone in a nice way?

[GenWolfe]

is it possible to rip apart someone in a nice way?

Lol good point.

As to the pictures I believe I saw them on a history channel show... But I will look for some.

[EireEmerald]

Lol good point.

As to the pictures I believe I saw them on a history channel show... But I will look for some.

that would be cool

[eldaran]

Frederick the Great wrote:

... the roundshot, fired at close range, pierces not only all opposite lines; but the whistle and the noise that they cause, cause a hidden terror among the enemy troops which, joined by the cries of the wounded and dying, causes a feeling much stronger than the blood drawn by grapeshot at short range."

In the battle of Corunna in 1809, the British commander Sir John Moore was struck by French cannonball. He looked in the direction in which Hardinge was pointing and was suddenly thrown from his saddle. He fell on his back at the feet of Colonel Graham's horse. A round-shot had torn a hole so deep in his left shoulder that the lung was exposed, the ribs over the heart and part of the collar-bone had been smashed, the muscles of the breast had been torn into strips and the arm was hanging only by the sleeve of his coat and a shred of flesh.

All in all, not nice. Not only do you have direct impacts, but a cannonball will ricochet and bounce (in the right conditions), will throw up stones and pebbles from the ground, shatter wood and shower an area with splinters.

[Fisch]

Basically what happens around 2:45 in this clip is what happened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7ZgTD60PhA

[anaztazioch]

is it possible to rip apart someone in a nice way?

only if you use bare hands

[mandalore9]

24pounds = 10.88kg going at lets say 350m/s(max). So if the cannonball stops in a 1 second interval(usually lower) thats 3808newtons. an average punch from an average boxer is about 93 newtons.

So getting hit in your chest from a 24pdr gun going at 350m/s is ~41 times the force of an average boxer. Now you can imagine how that feels like.

[Treehuggerish]

24pounds = 10.88kg going at lets say 350m/s(max). So if the cannonball stops in a 1 second interval(usually lower) thats 3808newtons. an average punch from an average boxer is about 93 newtons.

So getting hit in your chest from a 24pdr gun going at 350m/s is ~41 times the force of an average boxer. Now you can imagine how that feels like.

damn... 4k newtons straight into the torso of a man... talk about overkill

[EireEmerald]

They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way... the wounds would be pretty mangled and not a clean cut.... I saw some pictures that a field surgeon had drawn.. its wasn't pretty stuff.

Could i have a look at them?

[lesterthenerd]

They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way... the wounds would be pretty mangled and not a clean cut.... I saw some pictures that a field surgeon had drawn.. its wasn't pretty stuff.

hey man can you like post the link plz?

btw this is what happens when a cannon ball hits u in the face :

[Fratyinside]

They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way... the wounds would be pretty mangled and not a clean cut.... I saw some pictures that a field surgeon had drawn.. its wasn't pretty stuff.

Would you care to share those pictures if you have nearby?

Oh wait. I scrolled up and there was an interesting picture from the battle of Gettysburg.

[Henry707]

"They would rip people apart and not in a very nice way..."

Is there any other way

Henri

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Well I can imagine if you got hit in the chest with it at a slow speed it would just smash your chest apart. Same if you got hit in the stomach.
No doubt why they were good at breaking morale.
The results of a hit was no doubt so gruesome and terrifying that they couldn't handle it.

[Gezoes]

There's another scene in The Patriot as well... can't find it. But it's a bouncing cannon ball taking away some lower legs.

[NATOguns]

With a cannonball, shall we just say that your guts and your bones are still going to get to the frontline. Carried by the soldiers who wheir standing next to you.
Ive you,re curious a musketball would kill or cripple you 80% of the time. You get hit in the arm, you bone shatters, which means your arms is going to be cutt off. Same goes for the legg, and a gut wound would also be letal 80% off the time.

[EireEmerald]

Just imagine seeing the mess that made for the first time and going....." I knew that guy...." It must have been horrible. And they wore such bright and colourful uniforms back then. It is really disturbing.