3-038-993 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Bringing up ship guns at the Buttes Montmartre, Paris, (sketch by balloon post), 1871. The Siege of Paris, Franco-Prussian War. '...we present [an illustration]...from the sketches of our clever French Artist, M. Jules Pelcoq, sent out of that city by balloon post... the manner in which the siege guns in the Prussian batteries are mounted. This is so arranged as to dispense with the wide and deep embrasures in the breastwork commonly required for the working of such guns. Each piece of artillery is elevated above its carriage by a triangular iron frame upon the side- beams, while the muzzle, of course, is either depressed or elevated by the screw underneath the hinder end of the gun. The breech-loading apparatus at the side of the chamber is peculiar, and seems to work very well'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.