Grand Battery

Grand Battery (Grande Batterie, meaning big or great battery) was a French artillery tactic of the Napoleonic Wars. It involved massing batteries into a single large, temporary battery, and concentrating the firepower of their guns at a single point in the enemy's lines which could lead to a split in the line.

Substituting volume of fire for accuracy, a rate of fire and rapid movement, it was rarely used in the wars' early years. As the quality of artillery crews and their horses declined, it was employed more frequently during later (post-1808) campaigns.

At Wagram some of Archduke Charles' troops would lay down instead of standing in the open to reduce casualties from heavy artillery fire. One of such actions is described by Austrian officer Karl Varnhagen von Ense and his 47th Infantry Regiment. During the last battle at Waterloo in 1815 a grand battery was put together to fire at Wellington's position though to small effect.