Part III
In this part . . .
For over a century, the United Kingdom was at war with France almost continuously. Some of the wars were about who was going to sit on which throne where, and some were about who was going to dominate territories in North America and India. Rebellions were also put down closer to home. The British Army was heavily involved when 13 of the American colonies rebelled, winning most of the battles in what many people on both sides felt was an unnecessary civil war. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Britain was involved in yet more fighting in various parts of the world, notably Spain and Portugal, and played a major part in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
This period saw the British Army begin to forge traditions that have lasted to the present day, fighting under such gifted commanders as Marlborough, Amherst, Wolfe, and Wellington.
Chapter 8
In This Chapter
● The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714
● The War of Austrian Succession, 1740-1748
● The Seven Years’ War, 1756-1763
● Fighting in India, the Americas, and Gibraltar
The keystone of British foreign policy in Europe in the eighteenth century was to preserve a balance of power, which required preventing too much power passing into the hands of any one European royal family. This meant that the cause of most of the wars fought during the century was dynastic. Later in the century, rival British and French interests overseas meant that fighting took part in many parts of the world (see the section ‘Same Old Enemy, Brand New Venues’ later in this chapter for more on these campaigns), leading some historians to describe this conflict as the first of the world wars.
Although primarily a sea power, Britain committed its army to these wars to fight alongside its allies. After a virtual absence from the European continent of two-and-a-half centuries, the British soldier quickly re-established his reputation as a tough opponent, stubborn to the point of immobility in defence and very difficult to stop when he attacked.
This was the era of the red-coated, tricorne hat-wearing soldier, arrayed on the battlefield in neat lines and columns. There had been a regular army for just a few decades by the start of the eighteenth century (see Chapter 7); soldiers were little changed from those outlined in the previous chapter, and the uniforms they fought in were similar; and some advances were made in cavalry warfare - see the sidebar ‘New cavalry developments’ for more information.
One of the best-remembered recruiting songs of the period, still sung today, was ‘O’er the Hills and Far Away’ - just the thing to attract young men who wanted to go places and do things. Parliament liked the song too, because it had never forgotten that the New Model Army once booted its members, honourable and otherwise, out into the street (see Chapter 6) . . . so it liked to keep the troops fully occupied abroad. Figure 8-1 shows the location of the main battles featured in this chapter.
Figure 8-1: Major British battles in eighteenth-century Europe.
New cavalry developments
In 1746 Parliament began to convert the old regiments of horse into dragoons. Dragoons received less pay, rode less expensive horses, and were generally cheaper to maintain. Naturally, this was not a popular move for those directly involved, so as a sop to their wounded pride they were allowed to call themselves Dragoon Guards. Obviously, spin doctoring is not the newest of the black arts.
In 1756 an entirely new form of cavalry soldier began to make his appearance. One troop from each of the existing regiments received specialised training in scouting, reconnaissance, obstacle clearing, and fighting in rough or close country, as well as the usual cavalry roles. Individual soldiers were expected to use their initiative, a novel concept at the time. Designated Light Dragoons, they raided the coast of France with the help of the Royal Navy in 1758. French dockyards and marine arsenals were destroyed and raids were made on inland towns. Such was the uproar that French troops had to be withdrawn from the fighting in Germany to reassure the population. As a result, four Light Dragoon regiments were raised, numbered 15th to 18th.
The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714
It didn’t matter to Britain who clambered aboard the Spanish throne . . . as long as it wasn’t Louis XIV of France. The Dutch, Austrians, Prussians, and several German states agreed, so they formed a Grand Alliance and war was on. In 1704 British marines (soldiers for sea-service as they were known officially) captured Gibraltar and held it against all comers, and in 1708 they also captured the island of Minorca. These successes in Spanish territory, however welcome, paled into insignificance compared to the victories that Marlborough was winning elsewhere with his Allied armies.
In the War of Spanish Succession, the army’s leader was John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, one of the great captains of any army throughout history. Marlborough was a rare combination of strategist, tactician, and logistician, a commander who insisted that one of his officers’ most important duties was the welfare of their men, a general so interested in the daily details of his soldiers’ lives that they gave him the affectionate nickname of Corporal John. The British generals who commanded in the later wars of the eighteenth century were not of quite the same calibre as the Duke of Marlborough, but some of them produced quite extraordinary results; others were merely competent; and one, Lord George Sackville, later Lord George Germaine, should have been shot (more on him in ‘The Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759’ later in this chapter and in Chapter 9).
A stalemate on the Danube front (one of the areas where the Grand Alliance was facing off against the French and their Bavarian allies) and the need to break the Franco-Bavarian siege of Vienna started the build-up to this famous battle.
Marlborough’s British troops marched from the Low Countries all the way to Bavaria to play their part. Thanks to Marlborough’s planning, replacement shoes and other supplies had been purchased in advance and were collected along the route. When the allied army of Prince Eugene of Savoy joined Marlborough’s, this forced the Franco-Bavarian army under Marshal Count Camille de Tallard to react and give battle.
The Allied army under the joint command of Marlborough and Eugene consisted of 65 infantry battalions and 160 cavalry squadrons - a total of 52,000 men, of whom 10,000 were British. Tallard’s Franco-Bavarian army consisted of 79 infantry battalions and 140 cavalry squadrons - a total of 56,000 men and 90 guns. The river Danube on the right and a range of wooded hills on the left protected Tallard’s position. Most of his infantry was positioned in three villages along his front:
● Blenheim on the right
● Oberglau on the centre left
● Lutzingen on the left
Marlborough noted that only lightly supported cavalry held the Franco-Bavarian centre between Blenheim and Oberglau, and that a large area of undefended water meadows lay between the enemy lines and the Nebel stream, a tributary of the Danube. He therefore decided to keep the enemy garrisons of the villages fully occupied while his principal thrust tore open Tallard’s centre. The Allies’ early-morning approach to the battlefield achieved a complete tactical surprise, although it could not fully exploited as Eugene’s imperial troops had further to march than Marlborough’s wing of the combined army, which contained the British contingent. At 12.30 p.m. Marlborough and Eugene attacked simultaneously.
Lord Cutts’s British battalions failed to break through Blenheim’s defences, but caused the French such concern that the local commander committed his army’s entire infantry reserve to that village, without bothering to mention it to Tallard. The result was that no fewer than 27 infantry battalions were crammed uselessly into the village and the much smaller British force was able to contain them. At Oberglau the Allied attack met determined resistance, but Marlborough brought up reinforcements and here, too, contained the garrison. On the right, Eugene’s troops also pinned down the garrison of Lutzingen. Meanwhile, British troops were fording the Nebel and forming up in the fields beyond.
Tallard, suddenly aware of the danger, ordered his cavalry to charge the British. For a while the outcome remained in doubt. Then Marlborough personally brought up a brigade of cuirassiers (heavy cavalrymen protected by breast and back plates) that Eugene had made available. This threw back the French counter-attack and by 5.30 p.m. the Allies had broken through the French centre. The Bavarians left the field, with Eugene snapping at their heels. At 11 p.m. the garrison of Blenheim surrendered. Tallard, together with Marshal de Marsin and several more generals, was captured. The victory was complete, but it cost the Allies 12,000 killed and wounded. Franco-Bavarian losses included 20,000 killed and wounded, 14,000 captured, 6000 desertions, and 60 guns taken. As a result of the battle the Allies raised the siege of Vienna and overran Bavaria.
The Battle of Ramillies, 22 May 1706
The Allied victory at Blenheim (see the previous section) so enraged Louis XIV that he wanted nothing better than the chance to restore the prestige of the French army. He ordered Marshal Duke Francois de Villeroi, commander of his troops in the Spanish Netherlands, to bring Marlborough to battle. That was generous of him, because Marlborough had been trying to bring Villeroi to battle for some time, without success!
The two armies converged near Namur, in modern-day Belgium. Marlborough’s Allied army possessed 74 infantry battalions and 123 cavalry squadrons, a total of 62,000 men and 120 guns. Villeroi’s strength amounted to 70 infantry battalions and 132 cavalry squadrons, a total of 60,000 men, and 70 guns.
Marlborough began the battle with an aggressive feint (diversionary attack) against the French left. It looked serious enough to Villeroi, who reinforced his apparently threatened flank with infantry from his centre. On the Allied left, however, the French cavalry seemed to be gaining the upper hand until Marlborough brought up additional squadrons from his centre and right and drove them off the field. The Allied cavalry then swung right to roll up the French line, while an infantry assault stormed its way into the village of Ramillies in the centre of Villeroi’s position. What was left of the French army was forced to conduct a disorderly retreat.
Marlborough’s casualties included 1000 killed and 3600 wounded. French losses came to 8000 killed and wounded, 7000 captured, and 50 guns. The Allies took a further 14,000 prisoners as one French fortress after another surrendered to Marlborough as he overran the Spanish Netherlands. Villeroi got the sack.
After Ramillies (see the preceding section), Marshal Duke Louis Joseph de Vendome took charge of the French forces, and proved himself an aggressive commander. In 1708, however, the young Duke of Burgundy was given nominal command of the French Army of Flanders, although he left Vendome to exercise operational command. Vendome outmanoeuvred Marlborough during the early days of July, but Burgundy lost his nerve and ordered Vendome not to give battle. A right royal row ensued and the troops were aware of it. Meanwhile, Marlborough was joined by his ally Eugene. Thanks to the bickering in the French camp, the Allies were able to make an unopposed crossing of the river Scheldt. They converged on Oudenarde, where the French had concentrated, and made a plan of attack similar to that used at Blenheim (see ‘The Battle of Blenheim, 13 August 1704’, earlier in this chapter).
The Allied army consisted of 85 infantry battalions and 150 cavalry squadrons, a total of 80,000 men. The French had 90 infantry battalions and 170 cavalry squadrons. The Allies were unable to put their ‘Blenheim plan’ into action because Vendome, having finally knocked some sense into Burgundy’s head, launched an attack of his own. The battle was marked by heavy, continuous fighting rather than tactical skill. By dusk the Allies had driven in both of Vendome’s flanks, ensuring victory, and it looked as though this double envelopment would trap the French centre. However, many of the French managed to escape during the night.
The Allies lost 2000 killed and 5000 wounded, while French losses included 4000 killed, 2000 wounded, 9000 captured, and 3000 desertions. Marlborough’s victory restored the strategic initiative to the Allies and the capture of the French city of Lille followed later in the year.
The Battle of Malplaquet, 11 September 1709
Much of 1709 was spent in inconclusive manoeuvring, but in September the Allies laid siege to Mons, and Marshal the Duke Claude de Villars (commanding the nearest French army) advanced to relieve the town. He entrenched his troops at the nearby village of Malplaquet, knowing this would provoke Marlborough into attacking him. Having left some 20,000 men in the siege lines, the Allies advanced on Malplaquet, where they fought Villars’s force on 11 September.
In total, the Allies possessed 128 infantry battalions and 253 cavalry squadrons, a total of 110,000 men (of whom 90,000 were engaged at Malplaquet), and 100 guns. Villars had 96 infantry battalions and 180 cavalry squadrons, a total of 80,000 men, and 60 guns. The Allied plan was for Eugene to mount a holding attack on the French left while part of Marlborough’s troops mounted a similar attack on the enemy right. Marlborough’s intention was to smash through the French centre once Villars had committed all his reserves.
Amid bitter fighting, Eugene was wounded but refused to leave the field. Villars was wounded so badly while leading a counter-attack that command passed to Boufflers (his second-in-command). When Marlborough’s hammer-blow attack broke through the French centre during the afternoon, Boufflers promptly counter-attacked with his last reserves and re-established the line. Marlborough and Eugene committed their remaining reserves and once again penetrated the enemy’s centre. Boufflers, lacking the resources to mount another counter-attack, initiated a withdrawal that his troops executed in good order.
Allied casualties included 6500 killed and 14,000 wounded. The French lost 4500 killed, 8000 wounded, and 10 guns captured. Everyone was horrified by these figures. Marlborough had political enemies at home and they used the losses against him to such good effect that Queen Anne removed him from active duty in 1711.
Handing out the spoils of war
The War of Spanish Succession spluttered on until the Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713, provided a basis for ending hostilities. Nearly everyone got prizes. Britain got Newfoundland and part of Canada. Its allies got large slices of Europe, mainly at Spain’s expense. Spain got a king it could live with . . . and France got nothing.
The war of Austrian Succession, 1740-1748
When Maria Theresa ascended the throne of Imperial Austria in 1740, a number of European rulers challenged her right to it. Others with differing views put their oar in until, once again, the real issue in dispute was whether France was to become the dominant power in the continent. Naturally, Britain allied itself with those who weren’t too keen on that idea, including Holland, Hanover, Hesse, and various German states.
The Allied army attempted to separate the French from their Bavarian allies, but was forced to retreat when the French got across its lines of communications with Flanders. These lines needed to be reopened before any further action could be taken. On 27 June 1743 the Army was marching west along the north bank of the river Main only to find a French army, last seen on the south bank of the river, blocking its path at the village of Dettingen. French artillery also began firing on the Allied column from across the river.
King George II of England commanded the Allied army, accompanied by his second son, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. He had under his command some 40,000 British, Hanoverian, and Hessian troops. His opponent was Marshal the Duke Adrien de Noailles, with 30,000 troops under his command.
Most of the British troops at Dettingen had not been on active service since Marlborough’s day (see ‘The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1714’, earlier in this chapter) and were not fully trained.
Both armies deployed with one flank on the river and the other on the Spessart hills to the north, the bulk of their cavalry being drawn up beside the river Main. Noailles, thinking that it would be terrific fun to capture the British king, sent a force along the south bank to cross the river at Aschaffenburg, behind the Allied army, hoping to trap it. George despatched the British and Hanoverian Foot Guards to contain the move, which came to nothing. The battle itself was a confused, untidy affair. George’s horse bolted, but he got it under control and dismounted beside an infantry regiment, commenting that he could trust his own legs not to run away with him. The French cavalry, led by the Maison du Roi regiment, mounted a charge but were driven back after what seems to have been a fiercely contested melee.
In this, Cornet Richards of the Britain’s 8th Horse (later 7th Dragoon Guards) was surrounded and received no fewer than 30 wounds defending the regiment’s Standard. George II later presented him with this Standard, an award considered to be the equivalent of the modern Victoria Cross. Dragoon Thomas Brown exposed himself to terrible danger but succeeded in rescuing the Standard of the 3rd Dragoons (later 3rd Hussars), for which the king knighted him (for more on the importance of Standards, see Chapter 7).
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochawe gave strict orders to his regiment, the 21st Foot (Royal Scots Fusiliers), that they were not to fire until they saw the whites of the enemy’s eyes. At one stage during the fighting it looked as though they were about to be attacked by a French cavalry regiment. The 21st Foot gave a few volleys and then went for it with their bayonets, killing many of the enemy and chasing the rest off the field. For infantry to attack cavalry in this way was unheard of and stood the accepted rules on their head (or so the French probably said when they drew breath).
Then the turn of the French infantry came. The British regiments formed the first line of the Allied infantry. Some regiments fired their opening volleys at extreme range and wasted them. Others waited until the range had closed to within 90 metres (100 yards) then let fly, inflicting heavy losses. For some reason, possibly the previous repulse of its cavalry, something like panic swept through the French ranks. Led by one of France’s poshest regiments, the Gardes Fran^aises, the infantry and cavalry alike headed through Dettingen and over the boat bridges by which they had crossed from the south bank. One of these capsized, pitching those on it into the river, in which many drowned.
The battle was over. Some 2500 of George’s soldiers were killed or wounded. The French lost 5000 killed, wounded, and drowned. The French withdrew across the Rhine and the Allied army continued on its way to Flanders.
Dettingen was the last occasion in history when a king led British troops into battle. Among the officers present were George Augustus Elliott, the future defender of Gibraltar during its epic siege (see the section, ‘Defending Gibraltar’, at the end of this chapter); Lieutenant James Wolfe, who captured Quebec (more on this in ‘The French and Indian War, 1753-1763’, later in this chapter); and Lieutenant Jeffrey Amherst, who rose to the rank of Field Marshal and was largely responsible for ejecting the French from Canada (see ‘The French and Indian War, 1753-1763’, later in this chapter).
The Battle of Fontenoy, 11 May 1745
In spring 1745 the priority for the Duke of Cumberland, commanding the Allied army, was to relieve the besieged fortress of Tournai. To achieve this he first had to defeat a French army commanded by Marshal Count Maurice de Saxe, accompanied by King Louis XV. Cumberland’s British-Hanoverian-Dutch-Austrian army (and that’s quite some combo!) consisted of 56 infantry battalions, 87 cavalry squadrons, and 80 guns. Saxe commanded 66 infantry battalions, 129 cavalry squadrons, and 70 guns.
Saxe had serious doubts about his troops’ ability to stand against the British in the open, so he selected a strong defensive position. His right rested on the little town of Antoing on the Scheldt, from which his line ran along a low ridge to Fontenoy, and then along another low ridge to the dense Barri wood. Antoing and Fontenoy were both heavily fortified. In addition, three redoubts reinforced the line connecting the two. Two further redoubts were positioned on the left flank. One of these, at the corner of Barri wood, was named the Eu Redoubt, after the regiment holding it. Cumberland’s plan was for the right wing of his army, led by British regiments, to attack the French line between Fontenoy and Barri wood, while the left wing, led by the Dutch, attacked between Fontenoy and Antoing. At the last moment the British spotted the Eu Redoubt, and as it was clearly capable of firing into the flank of the British advance, it had to be taken. Cumberland detailed one Hanoverian and three British battalions for the job, under a Colonel Ingoldsby of the 1st Foot Guards. Unfortunately, apart from asking for some artillery support, Ingoldsby refused to move. To make matters worse, the Dutch attempts failed to take Fontenoy. This meant that the British advance would now come under fire from both flanks. Nevertheless, Cumberland decided that it should go ahead.
The regiments (see the sidebar ‘Fontenoy: Who was there?’ for which) mounted the gentle slope of the ridge, taking casualties from the flank as they did so. As they breasted the rise, they came face to face with the enemy’s Gardes Fran^aises and the Gardes Suisses. In the aftermath of Dettingen, the British infantry had concentrated on delivering precise, close-quarter volleys. During an exchange of fire, both French Garde regiments sustained serious casualties and fell back in disorder. The advance continued into the heart of the French position, where each British regiment formed a square (the recognised defence against horsemen) in anticipation of a counter-attack by cavalry. Saxe brought up eight infantry battalions from his second line, but they were dealt with in a similar manner to the Garde regiments. The British then formed a single large, hollow square and this blasted every cavalry attack that came within range, emptying saddles by the score.
At this stage, Cumberland may have won a victory if he had ordered the British cavalry to counter-charge. He could not, because he had come further forward than an army commander should and was trapped inside the square. When he was at last able to send an officer out with orders to bring up the cavalry, the horsemen found their way blocked by crowds of fleeing Dutchmen, whose own attacks had failed dismally.
Fontenoy: Who was there?
As the brave infantry action at Fontenoy holds a special place in their history, it's worth looking at which regiments took part:
● First Line: 1st Foot Guards (1/Grenadier Guards), 2nd Foot Guards (1/Coldstream Guards), 3rd Foot Guards (1/Scots Guards), 1st Foot (1/Royal Scots), 21st Foot (1/Royal Scots Fusiliers), 31st Foot (1/East Surrey Regiment), 8th Foot (1/The King's (Liverpool) Regiment), 25th Foot (1/The King's Own Scottish Borderers), 33rd Foot (1/The Duke
of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment), 20th Foot (1/Lancashire Fusiliers).
● Second Line: 3rd Foot (1/The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)), 23rd Foot (1/Royal Welsh Fusiliers), 32nd Foot (1/The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry), 11th Foot (1/The Devonshire Regiment), 28th Foot (1/The Gloucestershire Regiment), 34th Foot (1/The Border Regiment), 20th Foot (1/The Lancashire Fusiliers), and Hanoverians.
Go ahead and shoot! See if I care!
One story about the Battle of Fontenoy concerns who asked whom to fire first. It has a basis in fact. The most generally accepted version is that when the British and French Guards were on the point of engaging each other, Lord John Hay, commanding the 1st Foot Guards' Grenadier or King's Company, stepped forward with a flask in his hand. Raising his hat, he drank his enemies' health and called across to them: 'We are the English Guards and we hope you will stand till we come up to you and not swim the Scheldt as you did the Main at Dettingen!' Turning round, he continued: 'Men of the King's
Company, these are the French Guards and I hope you are going to beat them today!' His men answered with a cheer. The French officers raised their hats and bowed in a spirit of equal sarcasm. The French volley did little damage, but the British reply bowled over much of the French line. Those still on their feet, imagining that they were about to be charged with bayonets, took to their heels. Another version has it that what Hay actually said was along the lines of: 'Gentlemen of France, perhaps you would care to fire first?'
Saxe now prepared to destroy the incredibly stubborn British square. He brought up four guns loaded with grapeshot and fired at close quarters, blowing holes in the British ranks. The Irish Brigade, consisting of Irish emigrants serving the French king, came up on the right flank of the square, and the rallied Garde, together with other regiments that had just seen off the Dutch, came up on the left. The Irish lost their brigade commander and a third of their strength, and their comrades on the other flank made no progress either. Saxe threw in his last reserve, the cavalry of the Maison du Roi, and Cumberland ordered the diminishing British square to retire, which it did in good order. The British cavalry, free at last from the crowds of Dutch fugitives, came forward and provided a screen for the infantry regiments as they formed up and marched off.
Conservative estimates put the number of casualties sustained by each side as well in excess of 7000. In addition, numerous desertions occurred from the Allied army. At one stage senior French officers believed that they had lost the battle. Saxe commented in his despatch, ‘We have won a victory, but may I never see such another.’ He went on to capture Tournai and other fortresses in the Austrian Netherlands, while George II withdrew the British from the Continent to deal with the rebellion in Scotland (see Chapter 9).
The Seven Years' War, 1756-1763
The War of Austrian Succession (see the previous section) ended in a draw, with most nations finishing up exactly where they began. The peace that
followed was only a lull, however, as Frederick the Great of Prussia had designs on Austrian territory, resulting in a general European war. British concerns included the safety of Hanover and stopping the French from winning a dominant position in Europe.
Losing Minorca, 1756
In April 1756 a French army of 15,000 men under Marshal Duke Louis de Richelieu sailed to Minorca and laid siege to the ancient and ruinous Fort St Philip, near the capital, Port Mahon. A 3000-strong garrison including the 4th Foot (1/The King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)), the 24th Foot (1/South Wales Borderers) and the 34th Foot (1/The Border Regiment) defended the fort. In command was tough, vigorous, 84-year-old General Blakeney, who put up a spirited defence.
Minorca provided an excellent naval base in the Mediterranean and the British were loath to lose it. On 19 May a Royal Naval task force with reinforcements aboard appeared off the island. The following day it had the worst of an encounter with the French fleet and sailed away. The British naval commander, Admiral John Byng, was court-martialled for failing in his duty, convicted, and shot. Many felt that the punishment was unduly harsh. Even the French had some sympathy for him.
Fort St Philip could expect no further help. The garrison’s strength had now been reduced to 1500 troops. It resisted for 70 days and even during the final French assault, which was only partially successful, the defenders inflicted 2000 casualties on the enemy. Recognising that further resistance was pointless, Blakeney asked for terms of surrender. Richelieu, a chivalrous opponent, granted the garrison the full honours of war, including the right to embark for home.
The Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759
In the summer of 1759 a Franco-Saxon army under Marshal the Marquis Louis de Contades successfully manoeuvred itself into a position between an Allied army under Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Hanoverian territory that the Allies were supposed to defend. Ostensibly, Contades had simply to march out of Minden and on into Hanover, while for Brunswick the priority was to reopen communications with friendly territory. Contades had 80 infantry battalions and 61 cavalry squadrons, a total of 54,000 men, and 170 guns under his command, while Brunswick’s British-Hanoverian-Hessian-Prussian army possessed 46 infantry battalions and 61 cavalry squadrons, a total of 42,500 men, and 187 guns.
Brunswick appreciated that Contades’s position at Minden was too strong to attack, but he believed that by offering the French the bait of a 10,000-strong detachment at the grimly named village of Todtenhausen (‘Houses of the dead’) two miles downstream from Minden, he could fall on their flank if they fell for the ruse. They did, and a spy brought details of their plans to him.
By 1 a.m. on 1 August Brunswick knew that the French were on the march to snap up what seemed to be easy prey. His army was already camped in eight columns, the order in which it would make its approach march to the intended battlefield. Grumbling, the troops were turned out of their blankets and moved off through the windy, rain-lashed darkness. At first light, about 4.30 a.m., they were approaching Minden Heath. They could see Todtenhausen shrouded in the smoke of battle, but the howling gale whipped away the sound of the guns. As they got nearer, the details of Contades’s deployment became apparent. His right rested on the Weser and his left in some marshland. Contrary to the accepted custom of the day, his cavalry was massed in the centre and his infantry on the wings, almost certainly because the centre of the battlefield offered firmer going for the horsemen.
Brunswick’s No 3 Column, commanded by Lieutenant General August von Spoercken and deployed in two lines, contained both battalions of the Hanoverian Guard Regiment, Hardenburg’s Hanoverian regiment, and six British regiments. These six regiments were later known as the ‘Unsurpassable Six’. They were the 12th Foot (1/The Suffolk Regiment), 37th Foot (1/The Hampshire Regiment), 23rd Foot (1/Royal Welch Fusiliers), 20th Foot (1/Lancashire Fusiliers), 51st Foot (1/The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry), 25th Foot (1/The King’s Own Scottish Borderers); to this day, they still commemorate Minden Day (see the sidebar ‘Minden roses’).
Shortly after 6 a.m. one of Brunswick’s aides reached von Spoerken with orders to advance at the sound of the drum. This lost something in translation and the order was understood to mean advance to the sound of the drum. The troops were set in motion, drums beating and Colours flying. The problem was that they were heading straight for the mass of French cavalry - and charging cavalry usually rode over marching infantry and slaughtered them (infantry instead formed a square, presenting an impenetrable hedge of bayonets to the horsemen). It was obvious that a terrible mistake had been made. More aides galloped after the column, which halted briefly with an exchange of words that haven’t survived, and, the drums rolling, it was off again. The regiments continued to march on across the heath, ignoring the cannon shot that ploughed through their ranks, as well as the long-range musketry of two French infantry regiments. The Duke of Fitzjames, commanding the French cavalry, could hardly believe his eyes. He launched his first line in a charge when the scarlet-coated infantry were just over 90 metres (100 yards) away. Two factors influenced what happened next:
● The British and Hanoverian infantry had recently been trained to aim their fire directly at a specific man or horse rather than at the enemy’s line.
● Deprived of sleep, wet through, and missing their breakfast, the British and Hanoverians were in the filthiest of tempers and simply wanted to get at someone.
Not until the thundering squadrons were 9 metres (10 yards) away did the leading British brigade let fly. The French seemed to ride into a glass wall and their regiments dissolved into a tangle of dead and wounded troopers and screaming, kicking horses in their death agony. The second line of French cavalry charged and met an identical fate. So did the third line. The British and Hanoverians resumed their advance and the opposing Saxon infantry who then confronted them withdrew after a sharp fire fight.
By now, Contades had abandoned any idea of taking Todtenhausen and was withdrawing the wreckage of his army, not simply into Minden but right through it. Dumbfounded, he could only remark:
I have seen what I never thought to be possible - a single line of infantry break through three lines of cavalry rank in order of battle and tumble them to ruin.
French losses amounted to 7086 killed, wounded, and taken prisoner, plus 43 guns captured. The Allies lost 2762 killed and wounded, of whom 1330 were British. Of the six British regiments under von Spoercken’s command, losses in three were 60 per cent, in one 40 per cent, and in two 20 per cent.
Minden roses
The Unsurpassable Six and their modern successors have always celebrated 1 August as Minden Day. Wherever the regiments are based, they hold a parade in which officers and men alike wear roses in their caps. The custom goes back so far that no one knows who started it. It was said to commemorate the roses that the regiments picked on their way to the battle, and generation after generation of soldiers have accepted this as fact, until it has become an article of faith.
But hang on a minute - didn't the approach march take place in darkness, driving rain, and a high wind? Yes, and no one would want to pick flowers in such circumstances. Are there any roses on Minden heath? Yes, a few wild dog roses, small and not worth picking, let alone putting in your hat. Is the whole story a myth then? Not necessarily. As the troops closed in on Minden, they could have found roses in domestic and ornamental gardens. And after a day like they'd had, you can't blame the lads for sticking them in their hats after a job well - really well - done.
One man could have turned a decisive victory into the utter rout of the French army - Lord George Sackville, commander of the British and Hanoverian cavalry. From the moment of the first French charge, Brunswick had sent aide after aide to him, ordering him into action. Irked by Brunswick’s failure to consult him earlier, he was in a fouler mood than most and determined to be bloody minded. He insisted on obtaining clarification of minor details and refused to move, even when the French army was streaming into Minden in disorder. It was perfectly clear to his own officers what was required, but when his second-in-command, the Marquis of Granby, began leading squadrons in the right direction, Sackville pulled him up sharply. It was a disgraceful episode and every trooper felt the shame of it. By the end of the day Sackville had been placed under open arrest. He was sent home, court-martialled, cashiered, and declared unfit to serve the king in any military capacity whatever.
The Battle of Emsdorf, 14 July 1760
In 1760 the Duke of Brunswick’s Allied army faced an even larger French army than the one it defeated at Minden the year before (see the preceding section). Brunswick decided to mount a raid against the French rear depot at Marburg, using six battalions of Hanoverian and Hessian infantry, some German irregulars, and the newly raised British 15th Light Dragoons (later 15th Hussars), under the command of the Erbprinz of Hesse-Kassel (see the sidebar ‘New cavalry developments’, earlier in this chapter, for more on this new type of cavalryman). The enemy troops in the area of the depot included five infantry battalions and a regiment of Hungarian hussars (light cavalry), commanded by Marechal de Camp Glaubitz.
The Erbprinz achieved complete surprise. When Glaubitz attempted to fall back towards Marburg he found the 15th Light Dragoons blocking his path at Emsdorf. He swung south through some woodland, abandoning his guns. When he emerged from the woods he again found the 15th waiting for him, and they took a number of his men prisoner when the regiment charged. Again Glaubitz took to the woods, and once again the Light Dragoons charged him when he emerged. This time the British sustained serious casualties, but once more Glaubitz headed south under cover of the trees. Finally, when he emerged for the third time only to find the 15th waiting for him yet again, he surrendered to the regiment’s senior officer, Major Erskine.
During the entire engagement, the French sustained 2600 casualties, including 1665 men whom the Light Dragoons captured. In addition, the French lost five guns and nine Colours, mainly to one British regiment. The 15th lost 125 men and 168 horses killed or wounded, plus 6 soldiers dead of heat stroke.
The Battle of Warburg, 31 July 1760
At Warburg, a village on the Diemel river 20 miles northwest of Kassel, the Duke of Brunswick fought his principal opponent, Lieutenant General Le Chevalier du Muy. Brunswick had 24,000 men at his disposal, while du Muy had 21,500 (both forces being only part of the overall armies available to either side).
The French, marching in the direction of Hanover, found their way forward blocked by the advance guard of Brunswick’s army, so du Muy took up a defensive position along a ridge. After Brunswick’s men stormed a dominant feature on his left, du Muy’s line began to crumble. At this point the British cavalry, led by the Marquis of Granby, charged the French cavalry on du Muy’s right wing and drove it right off the field, thereby restoring the honour so tarnished by Lord Sackville at Minden the previous year (see the earlier section, ‘The Battle of Minden, 1 August 1759’, for more on this). Routed, the French army began streaming towards the distant Rhine. Casualties on both sides were comparatively light: 1200 killed and wounded in the Allied army, and 1500 in the French, plus 12 guns captured.
The Marquis of Granby took the welfare of his men very seriously. Out of his own pocket he established inns for those of his NCOs who were disabled at Warburg, setting the men up for life. He named these inns ‘The Marquis of Granby’, and the signs of those that survive today still show the Marquis, bald headed and galloping straight for the ranks of the French at Warburg.
Same Old Enemy, Brand New Venues
Over many years, Britain and France developed overseas interests both for economic reasons and for settlement as colonies. Inevitably as the two countries were at war so often, hostilities spread. For more on the general scope of British interests overseas, see Sean Lang’s British History For Dummies, published by Wiley.
The principal areas affected by war between Britain and France in the eighteenth century were the West Indies, North America, and India. In this sense, the Seven Years’ War is regarded by many as the first of the global wars.
Possessing the West Indies
Possession of the West Indies was critical to the economies of the major European powers, because the islands produced sugar in the large quantities required for the newly fashionable drinks of tea, coffee, and chocolate, as well as spices that had previously been obtainable only in the Far East. These commodities produced enormous profits that national exchequers came to rely on. When the nations eventually concluded peace treaties, they willingly gave up huge areas of land in exchange for the return of comparatively small islands.
The principal players in the Caribbean were Britain, France, and Spain, but the Dutch and even the Prussians had smaller fingers in the pie. The key to the entire theatre of war was the British Royal Navy, which dominated the seas and landed the army just where it was needed to deprive other people of their islands.
In 1762 British Admiral George Rodney commenced an offensive against French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies. The surrender of Grenada, St Lucia, and St Vincent followed Martinique’s surrender on 12 February. On 20 June a 10,000-strong British force, including no fewer than 22 infantry regiments and supporting artillery, landed on Cuba. Commanded by George Keppel, Duke of Albemarle, it laid siege to Havana. The 56th Foot (2/The Essex Regiment) stormed the principal fortification, Moro Castle, on 30 July and the town surrendered shortly after. Included in the surrender were 12 warships and approximately £5 million in cash and merchandise, an immense sum at the time.
The French and Indian War, 1754-1763
In North America, the French held Canada in the north and New Orleans in the south. Their strategic object was to join the two with forts and settlements along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and in so doing stop the westward expansion of the British colonies lying along the east coast of the continent. The British were determined to prevent this. Both sides recruited native American allies, although the French were more successful in doing so.
In 1754 the French built Fort Duquesne on the site of present-day Pittsburgh. They then attacked and took the British Fort Necessity, near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, which Lieutenant Colonel George Washington and a detachment of Virginia militia had held. The British reaction was that they must throw out the French and establish a dominant British presence in the Ohio basin.
Braddock's disaster
On 9 July 1755 Major General Edward Braddock was advancing through a forest near the Monongahela river to attack Fort Duquesne with 1400 regulars and 450 colonial volunteers, when a force of 900 native Americans with French officers ambushed him on a track. The native Americans, invisible among the trees, fired into the rigid British line, and the British returned useless volleys at their unseen opponents until Braddock died and half his men were down, at which point the survivors fled. George Washington, then just a colonel, rallied them and led them back to Virginia.
Most of Braddock’s command consisted of the 44th Foot (1/The Essex Regiment) and the 48th Foot (1/The Northamptonshire Regiment), which had only recently arrived in America and contained a high proportion of raw recruits. They stood their ground longer than expected, but it was apparent that the tactics of the European battlefield were quite unsuited to close country (leading to new developments, outlined in the next section).
Raising new regiments: Rifles and Rangers
Not long after Braddock’s defeat (see the preceding section), the British army raised the 60th Royal American Regiment, four battalions strong, at Governor’s Island, New York, with the object of combining the qualities of the scout with the discipline of the trained soldier. The new regiment’s commanding officer was Swiss, Colonel Henry Bouquet, and at first most of the men were either German immigrants or Germans recruited in Europe. Most of them had some experience of hunting and shooting in their day-to-day lives.
The 60th Royal American Regiment was drilled in open order (not shoulder to shoulder, but with spaces between the ranks and files), both in quick time (about 140 paces per minute) and double time (running); taught to load and fire quickly in the standing, kneeling, and lying positions; instructed in swimming, survival, self-sufficiency, and elementary field fortification; and generally required to use their personal initiative. Their training included a period of several weeks spent in the woods during which, save for a small ration of flour, the men relied entirely on whatever game or fish they could shoot or catch. The success in action of this, the army’s first light infantry regiment, was such that it earned a permanent place in the establishment, becoming known in due course as The King’s Royal Rifle Corps.
Captain Robert Rogers, a native of Massachusetts, raised an irregular unit of New Hampshire colonists. Having lived the life of a frontiersman in his youth, Rogers had an ingrained knowledge of woodcraft as well as an understanding of Indians and their ways. His unit was known simply as Rogers’ Rangers.
It specialised in the art of providing advance and rear guards, intelligence gathering, deep penetration patrols, raiding, and sabotage. Today it would be classed as an elite special forces unit and was the first such to serve with the British army. It earned itself a tremendous reputation, but was disbanded when the war ended in 1763. It was hardly a surprise that when the United States army decided to form its own commando units during the Second World War it chose to call them Rangers.
The success of Bouquet and Rogers’s methods led to the widespread adoption of their light infantry tactics by British regiments in North America. With this came a style of dress more suited to the environment:
● The brim of the tricorne hat was let down.
● The coat was shortened by removing the turnback skirts.
● The long gaiters were reduced to short leggings.
Hair was cut short and instead of tramping through the forest with a knapsack full of pipeclay and hair-dressing, the soldier now carried extra ammunition and rations. A hatchet was added to his equipment and the barrel of his musket was browned to eliminate reflected light. Fighting in close country took place in open order, while in more open terrain a two-deep firing line replaced the three-deep formation used in Europe.
Wolfe's War in the wilderness
Britain and France fought over several thousand sparsely inhabited square kilometres in which the best routes were rivers and lakes. Canada could, of course, be entered from the sea via the St Lawrence river, but the principal route from the British colonies was north up the Hudson valley, then across Lakes George and Champlain and down the Richelieu river. In May 1756 Louis, Marquis de Montcalm, arrived in Canada and became the French commander-in-chief. In July, the Earl of Loudon became the British commander in North America. After some inconclusive manoeuvring, both sides went into winter quarters.
1757 and 1758 saw the action in North America hotting up:
● In June 1757, Loudon launched an unsuccessful expedition against the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island.
● In August 1757, Montcalm, with 4000 regulars and 1000 Indians, laid siege to Fort William Henry on Lake George. The garrison held out until it could no longer defend the fort and the French granted it the honours of war when it surrendered. As the British marched away, accompanied by their families, the Indians set upon them, resenting being deprived of their traditional reward, namely the confiscation of a defeated enemy’s scalps. The massacre continued until Montcalm brought up his French troops to put a stop to it.
● In December 1757, General Ralph Abercrombie replaced Loudon, who had failed to produce results.
● In February 1758, General Jeffrey Amherst reached Halifax, Nova Scotia, with reinforcements. In May, the British launched a second expedition against Louisbourg, involving 9000 regulars and 500 colonials. The fortress, along with 12 warships, surrendered on 27 July after heavy fighting in which Brigadier General James Wolfe distinguished himself.
● In July 1758, a major failure at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain balanced out this major success. Here, Montcalm had incorporated a ridge in front of the fort into the defences, erecting an abatis of felled trees chained together at the top of the slope. Abercrombie, commanding 6000 regulars and the same number of colonials, could think of nothing more constructive than repeated frontal assaults that piled up 1600 casualties. He was forced to withdraw and Amherst succeeded him in September.
● In November 1758, the pendulum swung in favour of the British once more. Brigadier General John Forbes, commanding a force that included a battalion of the Royal Americans under Henry Bouquet and a Virginia regiment under Colonel George Washington, fought its way past the scene of Braddock’s disaster and advanced on Fort Duquesne. Without bothering to dispute the issue, the French blew up the fort and withdrew. The British repaired it and renamed it Fort Pitt.
Because of the Royal Navy’s command of the sea, the French’s situation had become serious. The British decided on a three-pronged advance in 1759:
● The capture of Fort Niagara to isolate Upper Canada from the St Lawrence. Brigadier General John Pridaux accomplished this with 2000 regulars. The fort fell after a short siege in which Pridaux was killed.
● The capture of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, opening the Champlain valley route to the St Lawrence. Amherst, with 11,000 regulars and colonials, took personal charge of the operations against Fort Ticonderoga, which fell on 26 July. He took Crown Point on 31 July and it became his headquarters during the winter.
● Penetration of the St Lawrence from the sea and an amphibious assault on Quebec. In the most dramatic events of the campaign, Major General Wolfe’s army arrived at the St Lawrence river from Louisbourg in June 1759 and established itself on the Isle of Orleans, downstream from Quebec. Wolfe’s major problem was that steep cliffs covered every approach to the fortress; he decided to use a diagonal path up the cliffs west of the city, and during the night of 12/13 September Wolfe’s troops scaled this and deployed on the level Plains of Abraham above it. Montcalm led the French army out of the defences to give battle. Each side had approximately 4500 men in line. The French fired an ineffective volley, but the much superior British musketry quickly worsted them, the first volleys not being delivered until the two sides were only 35 metres (40 yards) apart. Having sustained some 600 killed and wounded in a matter of minutes, the French began streaming back into the city. The British loss amounted to 58 killed and 600 wounded. Wolfe and Montcalm both received mortal wounds during the battle. Quebec surrendered on 18 September.
Menaced by three converging British armies, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, surrendered Montreal, his last stronghold, on 8 September 1760. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, France gave up all claims to territory in North America (save for New Orleans) in exchange for the return of the West Indian islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe.
Getting curried away: War in India
British involvement in India began in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to a group of businessmen calling themselves The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies. This evolved into the Honourable East India Company (shortened to John Company or the Company), which virtually became a sovereign state with the right to declare war on non-Christian nations should it so wish. Business with the Indian subcontinent was highly profitable, but the Company was not the only one with fingers in the pie. Its rivals were the Portuguese, the Dutch, and, of course, the French. Friction and occasional fighting between the Europeans was more usual than between the traders and the locals, who were achieving more and more autonomy as the once-powerful Mogul Empire slid into decline.
The Company raised its own troops to protect its factories (the term used for its trading centres) against its rivals and native princes hostile to its interests, and supported those with whom it was on good terms. The Company’s growing holdings in land and increased influence in Indian affairs meant that it had to raise still more troops until it possessed three armies, located in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, to say nothing of its own navy.
British officers in the Honourable East India Company commanded the native troops, the service appealing to them partly because they did not have to purchase their commissions (see Chapter 7 for more on this), and partly because of the good lifestyle that they could have at little cost in India. The Company also raised European regiments. The men who joined them were a hard lot, often with good reason to exile themselves for life, but they received better pay than the Regular Army could offer and they lived well.
The rise of Robert Clive
Robert Clive arrived in India to work as one of the Company’s clerks. He hated it so much that he tried to blow his brains out with a pistol. The pistol misfired, which was fortunate for future British interests in India. In 1743 Clive was in Madras when the French took the city. He escaped and, disgusted with the Company’s lackadaisical attitude to military matters, obtained a commission in its army with the object of shaking things up. Clive was capable of inspiring great loyalty. At one point, during the siege of Arcot (see below), his sepoys (Indian soldiers) said that they would give their rice ration to the Europeans, whose health had begun to break down, and subsist on the thin gruel that came from its straining, but Clive would not permit it.
In July 1751 a French puppet ruler named Chanda Sahib laid siege to the British garrison of Trinchinopoly. Clive, with only 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys, sought to draw Chanda off by occupying his fort at Arcot. He succeeded. Chanda came steaming up with 10,000 followers. The fort was in such a ramshackle state that most people wouldn’t have bothered about it, but Chanda took its loss personally because it happened to be in his capital. He was unable to make any impression on the defences, although after two months he had reduced the garrison to 120 Europeans and 200 sepoys, and little food remained. Chanda asked for a meeting with Clive under a flag of truce, and told Clive to give up or he would put everyone in the fort to the sword. Clive made a number of very pointed personal comments about Chanda and his father, as well as stating bluntly that if he thought that the ragbag of scruffs he called an army was capable of storming a breach that British soldiers held he had better do some serious thinking. No records exists of Chanda’s reply, but probability suggests the local equivalent of: ‘Right, you’ve asked for it!’
Chanda led his attack with a herd of elephants with iron plates strapped to their heads to batter down the gates. Iron plates or not, elephants presented a large target and thick though their hides may have been, they disliked the pain inflicting by musket balls whacking into them. Out of control, the elephants turned and bolted through the mob behind, trampling some and scattering the rest. Chanda’s next assault was by raft across the fort’s moat. Clive personally directed a gun and, using grapeshot (see Chapter 5 for more on types of artillery shot), quickly cleared the raft. Having sustained 400 casualties, Chanda’s army disbanded itself. The fort’s defenders lost six men. British prestige throughout India soared, while that of the French took a nose-dive.
Five years later, British interests took a severe knock. Suraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, took exception to the growth of the Company’s power on his doorstep. In June 1756 he captured Calcutta, which the Company had founded as the focal point of its activities. A number of European captives died in unpleasant circumstances after being incarcerated in what became known as the notorious Black Hole of Calcutta (a dungeon). An expedition commanded jointly by Clive and Admiral Charles Watson (probably a Company officer) left from Madras. This included the 39th Foot (1/The Dorsetshire Regiment), the first British regiment to serve in India and the first in a long line of British regiments that the Company hired to strengthen its own armies. The expedition recaptured Calcutta on 2 January 1757.
In March, Clive captured the French post at Chandernagore, enabling him to march inland against Suraj-ud-Daula without fearing for his lines of communication. The two armies met at Plassey, a village on the Bhagirathi river, on 23 June. Clive had 2100 sepoys, 800 Europeans including part of the 39th Foot, and 10 guns. The Nawab had 53,000 men, including a small French contingent, and 53 guns. Clive’s troops concentrated in and around a grove of trees. The Nawab’s almost encircled them. Apparently, it wasn’t going to be much of a contest. This, however, was India, and nothing was quite what it seemed; if it had been, Clive was unlikely to have offered battle in such circumstances. He knew, for example, that most of Suraj’s commanders were conspiring against the Nawab. He was also in regular correspondence with the most important of them, Mir Jafar, who urged Clive to attack. The battle began with an exchange of artillery fire, the British faring the better. Then a tropical rainstorm broke over the battlefield. Clive ordered his gunners to keep their powder dry. The Nawab’s gunners failed to do this, the result being that their guns were useless when the storm passed. A cavalry charge mounted against the British position was blown to pieces. Clive, observing a definite lack of enthusiasm in the opposing ranks, ordered a general advance. He repulsed an infantry counter-attack at the same time as Mir Jafar pointedly kept his troops inactive. The Nawab’s army then began shredding away from the field until nothing remained of it save the French element, which continued to fight to the last.
Clive’s troops sustained the loss of five killed and 45 wounded, while the Nawab’s army had 500 killed and wounded plus five guns captured. Suraj was murdered soon after and Mir Jafar succeeded him. The battle, one of the most important in Indian history, effectively gave Bengal to the Company.
The French fight back
In 1758 French reinforcements under Baron Thomas Lally reached Pondicherry, the principal French base in India. An energetic commander, Lally besieged and captured the British Fort St David to his south and in December laid siege to Madras. The following month a British relief force defeated his army at Masulipatam and forced him to abandon the siege. A year later, at the Battle of Wandiwash, Lally sustained a further defeat at the hands of General Sir Eyre Coote. He withdrew to Pondicherry, where the British besieged him and he surrendered in January 1761.
Although the Treaty of Paris restored Pondicherry to the French in 1763, the Compagnie des Indes was dissolved in 1769. As Dutch and Portuguese operations had already been severely restricted, British interests in India no longer had any major European challengers.
Defending Gibraltar
The defence of Gibraltar against the French and Spanish between the years 1779 and 1783 is among the greatest epics of British military history. Commanding the garrison was Lieutenant General George Augustus Eliott. His strength never amounted to more than 7500 men, drawn from five British and eight Hanoverian infantry battalions, plus artillerymen and engineers (several artillery developments sprang up from this campaign - see the sidebar ‘Gibraltar’s red-hot action’). The Spanish opened the siege with 16 infantry battalions and 12 cavalry squadrons, a total of 14,000 men and 150 guns. In June 1782 the French arrived with 35 infantry battalions and 16 cavalry squadrons, bringing the total number of besiegers to 40,000, with artillery in proportion. The siege last for three years, seven months, and twelve days. It cost the garrison 333 killed, 911 wounded, and 536 dead from disease. French and Spanish losses amounted to an estimated 5000 killed and wounded.
Year after year, the garrison stood off attacks by land and sea, its morale maintained by Eliott’s leadership and determination as well the Royal Navy’s breaking of the enemy blockade on three occasions to bring in vital supplies. At one time, when no fewer than 6000 shells were landing in the town each day, Eliott led a dramatic sortie that smashed up the enemy’s siege lines and spiked its guns.
Gibraltar's red-hot action
The siege of Gibraltar was remarkable for a number of developments in the field of artillery:
● Lieutenant G.F. Koehler, Eliott's aide-decamp and assistant engineer, developed a depression carriage enabling guns to fire at targets well below the line of sight possessed by a conventional carriage.
● Captain Mercier of the 39th (1/Dorsetshire) Regiment solved the difficulty of firing as far as the besiegers' lines, usually 1500 to 1800 metres (1700 to 2000 yards) distant, by the suggestion of firing the 14-centimetre (5.5- inch) explosive shell normally used in mortars from 24-pounder guns of the same calibre. He fitted the shells with calculated fuses so that they exploded directly above the heads of the enemy working parties.
● Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel, Royal Artillery, followed on from Mercier's idea in 1784 by developing the type of ammunition that still bears his name, by filling a fused hollow shell with spherical shot and a bursting charge.
● The gunners' piece de resistance, however, was red-hot shot (literally, cannonballs heated to a red-hot temperature), developed as a defence against the enemy's heavily protected floating batteries (themselves designed to beat the garrison into submission at close quarters). Red-hot shot was first used in action on 13 September 1782. By noon the next day, having absorbed 8300 of the glowing projectiles, all ten floating batteries had either blown up or burned to the waterline. After that, the siege amounted to nothing more than a mere blockade.