Memories of Minden (AvidficReader)
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Memories of Minden
Matteo Anselme Severin sat on his new favorite chair in a hospital ward in Namur. In years past, this had been the domain of the Hapsburgs, but after decades of war and diplomatic exchanges, now belonged to France. It stood as the headquarters of his most accomplished son and heir's army, and base for forty-thousand of France's best soldiers, among them his old regiment, Touraine Infanterie. Well, it was now known as 33e Ligne, due to some anti-royalist tomfoolery during the Revolution. "Demi-brigades, my arse!" he harrumphed at the silly name. It still meant a regiment in every way that mattered, political meddling at it's murkiest.
"Did you say something grandpere?"
"Ah, just an old soldier's ramblings Jean Therese! Pay it no mind. Grandpere was just thinking about his old unit, since it's part of your papa's Corps. I was considering paying them a visit. In any case, given my, heh, captive audience, I might share some old war stories."
"Yay! Story time!"
"Hey guys, gather 'round, an old soldier is telling a story!"
"Julian, shut your smug mouth, it's not like we can leave."
"Yeah Julian, listen to Captain Falcon. Besides, Grandpere tells the best stories, even when France loses battles. Back in Toulon, he told us about Yorktown and how he met Therese's pop!"
Evelyn, the dear girl, swaddled his infant grandson who bore his name, spoke up to settle the matter.
"Come now, boys, Pops has been telling me his war stories from the Seven Years' War. The last one was about Krefeld, wasn't it? It feels so long ago."
"Right lads and lasses, what with how two of you are laid up from bad choices, let me tell you about a battle with a bunch of bad choices on both sides."
"Oh boy, here we go again."
"So, Evelyn, are you familiar with Britain's Annus Mirabilis of 1759?"
"How could I not, Pops? Might have been before I was born, but that was when Quebec fell and my family was uprooted from their home."
"Aye, for le Bretagne it was a year of triumph on the battlefield, one of the greatest of which was Minden. To set the stage, the army had set out on a campaign and in July a detachment under Duke de Broglie had captured the strategic fortress town of Minden, which like Hamelin, controlled one of the main crossings of the Weser into Hanover. The main army under Marshal Contades arrived at the end of July. Overnight, we broke camp and marched across the Bastau, a broad stream surrounded by wide marshlands. By 5:30 am, the army had mostly formed up in a convex crescent, anchored on the Weser on the right, and the village of Hahlen on the left. The far right flank was the Duke de Broglie's detachment, then the right wing, in which Regiment Touraine held the center right of the first line, brigaded as we were with Regiment D'Aumont-Mazarin. Poor bastards, the name of their regiment changed with their colonels. In any case, due to the limited ground suitable for deployment, the cavalry and artillery were positioned in the center, broad open heath where they were most effective. To make room for their deployment, every infantry brigade was forced to keep one battalion in column formation. Great big targets for artillery and cavalry. Back to the battle: from our position, we could faintly hear cannon fire from our right, which had begun from 5 am. This, I believe, was the first bad decision. The wind blew from west to east that day, and it muffled the sound of guns. If we who we so close could barely hear the cannonade, then the Allied army, much further removed, could not have possibly heard it and moved to reinforce. If the Duke de Broglie had immediately assaulted the enemy position at Todtenhausen, he probably could have overrun it, given he had the Grenadiers de France Brigade, eight full battalions of grenadiers, backed by three brigades of line infantry, three cavalry brigades, and twenty-two cannon. Instead, he bombarded the Hanoverians for the entire battle, some three hours, and allowed the Hanoverian heavy artillery to man their guns and devastate his infantry without engaging their opposite number.
"There was sporadic fighting on the left flank, from what I heard after the battle, around 7 am, a French battery opened fire on a marching column, and the Bretagne artillery unlimbered and silenced it within ten minutes. This is one of the reasons why I caution everyone not to make light of le Bretagne. Their army may be puny in size, but they are skilled gunners and fierce fighters, as they rest of the day's events will show. As the ten-thousand horse of the French army was still forming up in the center in their three lines, the Bretagne infantry, some six battalions, the two Hanoverian Guards and Hardenburg Infantry began their advance on our center in two lines, without waiting for the rest of their army. For some 150 paces, they advanced under heavy cannonade, which was soon knocked out by their own artillery. As the French cavalry charged them down, the first line halted, then held their fire until the horse was some ten meters distant. The deadly volley devastated the first wave, and most who survived turned back. The few that made contact were swiftly dispatched at the point of the bayonet, and the advance continued. God only knows, had the Bretagne cavalry arrived at that point, the army would not have survived the day.
"It was shortly after that first failed cavalry charge that we were ordered into action. Apparently, the Marshal Contades ordered our brigade forward with eight guns to hold a defensive position in and around the Malbergen farmstead in front of the cavalry. As we advanced, I could see a portion of the left wing coming around to flank the right of the Bretagne first line as the second wave of cavalry attempted to charge them down. The Bretagne second line wheeled to stem the infantry attack, and the first line unleashed a murderous volley that reaped a heavy toll on the second wave before the tide of horse crashed into them. It seemed they might waver and break, but they heroically reformed their lines and repelled the second wave with fire and steel. By this point, more Hanoverian infantry battalions were marching to support them, and a heavy artillery battery opened up to support them, but the Bretagne cavalry still failed to materialize. At this point, a third cavalry wave made their attack, attempting to hook around the Bretagne right and smash into their rear. This attack consisted of the cavalry reserves, the elite Gendarmeries de France and the Royal Carabiniers, who had fought and died so valiantly at Krefeld in a last-ditch attempt to turn the tide of battle, broke through the Bretagne line in several places and came around their left flank to charge their rear. The Bretagne third rank was forced to turn around to receive them while the front two ranks tried to hold back the elite cavalry before them. Some might call them bad soldiers, not knowing how to run. I would disagree. The Bretagne line held long enough for supporting battalions to rake the Gendarmeries with fire, alongside the heavy artillery, forcing them the third wave to retire having lost half their strength once again. The French detachment from the left was beaten off by the stiff resistance of the Bretagne second line and their supporting artillery, while to the south of us, a final cavalry brigade formed up for a final charge, but broke under artillery fire before making contact. At this point there was nothing left capable of fighting in the center. Still, the Bretagne cavalry did not appear, for which I thank God above to this day.
"Having already been ordered forward to cover the cavalry, we had now been ordered to attack the Bretagne left alongside Brigade Rouergue, but at this point, the cavalry had been routed. Instead, we were exposed ahead of our lines, and the Allied left collapsed upon us. Four Hessian regiments stormed Malbergen and seized it at the point of the bayonet, but it was the hammer blow of an Allied cavalry brigade and the Hessian Grenadiers turning our flank that drove us from the position. So sharp was the surprise of the flanking action that even General Beaupreau, the commander of our division, was briefly captured by the Allied cavalry, rescued only by a desperate counterattack of Du Roy Cavalry Brigade, which had been held back from the charges on the Bretagne line. Much of Rouergue Brigade was captured in the action, and our retreat from the homestead was anything but orderly. I was one of the last men out of Malbergen, and I nearly tripped over a fallen body on the way out. When I looked down, I saw it was an old private, perhaps a bit younger than I am now. He was bleeding profusely, his hat long gone, six sword slashes adorning his head. In spite of his wounds, he still lived, limbs waving weakly from blood loss. I hefted him about my shoulders and carried him from the field, shouting myself hoarse in a futile attempt to rally the men to some sort of order amongst the din of battle. Only when we made it into musket range of brigades Auvergne and Anhalt did the cavalry pursuit stop. Between the threat of a volley and Duke de Broglie's approaching cavalry, the Allied horse broke off to face their opposite number. La Marche Infanterie, brigaded with Picardie Infanterie, advanced and opened fire on the Prussian dragoons, who turned and charged them down, killing or capturing the battalion in its entirety. By this point, my part of the battle had ended, withdrawing with the multitude of broken units. The battle line was collapsing, and even unengaged units like Duke de Broglie's infantry were withdrawing. Our left wing near Hahlen was falling back, their position untenable in the face of fresh infantry and under fire by Bretagne artillery. The Bretagne cavalry had still not attacked, so pursuit fell to the hard-worked artilery once more. They chased our army to the edge of the marshlands, stopping every so often to pour fire into our retreating columns. Rather than cross the Bastau and head west, we ended up crossing to the east bank of the Weser to make a circuitous retreat to Kassel, as Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick had attacked and cut off our line of retreat during the battle. From what I heard after the battle, it was estimated our army had suffered over seven thousand casualties, while the Allies had taken less than three thousand, mostly among the Bretagne division. Of Regiment Touraine, we were reduced to half strength and removed from the order of battle to recuperate our losses, and we did not become combat effective until the next year's campaigning season."
"Jesus, what a disaster," whispered Evelyn in a horrified awe. She knew how implacable the advance of British and Hessian regulars could be from her own experience in the Virginia Campaign, but to think six battalions of British Regulars and three of Hanoverians could do that much damage and withstand such pressure: Three waves of French cavalry on near ideal ground. "Wait, Pops, you never mentioned anything about them forming squares, you'd never miss something like that!"
"Noticed that, did you? You're right, dear daughter, le Bretagne fought the entire battle in line formation."
"Holy shit!"
"Fuck!"
"Language!"
"Fuck!" All eyes in the room turn to Jean Therese, who looks especially pleased at having learned a new word. "Mama, what does fuck mean?"
"It's not a nice word, don't use it. I'll be washing Captain Fledgling's mouth out with soap in just a minute. It should help him learn to watch what escapes his mouth before bad things happen to him. Again."
"Ha ha, Louis, you're in trouble!"
"And you, my son, are also in trouble for enabling his reckless behavior. While I appreciate that you backed up your best friend and likely saved his life, if not for your squirrely friend Julian, you both would have died. I am... not prepared to lose more family, especially to needlessly reckless violence like a duel that Prince Louis here provoked."
"Teacher, I-"
"Louis, enough. It might sound strange coming from me, but your provocation that lead to the duel being issued was entirely unwarranted."
"But- That man-"
"He got off with a slap on the wrist!"
"That he did, Charlie, at a time when his corps commander has taken a leave of absence, and the army commander, your father, it scrambling to cover said absence. Things inevitable slip through the cracks, but make no mistakes, when your father called me down to look after you, he was furious."
"But when he came to visit, it was so brief, and he didn't say a word! It felt like he didn't care!"
"Charles, Darling is loud when he is happy, but when he is truly angry, outside of battle and his blood is not running hot, he is cold and silent. When a man tried to take me for his own pleasure on the ship from America, your father very nearly strangled him in near silence. I spared that man, but I left him with two broken thumbs, which ended his career as a sailor, as well as stomping on his groin, before turning him over to an officer to dispense justice. When he is angry, Darling becomes rather poor at communication, so trust me, he cares, but he is channeling his rage into being productive, so he doesn't murder that man out of hand."
"Well lads, the moral of the story is that you must always take le Bretagne seriously. Mock them for the tiny size of their army, but never question the quality of their soldiers. They recruit from men who would face imprisonment, or men who volunteer for combat. In this, both cream and scum rise to the top."
Matteo Anselme Severin sat on his new favorite chair in a hospital ward in Namur. In years past, this had been the domain of the Hapsburgs, but after decades of war and diplomatic exchanges, now belonged to France. It stood as the headquarters of his most accomplished son and heir's army, and base for forty-thousand of France's best soldiers, among them his old regiment, Touraine Infanterie. Well, it was now known as 33e Ligne, due to some anti-royalist tomfoolery during the Revolution. "Demi-brigades, my arse!" he harrumphed at the silly name. It still meant a regiment in every way that mattered, political meddling at it's murkiest.
"Did you say something grandpere?"
"Ah, just an old soldier's ramblings Jean Therese! Pay it no mind. Grandpere was just thinking about his old unit, since it's part of your papa's Corps. I was considering paying them a visit. In any case, given my, heh, captive audience, I might share some old war stories."
"Yay! Story time!"
"Hey guys, gather 'round, an old soldier is telling a story!"
"Julian, shut your smug mouth, it's not like we can leave."
"Yeah Julian, listen to Captain Falcon. Besides, Grandpere tells the best stories, even when France loses battles. Back in Toulon, he told us about Yorktown and how he met Therese's pop!"
Evelyn, the dear girl, swaddled his infant grandson who bore his name, spoke up to settle the matter.
"Come now, boys, Pops has been telling me his war stories from the Seven Years' War. The last one was about Krefeld, wasn't it? It feels so long ago."
"Right lads and lasses, what with how two of you are laid up from bad choices, let me tell you about a battle with a bunch of bad choices on both sides."
"Oh boy, here we go again."
"So, Evelyn, are you familiar with Britain's Annus Mirabilis of 1759?"
"How could I not, Pops? Might have been before I was born, but that was when Quebec fell and my family was uprooted from their home."
"Aye, for le Bretagne it was a year of triumph on the battlefield, one of the greatest of which was Minden. To set the stage, the army had set out on a campaign and in July a detachment under Duke de Broglie had captured the strategic fortress town of Minden, which like Hamelin, controlled one of the main crossings of the Weser into Hanover. The main army under Marshal Contades arrived at the end of July. Overnight, we broke camp and marched across the Bastau, a broad stream surrounded by wide marshlands. By 5:30 am, the army had mostly formed up in a convex crescent, anchored on the Weser on the right, and the village of Hahlen on the left. The far right flank was the Duke de Broglie's detachment, then the right wing, in which Regiment Touraine held the center right of the first line, brigaded as we were with Regiment D'Aumont-Mazarin. Poor bastards, the name of their regiment changed with their colonels. In any case, due to the limited ground suitable for deployment, the cavalry and artillery were positioned in the center, broad open heath where they were most effective. To make room for their deployment, every infantry brigade was forced to keep one battalion in column formation. Great big targets for artillery and cavalry. Back to the battle: from our position, we could faintly hear cannon fire from our right, which had begun from 5 am. This, I believe, was the first bad decision. The wind blew from west to east that day, and it muffled the sound of guns. If we who we so close could barely hear the cannonade, then the Allied army, much further removed, could not have possibly heard it and moved to reinforce. If the Duke de Broglie had immediately assaulted the enemy position at Todtenhausen, he probably could have overrun it, given he had the Grenadiers de France Brigade, eight full battalions of grenadiers, backed by three brigades of line infantry, three cavalry brigades, and twenty-two cannon. Instead, he bombarded the Hanoverians for the entire battle, some three hours, and allowed the Hanoverian heavy artillery to man their guns and devastate his infantry without engaging their opposite number.
"There was sporadic fighting on the left flank, from what I heard after the battle, around 7 am, a French battery opened fire on a marching column, and the Bretagne artillery unlimbered and silenced it within ten minutes. This is one of the reasons why I caution everyone not to make light of le Bretagne. Their army may be puny in size, but they are skilled gunners and fierce fighters, as they rest of the day's events will show. As the ten-thousand horse of the French army was still forming up in the center in their three lines, the Bretagne infantry, some six battalions, the two Hanoverian Guards and Hardenburg Infantry began their advance on our center in two lines, without waiting for the rest of their army. For some 150 paces, they advanced under heavy cannonade, which was soon knocked out by their own artillery. As the French cavalry charged them down, the first line halted, then held their fire until the horse was some ten meters distant. The deadly volley devastated the first wave, and most who survived turned back. The few that made contact were swiftly dispatched at the point of the bayonet, and the advance continued. God only knows, had the Bretagne cavalry arrived at that point, the army would not have survived the day.
"It was shortly after that first failed cavalry charge that we were ordered into action. Apparently, the Marshal Contades ordered our brigade forward with eight guns to hold a defensive position in and around the Malbergen farmstead in front of the cavalry. As we advanced, I could see a portion of the left wing coming around to flank the right of the Bretagne first line as the second wave of cavalry attempted to charge them down. The Bretagne second line wheeled to stem the infantry attack, and the first line unleashed a murderous volley that reaped a heavy toll on the second wave before the tide of horse crashed into them. It seemed they might waver and break, but they heroically reformed their lines and repelled the second wave with fire and steel. By this point, more Hanoverian infantry battalions were marching to support them, and a heavy artillery battery opened up to support them, but the Bretagne cavalry still failed to materialize. At this point, a third cavalry wave made their attack, attempting to hook around the Bretagne right and smash into their rear. This attack consisted of the cavalry reserves, the elite Gendarmeries de France and the Royal Carabiniers, who had fought and died so valiantly at Krefeld in a last-ditch attempt to turn the tide of battle, broke through the Bretagne line in several places and came around their left flank to charge their rear. The Bretagne third rank was forced to turn around to receive them while the front two ranks tried to hold back the elite cavalry before them. Some might call them bad soldiers, not knowing how to run. I would disagree. The Bretagne line held long enough for supporting battalions to rake the Gendarmeries with fire, alongside the heavy artillery, forcing them the third wave to retire having lost half their strength once again. The French detachment from the left was beaten off by the stiff resistance of the Bretagne second line and their supporting artillery, while to the south of us, a final cavalry brigade formed up for a final charge, but broke under artillery fire before making contact. At this point there was nothing left capable of fighting in the center. Still, the Bretagne cavalry did not appear, for which I thank God above to this day.
"Having already been ordered forward to cover the cavalry, we had now been ordered to attack the Bretagne left alongside Brigade Rouergue, but at this point, the cavalry had been routed. Instead, we were exposed ahead of our lines, and the Allied left collapsed upon us. Four Hessian regiments stormed Malbergen and seized it at the point of the bayonet, but it was the hammer blow of an Allied cavalry brigade and the Hessian Grenadiers turning our flank that drove us from the position. So sharp was the surprise of the flanking action that even General Beaupreau, the commander of our division, was briefly captured by the Allied cavalry, rescued only by a desperate counterattack of Du Roy Cavalry Brigade, which had been held back from the charges on the Bretagne line. Much of Rouergue Brigade was captured in the action, and our retreat from the homestead was anything but orderly. I was one of the last men out of Malbergen, and I nearly tripped over a fallen body on the way out. When I looked down, I saw it was an old private, perhaps a bit younger than I am now. He was bleeding profusely, his hat long gone, six sword slashes adorning his head. In spite of his wounds, he still lived, limbs waving weakly from blood loss. I hefted him about my shoulders and carried him from the field, shouting myself hoarse in a futile attempt to rally the men to some sort of order amongst the din of battle. Only when we made it into musket range of brigades Auvergne and Anhalt did the cavalry pursuit stop. Between the threat of a volley and Duke de Broglie's approaching cavalry, the Allied horse broke off to face their opposite number. La Marche Infanterie, brigaded with Picardie Infanterie, advanced and opened fire on the Prussian dragoons, who turned and charged them down, killing or capturing the battalion in its entirety. By this point, my part of the battle had ended, withdrawing with the multitude of broken units. The battle line was collapsing, and even unengaged units like Duke de Broglie's infantry were withdrawing. Our left wing near Hahlen was falling back, their position untenable in the face of fresh infantry and under fire by Bretagne artillery. The Bretagne cavalry had still not attacked, so pursuit fell to the hard-worked artilery once more. They chased our army to the edge of the marshlands, stopping every so often to pour fire into our retreating columns. Rather than cross the Bastau and head west, we ended up crossing to the east bank of the Weser to make a circuitous retreat to Kassel, as Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick had attacked and cut off our line of retreat during the battle. From what I heard after the battle, it was estimated our army had suffered over seven thousand casualties, while the Allies had taken less than three thousand, mostly among the Bretagne division. Of Regiment Touraine, we were reduced to half strength and removed from the order of battle to recuperate our losses, and we did not become combat effective until the next year's campaigning season."
"Jesus, what a disaster," whispered Evelyn in a horrified awe. She knew how implacable the advance of British and Hessian regulars could be from her own experience in the Virginia Campaign, but to think six battalions of British Regulars and three of Hanoverians could do that much damage and withstand such pressure: Three waves of French cavalry on near ideal ground. "Wait, Pops, you never mentioned anything about them forming squares, you'd never miss something like that!"
"Noticed that, did you? You're right, dear daughter, le Bretagne fought the entire battle in line formation."
"Holy shit!"
"Fuck!"
"Language!"
"Fuck!" All eyes in the room turn to Jean Therese, who looks especially pleased at having learned a new word. "Mama, what does fuck mean?"
"It's not a nice word, don't use it. I'll be washing Captain Fledgling's mouth out with soap in just a minute. It should help him learn to watch what escapes his mouth before bad things happen to him. Again."
"Ha ha, Louis, you're in trouble!"
"And you, my son, are also in trouble for enabling his reckless behavior. While I appreciate that you backed up your best friend and likely saved his life, if not for your squirrely friend Julian, you both would have died. I am... not prepared to lose more family, especially to needlessly reckless violence like a duel that Prince Louis here provoked."
"Teacher, I-"
"Louis, enough. It might sound strange coming from me, but your provocation that lead to the duel being issued was entirely unwarranted."
"But- That man-"
"He got off with a slap on the wrist!"
"That he did, Charlie, at a time when his corps commander has taken a leave of absence, and the army commander, your father, it scrambling to cover said absence. Things inevitable slip through the cracks, but make no mistakes, when your father called me down to look after you, he was furious."
"But when he came to visit, it was so brief, and he didn't say a word! It felt like he didn't care!"
"Charles, Darling is loud when he is happy, but when he is truly angry, outside of battle and his blood is not running hot, he is cold and silent. When a man tried to take me for his own pleasure on the ship from America, your father very nearly strangled him in near silence. I spared that man, but I left him with two broken thumbs, which ended his career as a sailor, as well as stomping on his groin, before turning him over to an officer to dispense justice. When he is angry, Darling becomes rather poor at communication, so trust me, he cares, but he is channeling his rage into being productive, so he doesn't murder that man out of hand."
"Well lads, the moral of the story is that you must always take le Bretagne seriously. Mock them for the tiny size of their army, but never question the quality of their soldiers. They recruit from men who would face imprisonment, or men who volunteer for combat. In this, both cream and scum rise to the top."
@Magoose I finally got around to doing this (after Ten Thousand Years, I arise from my slumber!), and I tied it in with the recent turn's events. Given the general disdain continental armies tended to hold the British Army with, it felt prudent for Matteo to remind some of the currently serving members of the French Army of why he is utterly respectful of the capabilities of British regulars, which he passed down to his sons. The final line by Matteo is a callback to this omake, where Severin makes mention of Minden and the lesson he learned from that story.
1759 was a charmed year for Britain, every battle they engaged in emerged as a victory, and even inconclusive battles at sea saw the French retire from the field, if not the entire theater. It was also the year in which the keel for HMS Victory was laid (July 23, 1759), which fit the theme of the year.
I mainly drew on this article for the details of the battle, as it is the most detailed I can find without cracking open books that I don't have. It's much better than Wikipedia's anemic article, and includes an order of battle. I've been using this site for all of the Seven Years' War omakes, including articles on the individual regiments, particularly Touraine Infanterie. Compare to the Wikipedia article.
Reports of the battle say that Prince Ferdinand could not hear the cannonade of de Broglie due to the high winds blowing west to east damping the sound. When de Broglie started his bombardment, the defenses he fired upon were largely unmanned, and had he pushed then, the elite Grenadiers de France alone could have likely stormed the defenses. As it was, he gave Wangenheim plenty of time to muster his men and get heavy artillery in place to dominate the artillery exchange.
The French battery at 7 am is put out of action within ten minutes by the actions of the British artillery brigade, which later shuts down the French artillery on the left wing, the attempted flanking attack on von Sporcken's right, and later pursues the retreating French army to the edge of the marshlands that border the Bastau and hammers them with artillery fire. Comparatively, the British cavalry under Lord George Sackville failed to cover themselves in glory. Failed to accomplish much of anything, in spite of 5 messages to attack, and Prince Ferdinand arriving in person, only for the opportunity to destroy the French army to have slipped by. Quite possibly the only thing that prevented the total defeat and destruction of the French at Minden was Sackville's incompetence and inaction. He would request a court martial to defend his honor, but was found unfit to serve the king is any military capacity. He would later become Secretary of State for the Colonies as George Germain... in the 1770s, when Britain alienated the American colonies into revolt. Talk about getting Sacked, amirite?
The Wikipedia article on the Battle of Minden has a letter from a Lieutenant of the 12th Regiment of Foot (labeled Napier on the maps, for it's colonel) describing the intensity of the battle on the far right of the British first line.
The victory, carried as it was by the six British regiments, raised British enthusiasm for the war in Europe, and the following year would see significant reinforcements to the Allied army by British troops. Minus a certain officer, and with a cavalry contingent hungry to avenge its dishonor. The popular tale of the battle is that von Sporcken's attack was due to a miscommunication or misinterpretation of orders, but given the French cavalry was still forming up when he began his attack, it is more likely due to Ferdinand seizing on an opportunity.
For the French it was a humiliation Duc de Choisul, French Chief Minister, wrote "I blush when I speak of our army. I simply cannot get it into my head, much less into my heart, that a pack of Hanoverians could defeat the army of the King".
A certain Marquis de la Fayette was killed by a cannonball at Minden, his son would one day be known as the Hero of Two Worlds.
Precocious child learns a new word. Isn't everyone supposed to be happy that they learned something new?
Some commentary and supposition about the turn events, and why they went so bad. Mostly that Severin was scrambling to keep I Corps in order after Dumas' leave of absence, though he doesn't fault the man for trying to spend time with his family. Between the shakeup in leadership, a new commander who hasn't led anything larger than a brigade, and Louis running his mouth and writing checks his adolescent stature can't cash, Something bad was bound to happen. With as wounded as Louis and Charlie would have been, I figured Julian would have been the one, a bit more distant from the foolishness after his own stunt and being separated from Charlotte while looking after her brother, would have hunted the pair of fools down and dragged them to medical attention. Severin has always been portrayed as happy and jovial, or in battle (still jovial, but running on bloodlust). He's never been depicted as truly angry. Like Spider-Man, Silent Severin is Scary.
1759 was a charmed year for Britain, every battle they engaged in emerged as a victory, and even inconclusive battles at sea saw the French retire from the field, if not the entire theater. It was also the year in which the keel for HMS Victory was laid (July 23, 1759), which fit the theme of the year.
I mainly drew on this article for the details of the battle, as it is the most detailed I can find without cracking open books that I don't have. It's much better than Wikipedia's anemic article, and includes an order of battle. I've been using this site for all of the Seven Years' War omakes, including articles on the individual regiments, particularly Touraine Infanterie. Compare to the Wikipedia article.
Reports of the battle say that Prince Ferdinand could not hear the cannonade of de Broglie due to the high winds blowing west to east damping the sound. When de Broglie started his bombardment, the defenses he fired upon were largely unmanned, and had he pushed then, the elite Grenadiers de France alone could have likely stormed the defenses. As it was, he gave Wangenheim plenty of time to muster his men and get heavy artillery in place to dominate the artillery exchange.
The French battery at 7 am is put out of action within ten minutes by the actions of the British artillery brigade, which later shuts down the French artillery on the left wing, the attempted flanking attack on von Sporcken's right, and later pursues the retreating French army to the edge of the marshlands that border the Bastau and hammers them with artillery fire. Comparatively, the British cavalry under Lord George Sackville failed to cover themselves in glory. Failed to accomplish much of anything, in spite of 5 messages to attack, and Prince Ferdinand arriving in person, only for the opportunity to destroy the French army to have slipped by. Quite possibly the only thing that prevented the total defeat and destruction of the French at Minden was Sackville's incompetence and inaction. He would request a court martial to defend his honor, but was found unfit to serve the king is any military capacity. He would later become Secretary of State for the Colonies as George Germain... in the 1770s, when Britain alienated the American colonies into revolt. Talk about getting Sacked, amirite?
The Wikipedia article on the Battle of Minden has a letter from a Lieutenant of the 12th Regiment of Foot (labeled Napier on the maps, for it's colonel) describing the intensity of the battle on the far right of the British first line.
The victory, carried as it was by the six British regiments, raised British enthusiasm for the war in Europe, and the following year would see significant reinforcements to the Allied army by British troops. Minus a certain officer, and with a cavalry contingent hungry to avenge its dishonor. The popular tale of the battle is that von Sporcken's attack was due to a miscommunication or misinterpretation of orders, but given the French cavalry was still forming up when he began his attack, it is more likely due to Ferdinand seizing on an opportunity.
For the French it was a humiliation Duc de Choisul, French Chief Minister, wrote "I blush when I speak of our army. I simply cannot get it into my head, much less into my heart, that a pack of Hanoverians could defeat the army of the King".
A certain Marquis de la Fayette was killed by a cannonball at Minden, his son would one day be known as the Hero of Two Worlds.
Precocious child learns a new word. Isn't everyone supposed to be happy that they learned something new?
Some commentary and supposition about the turn events, and why they went so bad. Mostly that Severin was scrambling to keep I Corps in order after Dumas' leave of absence, though he doesn't fault the man for trying to spend time with his family. Between the shakeup in leadership, a new commander who hasn't led anything larger than a brigade, and Louis running his mouth and writing checks his adolescent stature can't cash, Something bad was bound to happen. With as wounded as Louis and Charlie would have been, I figured Julian would have been the one, a bit more distant from the foolishness after his own stunt and being separated from Charlotte while looking after her brother, would have hunted the pair of fools down and dragged them to medical attention. Severin has always been portrayed as happy and jovial, or in battle (still jovial, but running on bloodlust). He's never been depicted as truly angry. Like Spider-Man, Silent Severin is Scary.
