Post
by maciek » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:53 am
With Mr Litten' book in hand I can say that:
- he claims that four Dutch battalions involved were: Oranje Friesland (2 battns), Slangenburg and Salish, with two light guns
- he claims that both villages were undefended, according to French commander La Motte report to Chamilliart (citing Wijn as a source); he also states that initially there were only one battalion of Greder, placed behind the river and that the Swiss even tried to demolish a bridge (which makes sense only if Taviers were left undefended as Mehaigne rivulet is behind the village, looking from Allied side).
- only after Greder Battn was attacked, French commanders realized how vulnerable wad their flank and dismounted 14 squadrons of dragoons (regts Nothaft, Aquaviva, Le Roi, Ferrare and Aubigne) to support the Swiss, then send there a brigade composed of Cologne Rgt Wolfskehl (2 battn) and Bavarian Rgt Kurprinz (2 battn)
BTW, Litten's book is one of the best I've read for this period.
And, no offence to British historians but as I've read a lot of English language books about WSS I've found that majority of them (especially those written before 1970's) looks like based on the same sources. Neil Litten's book emerge as a new, fresh effort to describe the history of this fascinating war.