Infantry, Horse, Dragoons and Guns
Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:16 am
Hello gents, not sure about which forum to post on - this one or wargaming the period. However there are a few intersting passages I have been reading from John Childs 'The Nine Years War and the British Army' that are related to the disscussions on the rules changes such as rates of fire, marching and staying power of cavalry.
from page 2
Edward
from page 2
from page 82Infantry fought in in battalions five to six lines deep giving safety in numbers plus ample time to reload the cumbersome fire arms. Equally important, only about twenty per cent of a battalion was in contact with the enemy at any one time, a factor which tended to bolster confidence and morale whilst diminishing combat effectiveness and efficiency. The two and three rank battalions of the mid-eighteenth century demanded a much superior standard of drill, training, competence and leadership. The foot soldiers of the NYW were better suited to fighting from trenches, ramparts and fortifications rather than the open field. The armies were consciously geared towards the dominant forms of warfare: manoeuvre and the siege.
Given the severe limitations of the 17th cent military muskets and the inflexibility of firing from a formation six ranks deep, the battalion could only fire when halted. Firing on the march was impossible. This meant that the fire-fight in battle took place between two static lines of infantry at ranges og 100m or less. The pikemen were little more than observers of a musketry duel and often its victims. Neither firing by rank nor by file produced a heavy weight of shot as only 1/6 of the battalions firepower was discharged simultaneously.
from page 85Although the soldier always commenced his march with the right foot.... no further attempt was made at the maintenance of a cadenced step. Once it had reached its designated location on the battlefield, the battalion had to deploy out of column of companies into line of battle with the additional complication of pikemen had to move to the centre and the musketeers had to be split into two wings....an army would begin deploying for battle early in the morning and not be ready for action until the afternoon.
from page 86Despite the emphasis on sieges and the developing weaponary of the foot, the cavalry still had a vital role to play in battle.....the cavalry charged in double-close order in one rank after the second rank had come into the first rank to fill up the intervals between the files. The third rank probably acted as a reserve and rally point. The actual charge seems to have been delivered at the trot with troopers riding knee-to-knee in a manner reminiscent of Cromwell's Ironsides. The British cavalry tactics were probably compromsie between the Cromwellian charge with cold steel and the practice of the 'caracolle'. The French cavalry, still the outstanding mounted arm.....combined the caracolle with the charge. They troted forward in three ranks, gave a simultaneous discharge of fire from carbines or pistols, and then rode on through the smoke, sword in hand.
I'm convinced the staying power of cavalry has to be changed in the rules.Cavalry was still the prime force on the battlefield. The French victories Fleurus, Luse and Landen were all direct results of decisive cavalry action....With the infantry static formations which could advance and retreat only with extreme difficulty, it was the cavalry who charged and broke opposing infantry which had become disorganised by musketry and canon fire. At Landen in 1693, the French horse sized enemy earthworks which their own foot had proved unable to penetrate and hold.
More adaptable and varied intheir employment were the dragoons, or mounted infantrymen. Their training was a mixture of heavy cavlry drill and infantry evolutions. When used as cavalry...formed up in three ranks and charged home with sword. When as infantry..formed up in three ranksto fight as musketeers armed with the bayonet...During the NYW the dragoons became increasingly to be regarded as simple another form of cavalry....cheaper...rode smaller horses.....By 1697, the dragoons had become a plebian cavalry.
cheersThe funtction of artillery in battle was not clearly definde. The British, Austrians, and Dutch deployed portable 1/2 Ib and 3 Ib canon as infantry guns..... .The heavier guns from the train of artillery were arrange in batteries, usually situated on dominating ground to give a clear and wide field of fire. Batteries typically consisted of between 10 and 20 guns. There was no concept of employing massed batteries to blast - in opposing infantry formations. The guns covered weak points in the army's position and were seen as an adjunct to infantry firepower and not as a prime weapon in their own right.
Edward