|
|
Busaco , Sept.27th 1810 : Part 1 , the French Fusilier
On this day , in 1810, there was fought a bloody and rather unneccessary battle on the ridge of Busaco in the eastern part of Portugal.
Briefly , Wellington's Anglo-Portugese Army , retiring to their safe base inside Portugal , offerred a delaying battle to Marechal Massena's larger French army on the dramatic Busaco ridge : despite the fact that he could have outflanked it , Massena apparently thought that the ridge was only occupied by a small rearguard , and sent his long-suffering Infantry columns toiling up the ridge in the early morning mist . They had to attack without the support of Cavalry or Artillery , which could not negotiate the steep slopes , but went forward with their usual heroic enthusiasm .
My figure is representative of the bulk of the French armies in Spain : the lowest form of animal life , the ordinary Fusilier , who made up four of the six companies in each battalion . He was a conscript , officially 20 or more , but often younger , and hundreds of thousands of his ilk were gobbled up by Bonaparte's ambition .
Denis Leclerc , as I've called him , is in the second battalion of the 69th Regiment , who were in Maucune's brigade of Marchand's 1st Division , part of VI Corps commanded by the redoubtable Marechal Ney .
He has been through a pretty harrowing campaign already since the start of the 1810 hostilities , ceaslessly marching through a bitterly hostile land , from which he has to steal his food at the constant risk of being murdered by Spanish or Portugese guerillas :
|
上一篇：祝大家元宵快乐，牛气冲天~~~下一篇：zebraten作品：日耳曼骑士 13世纪早期 / Teutonic Knight, early 13th Century
|
发表于 2021-3-5 10:02
