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Soldier Spy

Page 26

by Griff Hosker


  Captain Robbie (Macgregor) Matthews-illegitimate son of the Count of Breteuil

  Colonel James Selkirk- War department

  Colpack-fur hat worn by the guards and elite companies

  Crack- from the Irish ‘craich’, good fun, enjoyable

  Horse Guards- the British War Department in Whitehall

  Joe Seymour- Corporal and then Sergeant 11th Light Dragoons

  Joseph Fouché- Napoleon’s Chief of Police and Spy catcher

  Lieutenant Jonathan Teer- Commander of the Black Prince

  musketoon- Cavalry musket

  parky- slang for cold

  pichet- a small jug for wine in France

  Pierre Boucher-Trooper/Brigadier 17th Chasseurs

  Pompey- naval slang for Portsmouth

  Paget Carbine- Light Cavalry weapon

  Rooking- cheating a customer

  Slop chest- the chest kept aboard ship with spare clothes[1]

  Snotty- naval slang for a raw lieutenant

  Tarleton Helmet- Headgear worn by Light cavalry until 1812

  Windage- the gap between the ball and the wall of the cannon which means the ball does not fire true.

  Maps

  This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

  Battle of Campo Tenese (10 March 1806). The present day town and terrain. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

  Historical note

  The 11th Light Dragoons were a real regiment. However I have used them in a fictitious manner. They act and fight as real Light Dragoons. The battles in which they fight were real battles with real Light Dragoons present- just not the 11th.

  The books I used for reference were:

  Napoleon’s Line Chasseurs- Bukhari/Macbride

  The Napoleonic Source Book- Philip Haythornthwaite,

  The History of the Napoleonic Wars-Richard Holmes,

  The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data book- Digby Smith,

  The Napoleonic Wars Vol 1 & 2- Liliane and Fred Funcken

  The Napoleonic Wars- Michael Glover

  Wellington’s Regiments- Ian Fletcher.

  Wellington’s Light Cavalry- Bryan Fosten

  Wellington’s Heavy Cavalry- Bryan Fosten

  Wellington’s Guns-Nick Lipscombe

  Wellington’s Army- Colonel Rogers

  The buying and selling of commissions was, unless there was a war, the only way to gain promotion. It explains the quotation that ‘the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton’. The officers all came from a moneyed background. The expression cashiered meant that an officer had had to sell his commission. The promoted sergeants were rare and had to have to done something which in modern times would have resulted in a Victoria Cross or a grave!

  The character of Colonel Selkirk is based upon a number of characters who existed in World War 1 and 2. I have no reason to believe that such characters did not exist a century or more earlier. Subterfuge and duplicity are two weapons which can be used by the military when needed. The colonel symbolises such cunning.

  The Naples invasion was written largely as described. The King and Queen of Naples reneged on a treaty with Napoleon who ordered Masséna to invade Italy. The King left Naples on the 23rd of January 1896 but the Queen waited until the 11th of February to leave; 2 days after the French crossed the border. She eventually arrived in Sicily. I have made up her rescue by the 11th although it is similar to the rescue of Queen Cartimandua by Roman cavalry in 69 A.D.[2]

  Roger de Damas was a young émigré who was given command of one wing of the Neapolitan Army. However I have made up his characteristics. It struck me that anyone who had fought on the émigré side, bearing in mind they lost to half trained revolutionary armies, would not be good enough to face the well trained French Army of 1806. The fact is he should have been able to hold the French at the site he chose. His flanks were secured by high ground and he had the height advantage over the French. However he omitted to leave men on the mountain side and French Light Infantry climbed the mountains and descended on their flanks and rear. His men were bottled up in the valley and, out of the two armies of almost 17000 men, only 3000-4000 escaped back to Sicily.

  Roger de Damas

  The French did behave badly in Calabria. Following the battle they rampaged through the farms and villages taking food and women as they saw fit. The French observer Paul Louis Courier reported that they robbed, raped and murdered. There appeared to be no order. The result was that the Neapolitans reacted in kind and it was a precursor to the guerrilla war waged in Spain a few years later.

  Wellington, as Arthur Wellesley, did serve in Copenhagen. I have tried to portray him as the real man and not the larger than life general who helped to defeat Napoleon. He was a snob in every sense of the word and a true elitist. From contemporary accounts he was not a very pleasant man and could be quite vindictive. His attitude towards ordinary soldiers can best be described as feudal and yet the soldiers who served him would follow him anywhere.

  Most ships both merchant and Royal Navy, used a rope suspended above the mess table to use as a kind of napkin. It would be an old piece of rope and would be unravelled to help it function as a napkin. If the ship ran out of food or became becalmed then the rope could be cooked to make a gruel which would have bits of grease and food to give sustenance.

  The Battles of Maida and Køge happened largely as described however there were no British cavalry at Maida and the KGL did not have to be ordered back. That was just an homage to Captain Nolan at Balaclava. The dates for the battle are accurate and I have not changed them.

  Captain Matthews will continue to fight Napoleon and to serve Colonel Selkirk. The Napoleonic Wars have barely begun and will only end on a ridge in Belgium in 1815. Robbie will be back to the same place he fought his first battles as a young trooper.

  Griff Hosker June 2014

  Other books by

  Griff Hosker

  If you enjoyed reading this book then why not read another one by the author?

  The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50A.D. – 128 A.D.)

  Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior

  Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua

  Book 2 The Horse Warriors

  Book 3 Invasion Caledonia

  Book 4 Roman Retreat

  Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch

  Book 6 Druid’s Gold

  Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters

  Book 8 The Last Frontier

  Book 9 Hero of Rome

  Book 10 Roman Hawk

  Book 11Roman Treachery

  They are all available in the Kindle format.

  The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D.- 1085 A.D.

  Book 1 Housecarl

  Book 2 Outlaw

  Book 3 Varangian

  These are available in the Kindle format.

  The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)

  Book 1 Saxon Dawn

  Book 2 Saxon Revenge

  Book 3 Saxon England

  Book 4 Saxon Blood

  Book 5 Saxon Slayer

  Book 6 Saxon Slaughter

  These are available in all electronic formats.

  The Lucky Jack American Civil War series

  Rebel Raiders

  Confederate Rangers

  The Road To Gettysburg

  The Napoleonic Horseman Series

  Book 1 Chasseur a Cheval

  Book 2 Napoleon’s Guard

  Book 3 British Light Dragoon

  Viking Warrior Series

  Viking Slave

  Viking Warrior

  Viking Jarl

  This is available in all electronic formats.

  British Ace Series

  1914

  Also available in paperback and Kindle is the book aimed at 12-15 years olds, Great Granny�
�s Ghost

  Carnage at Cannes[3] is a modern thriller and is available in the Kindle format.

  Travel

  Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul

  For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at http://www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.

  * * *

  [1] Normally from dead men

  [2] Sword of Cartimandua- by Griff Hosker

  [3] Formerly published as The Carrier and The Dove

 

 

 


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