Beat the Drums Slowly
Page 34
I have attached the fictional 106th to Paget’s Reserve Division, which formed the rearguard for the bulk of the retreat. The battalion’s experiences are a combination of those of several of the genuine regiments in the reserve, and in particular the 28th and to a lesser extent the 20th. The action at Cacabellos on the 3rd January 1809 occurred much as described in the story. The day began with a punishment parade, and a number of men were flogged, although Paget gave a last-minute reprieve to a pair of redcoats due to be hanged. The lone soldier from the 95th who shot the French general was a wild individual named Tom Plunket, who on several occasions faced disciplinary action after bouts of drunkenness. The feat became legendary among the riflemen, although the only descriptions come from men who were not present at the action, and contradict each other in matters of detail. Although it is sometimes claimed that the incident was famous for the long range of his shot, it seems more likely that Plunket’s coolness was most admired.
Many of the other incidents in the novel actually occurred, including General Paget’s encounter with the paymaster and the subsequent abandonment of the army’s treasury. I have slightly telescoped some of the details of Sir John Moore’s wounding, for instance his words to the Highlander from the 42nd who had lost his leg, but apart from the presence of Williams, nothing has been invented, and his final hours and burial were as described. The same is true of the wider details of the Battle of Corunna.
Moore does seem genuinely to have considered fighting a defensive battle at Lugo. Both there and at other stages during the retreat he was concerned that the French might outflank him and threaten or even cut off his retreating army. The whole episode of Williams and his ragtag group of stragglers holding the bridge is an invention, exploiting this genuine strategic fear. A large force of stragglers from many different regiments did rally under the command of a Sergeant Newman of the 43rd Light Infantry and drove off the French cavalry as described in the story. This formed the basis for Williams’ private army. Having described so many scenes of discipline collapsing, it was also important to show just how ready to fight most redcoats proved themselves at every opportunity. Polish lancers of the Legion of the Vistula and a Provisional Regiment of French Cuirassiers were serving in the Iberian Peninsula at this time, but neither played any direct role in the operations against Moore’s army.
Some of Moore’s officers were critical of the pace he set from the beginning of the advance, feeling that he exhausted the troops. It was also suggested that he should have spent more time with the leading divisions, rather than tending to supervise the actions of the rearguard. Most of this was unfair. It was natural to want to be with the rearguard since this was directly under attack by the enemy. A serious defeat in any of these encounters would have threatened the entire army.
The British Army endured the rigours of the retreat, fought a successful rearguard action on a bigger scale at Corunna, and was able to embark and escape to England. Soult’s batteries opened fire while the ships were still in the bay, and there was considerable confusion and some losses, but the evacuation was an undoubted success. As at Dunkirk, one hundred and thirty-one years later, Britain was able to save its army from a campaign that had gone badly wrong. Also as at Dunkirk, the evacuation was a sign of failure, but it permitted the war to continue. In the months that followed there was a rather squalid – and depressingly modern – scramble to assign blame for the failure.
Moore had many critics, but his defenders were both zealous and extremely determined. Like all other generals, he doubtless made mistakes, but it is impossible to see how anyone could have produced a more successful outcome to the campaign. The threat posed by his army dislocated Napoleon’s plans. The Emperor left for Paris after failing to trap Moore’s army at the River Esla. It seems clear that he realised the campaign was unlikely to produce an outright and overwhelming success, of the sort that had concluded all of his campaigns up to this point. Therefore, he left Soult to manage the rest of the campaign. The marshal did the job competently, but for the remainder of 1809 the French armies in Spain proved unable to complete the subjugation of Spain and Portugal. The Peninsular War would continue, and the last judgement on Moore’s importance is best left to Wellington, who said simply that ‘We’d not have won without him’.
In April 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley, as he still was, would return to take command of the British forces left behind by Moore to defend Portugal. He would not leave the Iberian Peninsula until he led his armies across the Pyrenees into France four years later. The 106th will accompany him for much of the way on that long and difficult journey.
Also by Adrian Goldsworthy
Fiction
True Soldier Gentlemen
Non-Fiction
Antony and Cleopatra
The Fall of the West: The Death of the Roman Superpower
Caesar: The Life of a Colossus
In the Name of Rome:
The Men Who Won the Roman Empire
The Complete Roman Army
Cannae: Hannibal’s Greatest Victory
The Punic Wars
Roman Warfare
The Roman Army at War, 100 BC–AD 200
Copyright
A Weidenfeld & Nicolson ebook
First published in Great Britain in 2011
by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
This ebook first published in 2011
by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
©Adrian Goldsworthy 2011
The right of Adrian Goldsworthy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, except for those already in the public domain, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 0 297 86040 2
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