Can No One Win Battles if I'm Not There
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Having made their square, the French relaxed and waited to see what their assailants planned. They were prepared to see the wide circling movement that MacKay initiated, taking over the lead from the Spaniards and keeping two hundred yards distant from the square. The French would certainly not waste bullets at that distance.
The French did not waste bullets, but were not prepared for what happened next. The Vespãos trotted alongside the square, dismounted and went to ground, thirty men opposite and almost two hundred yards from one of the faces of the square, made up of twenty-five kneeling men and another twenty-five standing behind them.
Half of Quintana’s officers shepherded the riderless horses out of the line of fire and both halves then waited on the flanks of the skirmishing Vespãos, sabres drawn and ready.
MacKay walked his horse slowly up to the square, a white kerchief tied around the barrel of his Ferguson.
Raising his bonnet in the direction of the rider he took to be the commander, he exercised his poor but adequate french. “Messieurs, I am Colonel MacKay of the Frelons Bruns. It is my painful duty to have to kill most of you unless you lay down your weapons immediately and surrender. What is your decision?”
The mounted man opposite took off his bicorn and replaced it. “I have not heard of any Hornets of any colour and have to say that you do not look very intimidating. Moreover, the men on the flanks appear to be Spanish cavalry for whom I have no respect at all. Perhaps it would be best if we let you retire quietly? It is clear that we can do little harm to each other.”
MacKay raised his bonnet again. “It is to be regretted, Monsieur, that you will never realise how wrong you are.”
He trotted his horse to the side, out of the line of fire, took the kerchief from the rifle, holstered the Ferguson and blew a single blast on his whistle.
The Vespãos opened fire in pairs. All of them now had Roberto’s modified Baker rifles and there was no chance that they would miss at that range. The first volley of fifteen shots took all four officers from the saddle and half the kneeling men in the front rank. Three more volleys, all within thirty seconds, destroyed the entire side of the square and two more long blasts of his whistle, stopped the shooting, but sent the Spaniards screaming into the wide gap and the backs of the confused and horrified French, who were still facing outward,
Muskets were thrown down on all sides and the Spaniards restrained their blood lust and obeyed MacKay’s injunction not to harm unarmed men.
The French still outnumbered their assailants, but the now thoroughly professional mounted Spaniards and the grim line of Hornets advancing to within yards of the shocked infantrymen, kept them completely subdued.
Surviving officers and sergeants were made to organise parties to sort out the wounded from the mortally wounded and dying. Others were put to work digging graves.
The contents of five of the wagons were returned to the townspeople. Astutely, MacKay persuaded the mayor that the gift of the wagons and mules as well, was generous payment for what was in the other five and which had, in any case, been regarded as lost to the foragers. The supplies would go a long way to keep the Hornets independent of Santocildes’ largess for the remainder of the campaign.
It was a short and very theatrical end to a short and quite violent period of instruction that, rather against their wills had transformed three second-rate cavalry squadrons into the cream of Spanish horsemen. Transformed them in their own opinion at any rate, which was what really counted. MacKay and Gonçalves had a good chuckle at the thought that it had all been done without any reference to the sort of skills that a cavalryman needed to have.
Quintana and his officers were allowed to flaunt their success and claim the credit for the long lines of prisoners. It did wonders for their reputations with the rest of their men and the story of the valiant seventeen charging into the midst of a French square, almost ten times their strength, became embroidered and embellished with each new telling.
The achievements of the Hornets were already the stuff of legend, but their remarkable transformation of Santocildes’ cavalry elevated them to mythical status.
With his army now spilling out of the mountains and preparing to advance to the east, the general asked MacKay if he would allow a Spanish squadron to operate alongside, but subordinate to each of the three Hornet companies.
MacKay had no hesitation in agreeing. The country to the east was very suited to cavalry operations and he expected the French to be well supplied with horsemen. The German Hornissen had been very successful with their emphasis on their own version of cavalry tactics. A collaboration between Hornets and Hornet-trained Spanish cavalry would certainly be interesting and might even develop into an effective partnership.
CHAPTER 18
Lord Wellington’s headquarters was unlike any that Welbeloved had been in. For an established general on a long campaign, he managed with remarkably little. He had a large marquee in which his personal tent and the smaller tents of his staff were pitched and there was enough room for a dining area where he served moderately good wine and moderately poor food.
He was very free with his invitations to dine, but the difficulty was that he was not that interested in food, except as a means to fuel his body. ‘Daddy’ Hill kept a much better table, as Welbeloved had discovered and was just as happy to entertain anyone of interest who was passing through.
The strange position of the Hornets; with the army, but not of the army; made it easier for Wellington to be at ease with Welbeloved and Sir Joshua found himself seated at his table whenever the fancy took him to be visiting headquarters in the afternoon.
Wellington was become quite secretive about his plans, even to his senior commanders. Partly this was as a result of previous unfortunate experiences, when high-ranking subordinates had not agreed with his policies and had written to influential friends in England to complain.
Such complaints quickly found their way into the newspapers and Napoleon himself read British newspapers, sometimes within a week of printing.
Having the enemy informed about the strategies he was planning did not please him greatly. Now, his senior generals were getting used to hearing about his plans only when they received their written orders to start moving their divisions.
Not only that, but their orders gave them detailed instructions as to which roads to use, which regiments to send by those roads and every other thing they had to do before they reached their destination.
With the quality of some of the generals imposed on him by the Horse Guards, nothing was now left to chance or to the individual initiative of incompetents. Even the most professional of his subordinates had to suffer the indignity of having all their actions prescribed in minute detail. They had to accept control in such detail because so many of their colleagues were not to be trusted to manage their own affairs.
Welbeloved often found himself asked to stay after the other guests had gone and before Wellington had started on the several hours of writing and planning that he completed each night after dinner. This was a situation likely to cause jealousy among the other commanders and for this very reason, Welbeloved kept his visits to a diplomatic minimum.
This evening, they were sitting talking about the French, following intelligence brought in by the Hornissen that morning. It confirmed that the three separate armies of Soult, Marmont and d’Erlon’s army corps had relieved Badajoz and were encamped on the east bank of the Guadiana.
Many of the regiments had crossed to the west bank and cavalry reconnaissance squadrons could be expected to probe the allied positions at any time now.
“The devil is in the French for numbers, Sir Joshua. It is unbelievable how quickly they can reform and regroup a beaten army and bring them into the field once more. I was confident that, even with d’Erlon’s extra strength, Soult should not be strong enough to challenge us for another month or so. Yet, here he is with an army more or less equal to our own. His garrison in Andalucia has to be composed entirely of
invalids and cripples, just asking for the Spaniards to attack, yet they sit on their backsides in Cadiz and Murcia and wait for us to do all their fighting for them.”
“I can understand yor frustration, My Lord. What is more amazing to me is the way Marmont has been able to rebuild the Army of Portugal after what yew did to it and more amazing still that he should bring it running to help Soult, when they detest and distrust each other so much.
One thing is certain though. Having got sixty thousand troops around Badajoz, they shall have to use them without delay or in two weeks they shall be starving. Do yew expect them to try and settle matters now?”
Wellington laughed. A short, sharp bark of a laugh. “I am satisfied that they may wish to do so and if they were aware of their advantage in strength, I wager they should be at us tomorrow.”
Welbeloved scratched his ear thoughtfully. “I might be rash enough to take yor wager. I am persuaded that after coming against yew at Buçaco and Fuentes de Oñoro, the French are just a touch shy about tackling yew in any position that yew have chosen for yor defence.
They now know that they lose more men than yew do, every time they fight us face to face. If I were a French general, I should not be happy with odds of less than six to five in my favour.”
Completely without false modesty, Wellington agreed. “ ‘Tis only because they always come against us in column, always in the same old way. God knows, muskets are not accurate, but when a hundred men in line are shooting at ten men at the head of a column, there can only be one outcome.”
Welbeloved grinned. “All of this is very true and of absorbing interest, but it is not yor practice to send beaters out if yew know there are no birds to put up. May I presume to speculate that yew would be content not to have to fight this number of French in this place at this time?”
Wellington showed slight exasperation. “I am sure you would speculate whether I had wished it or not. I just wish that some of my generals could keep up with my thinking as you invariably manage to do. Most of them cannot even follow my orders properly.
As you have gathered, I should be content if the enemy were to discover that we were much too hard a nut to crack and were to take themselves elsewhere, after reinforcing and resupplying Badajoz. I have some thoughts about how this may be encouraged, but then I consider that you have five hundred restless troopers who on no account should be left in idleness. Is it a mere conceit of mine that you may have thought of some way of employing them to our mutual benefit?”
Welbeloved beamed. “We come closer all the time to the day when the Hornets can work as part of yor army, My Lord. It so happens that I have been pondering on what we may do, always presuming that yor wishes were as yew have just indicated.
Should yew be willing to lend me yor cavalry for two or three days?”
Wellington looked down his long nose. The question was obviously impertinent, considering Welbeloved’s rank, but he seemed more amused than surprised.
“I should be delighted to give you command of one of my divisions, but you know perfectly well that the Horse Guards shall not agree to the displacement of any of their protégés.
Develop your argument though. If it has merit I may decide to use my own authority to give you the temporary control you seek.”
“Very well, My Lord. I make the assumption that the French shall be shy about challenging numbers equal to their own in this position and that they do not know how many they face because yew have hidden most of yor army from them. They do not know that yew have sent Blake and his Spanish divisions back to threaten Seville.
They need to have this information and they shall probe with their cavalry to get it. Do yew support my argument thus far?”
Wellington smiled and nodded.
“I am proposing that they be allowed to have all the information that we should wish them to have, but that we should make it so hard to come by that they shall value it beyond price and believe that what they see is a mere fraction of the whole.”
“Everything you say is acceptable so far, Sir Joshua, but why do you need control of my horsemen?”
“Because, My Lord, the enemy shall expect to have to penetrate our cavalry screen and I have discovered that there are only six valleys on the approach to these hills that they can use to do so. Our cavalry strength is sufficient to deny them success at four of those valleys and the Hornets can cover the two that lead up to the reverse slope where they may snatch a glimpse of what they shall believe to be our true strength.
They shall have the intelligence that they require, but shall take many casualties in getting it. They shall be convinced that it must be true, if we do them so much harm in trying, without success, to deny it to them.”
Wellington stirred himself. “We have both been thinking along the same lines, Sir Joshua, but I had not included the Hornets in my calculations, whereas you are always striving for ways to make them more - dare I say it - legitimate. I have already given my orders for tomorrow to my cavalry commanders. We now need to revise them.
Mr. Pom!” he yelled.
There was a scurrying of hasty activity at a table where a group of young men were sitting, chatting, playing cards and generally relaxing. Pom’s, now gangling, figure came trotting across. The young man must have grown nearly two inches since he had joined Wellington’s staff. Welbeloved was amused and touched to see that he was still carrying his converted Baker rifle, even in the marquee of the commander-in-chief.
Undoubtedly he would have had to endure a great deal of leg-pulling about it, but his colleagues had to be aware by now that all the Hornets carried their arms at all times. Even Welbeloved was no more than thirty feet from his Ferguson at this very moment. It was in the care of his Hornet servant, waiting with the horses outside the tented area.
There was rather more wrist showing from his sleeve than was really acceptable as Pom came to attention by the table. “My Lord?” Welbeloved made a mental note to get one of the talented Wasp seamstresses in the wagon train to bring some material and fit him with a larger uniform.
Wellington was concise and to the point. “Go and find my cavalry commander, Mr. Pom. I require him here in thirty minutes, together with the commanders of his regiments. You may tell him that his command shall need to be ready for action before sunrise.”
Pom dashed away and Wellington smiled grimly. “That young man is surely no older than some of the children that you employ as midshipmen, Sir Joshua, yet apart from his amazing language talents, I cannot think of anyone on my staff who appears so frighteningly dangerous.
Some of my aides thought to tease him about carrying that rifle all the time, until he showed them how to use it and challenged them to a contest. Some of them could be ten years older and he made them look like children. It scarcely seems fair that he should at the same time be more intelligent, more physically capable and more good looking in his oriental way.”
“Perhaps, My Lord, it is the Almighty’s way of recompensing him for being of aristocratic blood, both in Portugal and in Cathay and still not regarded as legitimate in his father’s country? With such breeding, is it any wonder that he should be so talented?”
As a younger son in a family whose older brother was now the Marquess Wellesley, Wellington was well known for his preference for blue blood among his aides. He shot a penetrating look at Welbeloved to see if he was being mocked gently. Welbeloved’s face was a study for its lack of guile and any further speculation was cut short by the arrival of the cavalry commanders.
“Sit down, gentlemen. Accept my apologies for the lateness of the hour, but we have intelligence that the French are now west of the Guadiana and that cavalry probes are likely before dawn in the course of the next day or two.
It shall suit me very well if some of those probes are successful in carrying back information that we wish Soult to have. Sir Joshua and I have discussed a strategy for achieving this, using the German squadrons of the Naval Brigade and the cavalry regiments present.
Sir William was known to be quite irrational for much of the time and he had already been made to look foolish on one occasion by the Portuguese Vespãos. He must have been in a good mood however and much to Welbeloved’s relief he chose the easier course of becoming Wellington’s temporary deputy.
Welbeloved gathered the cavalry commanders around him, explained what he wanted their regiments to do and allocated a valley for each of them to cover.
Everybody was up and in position before dawn. Everybody that is except for the French who were notable only for their absence. Welbeloved was not put out. It gave his men and the cavalry the whole of the day to make sure that they were thoroughly familiar with the valleys that they were guarding.
It also gave him time to put additional strength into the four valleys that he wanted to deny to the enemy. Batteries of guns were placed in each, up towards the cols where they would be visible to any hostile cavalry that had managed to avoid the prowling allied horsemen.
The two central valleys that he had set aside for his own scheme were both wide with gradual ascents. Even at the top, the approach to the col and the reverse slope gave almost enough room for a squadron to deploy in line and enjoy the view.
It was possibly more accurate to describe them as one very wide valley with a ridge running down the centre that divided it into two long, wide arenas where cavalry could manoeuvre to their hearts content against other cavalry. With this in mind, Welbeloved had a long discussion with Vere, Roffhack and Colonel Anstruthers. The Colonel had served with both Sir John Moore and Lord Wellington as an exploring, travelling intelligence officer and had first met the Hornets during Sir John’s campaign leading to the retreat to La Coruña. After Talavera he had taken over a regiment of light dragoons and rebuilt them after they had suffered grievous losses in the battle.