I Think I Really Do Have an Ulcer
Page 20
The first lightening of the sky brought the sound of bugles and drums, signalling reveille and the dim line of sentries was still in position, but those sentries had black faces and bonnets instead of shakos and were being mocked quietly by three out of four companies of Vespãos, lying just behind them.
Half-an-hour later, with the entire French camp well into the morning routine, preparatory to moving out, the sergeants appeared to summon the sentinels back to their units. The Vespãos ‘sentries’, by now had acquired shakos from the dead men and the sergeants were within twenty yards when hundreds of men rose from nowhere and moved into skirmishing order, advancing at the trot towards the camp and spreading out as the valley became wider.
The sergeants had the presence of mind to stand still with their weaponless hands held above their heads. This probably saved their lives, as the Vespãos were already concentrating on the main event. All three obeyed gestures to stretch themselves on the ground and the advance trotted over and past them, leaving the mounted B Company to make sure that they were not armed and turn them loose in the rear. They were no longer of interest to the Hornets.
The first camp of chasseurs-á-pied was caught completely unawares, going about its early morning routine. They took one horrified look at Dodds’s black-faced savages, with long sword bayonets attached to their Baker rifles, then took to their heels and ran, without firing a shot.
A Company trotted on through the camp, keeping more or less level with C and D Companies on either side. They were concentrating on two separate camps; voltigeurs on the right; chasseur cavalry on the left.
The voltigeurs were already up and about, but seemed to be having a small war of their own, with columns of men climbing up towards a small fort on a spur in the hills.
Frantic bugle calls stopped all activity in that direction and the confused columns began to make their way down again.
Other columns had been assembling in the camp. These now broke up and surged forward to meet the threat of the advancing D Company. Two opposing forces in skirmishing order would be the first real test for the attackers. The Vespãos went to ground and the voltigeurs leaped and bounded forward.
On the left, Captain da Silva of C Company heard the whistles from Major Gonçalves and moved his men towards A Company and the fleeing chasseurs-á-pied.
The mounted men of Richter’s B Company swept past them toward the still disorganised cavalry camp. They paused at the edge of the camp and those with a good line of sight discharged one shot at the mass of chasseurs, quickly re-holstered their rifles and cantered at the severely damaged and milling mob, with swords drawn.
The survivors fled and Gonçalves waved C Company forward again, while Dodds took A Company and caught the voltigeurs in the flank. They had already been suffering badly from their exchange with Captain Figueredo and D Company, although half his company was having to concentrate on the columns rushing back down the mountain track on their right.
For a brief space of time, D Company was in action to their front and on their right flank, before all melted away in a moment. In the face of a flank attack by A Company, the voltigeurs fled from their camp.
The two and a half companies on the track had just started to deploy outward at the bottom, when a full mounted troop of Hornissen smashed into their rear, being quickly followed by the dismounted troop of Ernst Bruch.
Faced by an assault from front and rear, they threw their arms away and surrendered en masse.
Vere cantered up, a wide beam of pleasure on his face. “That was excellent work, Helmut, a timely intervention. You also, Ernst; it could not have been easy getting over those hills in time. Now, I know you are both itching to join in the fun, but the Vespãos have everything under control and there are several hundred prisoners here that could get up to all sorts of mischief unless you get them organised. Feel free to use the Vespas in the wagon train if you are short handed. They are all armed and just about as dangerous as the rest of the Vespãos.”
He cantered away to look for Gonçalves, leaving them with mixed feelings. Pleasure at the successful resolution of their entrapment and chagrin at being landed with the unpleasant task of sorting out the prisoners and tidying up after the fighting. At least all the wounded would be French. They had no casualties themselves and had not heard of any of the Vespãos who had been hurt.
Whoever was in command of the French detachment was not waiting, not even to find out the size of the force coming against him. He was up and running.
Vere could not blame him. Being attacked by a force of unknown size in a valley with only three ways out; two of which were already blocked; must be giving the unfortunate general a waking nightmare.
When a quarter of his force had been routed in the first hour, his fears had to be compounded by the dread of being trapped inside the valley.
He had to be given credit for the fact that he had left a considerable gap between the forces in bivouac at the end of the valley under the fort, and the rest of his force. It created a kind of buffer zone that gave him time to choose between total commitment and tactical retreat.
Vere reined in the Vespãos until they were all mounted once more. He hoped that if he held back, the French might just relax a little and take their time leaving, or even stop to find out what all the fuss was about. Anything to allow more time for Roffhack and his men to get into action.
He glanced at his watch and groaned. So much had happened, yet it was only two hours since dawn and there was absolutely no sound of battle from the other end of the valley. So far, it had turned out to be a success, but only a very limited success.
His brow wrinkled in surprise at the sight of Müller, who should have been back attending to the prisoners. It was most unlike the man to ignore orders without a very good reason. That did not include the inconvenient fact that he didn’t like the orders.
Then he looked closer and understood. The Hornissen that were following Müller were not the ones that had been left with the prisoners. The rest of C Squadron had rejoined from the hills to the south.
He made an instant decision. “Welcome back, Helmut. I had quite forgot that the rest of your squadron had become mislaid. We now have enough men to make life hazardous for the Frogs.
Please go and place yourself under the command of Major Gonçalves. We shall go together and bite the tail of this French detachment.”
With six hundred mounted Hornets, Fernando Gonçalves had never commanded so many men and suspected that his colonel was deliberately putting him to the test, to make him earn the promotion that he coveted.
He swallowed hard before he considered that what he was about to do was merely larger in scale than what he had done many times before.
He put the Germans on the left flank, with Richter’s Vespãos next to them. If they needed to communicate, Richter would have german, portuguese and english at his command.
Dodds was on the right wing. He had the most experience and could be relied upon to direct Figueredo and D Company if anything unusual occurred.
Gonçalves and Vere rode together in the centre and the enhanced battalion advanced in line of companies, separating only to avoid large obstacles, such as clumps of trees and small knolls.
The French were moving as quickly as they could and the rearguard was halfway along the valley. Unfortunately for them, most of the rear was made up of wagons of the baggage train that could not travel at more than an easy walking pace. Two squadrons of chasseurs-á-cheval were behind them, urging them to greater efforts along the rutted track.
They took a long, hard look at the cloud of dust that was moving toward them, with the feared, dirt-brown uniforms of the Hornets visible wherever they could make them out. They were badly outnumbered and made the only sensible decision. They left the baggage train to its fate and cantered away to seek the support of the rearmost infantry units.
A single platoon was detached to convince the wagoners that they were now prisoners and that their best chance of stayi
ng alive was to reverse their path and try and rejoin those of their comrades who were also prisoners at the other end of the valley.
It took no more than ten minutes and the platoon; terrified that they would miss their chance; cantered after the rest of the battalion.
The chasseur cavalry quickly came up with the last units of the retreating army: two companies of voltigeurs and two companies of chasseurs-á-pied. Both disciplines were basically concerned with skirmishing, but both were accustomed to the drill for forming square against cavalry. They had to be because cavalry was never happier than when it was loosed against a mass of skirmishers.
Having been warned by their horsemen, their combined square was almost complete when the Hornets came within range. A square of men, two ranks deep, ranks of about sixty men across each side, kneeling and standing with bayonets gleaming and bristling. It was a fearful obstacle for any cavalryman. No horse living was going to charge through such a barrier.
Gonçalves had dealt with squares before, but never one as large as this. But then, he had never had six hundred men under his command before in such a situation. He thought quickly before giving a command to engage them.
Moving alongside Colonel Vere, he gestured at the waiting concentration of men. “They are not going anywhere! There is nowhere for them to go, George. I should prefer to ignore them and carry on to disrupt the centre of the column to see if we can get them to stop and engage. We can always come back and deal with this group at our convenience.”
Vere laughed. “I do believe we had the same thought at the same time, Fernando. I must give you the credit for being the first though, if only by a couple of seconds. Do pray give your orders before we trample them under our hooves.”
The Hornets split into two groups that moved in a wide arc around the square, quite startling the cavalry squadrons that had halted in a position beyond them, from where they hoped to assist the infantry in the inevitable confusion of an attack.
Hurriedly and unsoldierly was a good description of their flight, when they saw the Hornets sweeping in from two directions. Bordering on panic when they saw Dodds and his company moving in from their flank. A Company had been forced outwards by a wooded knoll and had used the opportunity to canter well ahead and put the fear of god into the chasseurs: strictly in accordance, of course, with the latest tactics as set out by Colonel Vere.
Fear of black-faced, brown devils was more likely. They were treating the chasseurs of the Imperial Cavalry with utter disrespect; not even bothering to close and take advantage when the chasseurs were forced to break into a flat-out gallop in order to escape.
Gonçalves waved Dodds back into line and the Hornets continued at an energy saving trot toward what was the middle of the retreating column, within a mile of the end of the valley.
The next troops in the line of march used their heads. Two companies of tan-uniformed tirailleurs sprinted into a convenient wood and set up their defence round the edges. This was no time to argue with them. Almost all the advantages held by the Hornets were neutralised by the cover and the trees that they could hide behind.
A short distance farther on, another large square had formed. Again, it was four or five hundred men and was made up of a mixture of voltigeurs and chasseurs-á-pied. The cavalry had found some friends to help restore their confidence. A squadron of hussars had joined them and they were all formed up together, quarter of a mile beyond the square.
Beyond them, other troops could be seen, who appeared to be making preparations to continue their retreat, but forming up in a much wider column that would make it easier and quicker to stop and form a defensive square.
On this occasion, Gonçalves took responsibility without consulting Vere. He ordered Richter to lead Müller in a sweep around the left of the square and to use proven tactics to clear the cavalry away. The next two companies would deploy as skirmishers on the right of the square, while A Company herded the horses away from any return fire and placed themselves threateningly on the on the outer flank of the waiting cavalry.
Richter got his men started and then rode over to the Germans. “Shall you follow in support, Helmut, while we use our rifles? It shall helpful be, if one of your troops can collect the riderless horses. Then, when we have thinned them out enough, we can stop shooting if you wish to practice your cavalry charge.”
“Jawohl, Richie!” He paused and looked quizzical. “I am told that is what they call you now, in your new command. Is it not so?”
“Exactly so, Helmut. Good hunting!”
They rode together at a respectful distance from the square until they came upon B Company. They were leaping from their mounts and going to ground over two hundred yards from the hussars and chasseurs, who were nervously eyeing the horsemen on either flank and trying to make up their minds whether to attack one or the other, or merely to leave the field in haste.
Perhaps it was the seeming confusion on their right; with Richter’s men abandoning their mounts; that made their decision for them. Bugles sounded and over three hundred sabres launched themselves to their right, directly towards Richter and Müller.
Richter’s skirmishers were all armed with the modified Baker rifles and knowing how quickly the horsemen could move towards them, they started shooting as soon as the French started to trot. At that range, and to their own regret, they had to aim at the greater target of horse and man, but with having nearly two hundred aimed shots coming at them in the first hundred yards, the French lost over half their numbers, dead or wounded, before they could get to a gallop.
The Vespãos were firing volleys of sixty shots at a time and the cavalry did not wait for the fifth volley. They turned and fled, with Müller’s Hornissen let loose and screaming after them.
Those that could not turn and run in time were hacked from the saddle, but fear lent wings and maybe up to a hundred desperate men fled past the next partly-formed square, at which point, Müller called his men back and went to deal with the waiting square.
The mounted men were hardly needed. Gonçalves wanted to get this settled so that he could get after the next part of the detachment. As soon as the French cavalry had been routed, two companies of the Vespãos opened fire on one side of the square from nearly three hundred yards. It was well outside the range of any return fire. Over two hundred expert marksmen against the same number in the front and rear faces of the square.
Nobody needed to fire more than one shot before the square was swept almost clean, front to back. When the mounted men trotted up to deal with the outer sides there was no opposition at all. Muskets were hurled down and hands raised in the air.
Vere grinned happily at Müller. “I think you have had all the entertainment that I can allow you for today, Helmut. Shall you now get your squadron to take control of all these prisoners and get everything tidied up here? We have to be quick to see how many more we can bag before we come back to deal with the ones we left.”
Müller grinned back. “After this, Herr Oberst, we shall do anything at all that you wish, even if it is impossible. Though do please send us some of those rifles as quickly as possible. They are wunderbar.”
Vere waved as he left. “Heinz Hagen already has his first delivery. Make sure that your best marksmen get their share.”
The Vespãos formed up and moved on, just as the sound of battle began to be heard from the end of the valley. Vere pulled out his watch and was surprised once more. The hands were approaching midday. He felt sure that there had already been a full day’s fighting.
“Do not let up for a minute, Fernando! Colonel Roffhack is obviously engaging the French, but we do not know how many have been able to leave the valley and whether he shall chase them or put a cork in the way out and be satisfied with those that are then trapped.”
“Very well, George. I think we need no more than two companies to deal with each new square that we come up with. Dodds shall take A and C Companies and go past this one. Do you care to go with him, or remain here?”
The rest was mainly anticlimax. The next square that Vere came up to was no more than two companies and was already under attack by Roffhack’s battalion. No further resistance was made when the French saw the Vespãos adding their weight to the Hornissen.
Roffhack trotted up, looking exhausted. “I don’t know how many we managed to cut off, George, but you are looking pleased with yourself, so I conclude that you got enough of them to impress on d’Erlon that a brigade is not really big enough to be safe.”
“We still have to deal with a couple of units, Günther. We have been playing leapfrog, which I suppose is quite a clever way of saying it. I came this far to see whether you had corked the valley or were pursuing the vanguard.”
Roffhack shrugged! I had hoped to catch them all, but the floods that we heard about at Badajoz, also blocked our way out of the mountains. We had to go round them and have covered nearly a hundred and fifty miles in the last twenty-four hours. Our horses are quite unable to carry us farther, never mind chasing or leaping Frogs.”
“I shall not ask more of your men then, Günther, other than to get these prisoners ready to move back up the valley. Make camp where you will and bring them with you in the morning, at your own pace.
I am a little weary of killing Frogs. I intend to persuade the rest to surrender without trying to fight, though it may be difficult with a couple of companies of tirailleurs, who have gone to ground in a small wood and have a defence nearly as good as a fort.”
Roffhack looked about him. “It does not appear to have rained here for two or three days.”
Vere looked blank, wondering why he had changed the subject so abruptly.