History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1: Compiled from the Original RecordsDuncan, Francis
History
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1: Compiled from the Original Records
Duncan, Francis
Great Britain. Army. Royal Regiment of Artillery
Among the earliest occasions recorded of the use of Artillery by the
English, were the campaigns in Scotland of Edward II. and Edward III.;
the capture of Berwick by the latter monarch in 1333; his campaigns in
Flanders and France in 1338-39-40; his siege of Vannes in 1343; his
successful raid in Normandy in 1346; the battle of Cressy on the 26th
August in that year, when the fire of his few pieces of cannon is said
to have struck a panic into the enemy; the expedition to Ireland in
1398; Henry IV.'s defeat of the French in Wales, in 1400; another
successful siege of Berwick in 1405; the capture of Harfleur in 1415;
and the battle of Agincourt on the 25th October of that year; the sieges
of Tongue and Caen in 1417; of Falaise and other towns in Normandy in
1418; concluding with the capitulation of Cherbourg and Rouen after
protracted sieges, stone projectiles being thrown from the cannon with
great success; the engagements between Edward IV. and Warwick, when
Artillery was used on both sides; the expedition to France in 1474, and
to Scotland in 1482, when yet another successful siege of Berwick took
place, successful mainly owing to the Artillery employed by the
besieging force; the capture of Sluis, in Flanders; and the attack on
Calais and Boulogne in 1491. In the sixteenth century may be enumerated
the expedition to Flanders in 1511, in aid of the Duchess of Savoy; the
Siege of Térouenne and Battle of the Spurs in 1513; the Siege of
Tournay; the Battle of Flodden Field, where the superior accuracy of the
English Artillery rendered that of the Scotch useless; the descent on
the coast of France and capture of Morlies in 1523; the Siege of Bray
and Montedier in 1524; the siege of Boulogne in 1544; the expedition to
Cadiz under the Earl of Essex in 1596, and that to the Azores in 1597.
In the next century, daring the Civil War, and in all Cromwell's
expeditions, the use of Artillery was universal; and the part of the
century after the Restoration will be alluded to in a subsequent
chapter.
The use, therefore, of Artillery by the English has existed for
centuries; but,—regarding it with modern eyes, its application would
better deserve the term _abuse_. Nothing strikes the student so much as
the absence of the scientific Artillery element in the early trains; and
this feeling is followed by one of wonder at the patience with which our
military leaders tolerated the almost total want of mobility which
characterized them. Not until the last decade of the eighteenth century
was the necessity of mobility officially recognized, by the
establishment of the Royal Horse Artillery; and it took half a century
more to impress upon our authorities that a Field Battery might not
unreasonably be expected to move occasionally faster than a walk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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