History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Vol. 2: Compiled from the Original RecordsDuncan, Francis
History
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Vol. 2: Compiled from the Original Records
Duncan, Francis
Great Britain. Army. Royal Regiment of Artillery
No. 1 Company, 4th Battalion--now No. 4 Battery, 7th Brigade--attracted
the admiration of the Duke of York to such an extent by its gallantry
and skill, that he made the whole army form up on the field of battle
while this company marched past him. He also published a General Order,
saying: “His Royal Highness desires that Captain Boag and Lieutenant
Fead of the Royal Artillery (the officers with the company) will accept
his thanks for the very spirited and able manner in which they conducted
the battery entrusted to their care.” If history is not utterly
powerless, the story of the 17th April ought to stir the hearts of this
battery, and make every man in its ranks strive to be not unworthy of
those, who proved themselves worthy of so rare and honourable a
distinction. To be singled out for bravery on a day when all were brave,
and to display a spirit and an ability which, amid all the confusion of
battle, attracted the observation of a preoccupied commander, surely
these are traditions which should fire the most generous emotions, and
awaken the most noble resolves. It is in such a belief, and with such a
hope as this, that men have been found to record such tales in
Regimental records, and that others have been found to transcribe them
fondly from faded pages, and give to them a new life and a wider
circulation.
Encouraged by the success at Vaux, Landrecies was besieged by the
Allies, the English troops covering the operations towards Cambray.
Twice between the 23rd and 26th April did the Duke of York’s force
defeat the French; and on the 26th it was mainly owing to the
well-directed fire of the Royal Artillery, under Colonel Congreve, that
the French were dislodged from their position in the village of
Troisvilles, with a loss of 35 guns and 300 prisoners. Landrecies
surrendered on the 29th April; but this advantage, even when combined
with the Duke of York’s successes, did not atone for the severe defeat,
which had been experienced on the 26th April by the Allied Army under
General Clairfayt at the hands of a French army under General Pichegru.
There seems from this time to have been a want of harmony among the
Allies. Their armies melted away into more isolated columns every day;
and the system of incessant attack, irrespective and regardless of
frequent defeat, which was pursued by the French forces, seems to have
produced a nervous effect upon their opponents, under which each
commander seemed to play, so to speak, for his own hand. The
representatives of the old school of war were bewildered by the activity
of those of the new. They found themselves fighting, confined by strict
and wooden rules, by which their adversaries refused to be bound; and
the consequences proved fatal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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