Being an account of my wargaming activities, a few sailing stories, some beer related anecdotes, what music I'm listening to.... oh, and anything else that knows me!
Saturday, August 31
"Firing into the Brown" #58 - Floating cannons, the Tannhäuser Gate, Chartres and stuff
"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the
Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can
manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a
great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into
a village and takes it; we three Martinis
firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Time for another update..
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Ever wonder how they did it?? Wonder no more.. 😏
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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off
the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the
Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in
rain... Time to die".
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Another in the occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories
of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a proj ect but not
documented here for posterity.. so we come to French cavalry regiment
"Chartres", part of my War of the Spanish Succession collection..
There is a very (very) good potted history of this regiment on the Kronoskaf
WSS site (link below) so there's little point in me repeating the good work
completed there, but by way of a framework to hang some 'rabbit holes' on
(😏), the regiment was one of the "Princes de Sang" (princes of the blood)
regiments - named after the aforementioned Princes, these were a sinecure
belonging to the King and awarded to his Nobles.
This regiments claim to fame though was this became the property of
Philippe d'Orléans (the II), Duc de Chartres (a powerful man - his uncle
was Louis XIV, and he became regent on his death in 1714). It was ranked
15th in seniority in the French cavalry.
During the War of the Spanish Succession, the successive mestres de camps
(ie. battlefield commanders/Colonels) of the regiment were:
from June 1690: Nicolas-Antoine de Grouches, Marquis de Chépy
from 1702: according to Kronoskaf , Claude, Bailli de Forbin (for
the lack of any evidence to the contrary I believe this may well be
this guy [clicky], a most interesting character if so, and well worth a read!)
- looks like he 'passed the baton' when the regiment was sent to
Italy. Jury's out as to whether that actually is the fellow
identified as the one I read up on was commanding a trio of ships in
the Med at the time! I think it more likely to have been
this fellow [clicky]
- who was related to Claude..
from 1705: Comte de Messey - I think
this guy:
from 25 March 1710 to October 1734: Anne-François de Harville
In 1701, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701-13), the regiment served in Germany, but in 1702, was
transferred to Northern Italy (where it remained for about 5 years), and it fought in the Battle of
Luzzara.
In 1703, it took part in an engagement near Castelnuovo, and in the
capture of Asti and Villanova d’Asti; in 1704, in the sieges of
Vercelli, Ivrea and Verrua; in 1705, in the Battle of Cassano; and in
1706, in the battles of Calcinato and Castiglione.
In 1707 & 1708, the regiment returned to France and was assigned to the
defence of Dauphiné (which is south eastern France).
In 1709, it was transferred to the Rhine.
In 1710, it went to Alsace and occupied the Lines of
Wissembourg.
In 1711, it was in the Lines of Ettlingen.
In 1712, it took part in the Battle of Denain and in the Siege of Le
Quesnoy; and in 1713, in the sieges of Landau and Freiburg.
In 1714, and the end of the war, the regiment was in camp at Saône.
...so that would mean that they missed Blenheim, Ramillies, Malplaquet and
Oudenarde - so another foobar on my part 😏.
Despite their illustrious beginnings then, quite a low key regiment in
the Flanders theatre of war.. probably no bad thing! They
were however, very active in Italy.
Regiment painted some time in 2007 (pre-Blog!) and comprising 15mm Dixon
Miniatures..
Ingenious way of getting cannons to shore, very clever indeed and Roy's speech from Blade Runner is one of my favourites, great movie. Interesting regiment and they look great, those 15mm Dixons are really rather good.
Cheers Donnie.. it is ingenious isn't it?! All those Hornblower and Aubrey books where they get the cannons ashore and I never paused to think how it was actually done, and then I saw this display on a visit to the Historic Dockyard..
It is very interesting about moving the cannons from ship to shore. It would have been a bugger to row the boat in though. Very nicely painted unit. Maybe they were lucky they missed all those battles.
Cheers Ben - a bugger indeed... guess they would also have to shift barrels to the right kind of carriage as they'd never get a ships cannon ashore that way...
Ingenious way of getting cannons to shore, very clever indeed and Roy's speech from Blade Runner is one of my favourites, great movie. Interesting regiment and they look great, those 15mm Dixons are really rather good.
ReplyDeleteCheers Donnie.. it is ingenious isn't it?! All those Hornblower and Aubrey books where they get the cannons ashore and I never paused to think how it was actually done, and then I saw this display on a visit to the Historic Dockyard..
DeleteThanks for the info on how guns were transported from ship to shore! A real eye opener.
ReplyDeleteCheers Nundanket - I had a feeling someone might find it as interesting as I did! :o)
DeleteIt is very interesting about moving the cannons from ship to shore. It would have been a bugger to row the boat in though.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely painted unit. Maybe they were lucky they missed all those battles.
Cheers Ben - a bugger indeed... guess they would also have to shift barrels to the right kind of carriage as they'd never get a ships cannon ashore that way...
Delete