Tuesday 31 December 2013

Happy New Year to Everyone



I would like to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year, with plenty of spare time for reading, painting and gaming.

Thank you very much for reading my blogs.

(I pinched the picture from the Facebook site of the Regiment de Hainaut, a re-enactment group)

Sunday 29 December 2013

2013/14 Ashes Series Australia 4 England 0

I am at the acceptance step - England have lost the fourth test. I've been through anger and denial, now I know - Australia have not won the fourth test, England lost it.....

I think I'm going back to anger......CATCHES WIN MATCHES YOU .!!!+**!!!

"Marshal of France" by Jon Manchip White



I have just finished this book. It is:

"MARSHAL OF FRANCE, The Life and Times of Maurice, Comte de Saxe (1696 - 1750)", the author is Jon Manchip White, published by Hamish Hamilton Ltd. in 1962. I bought it through Abe Books.

Many years ago I was told that French children are taught about Joan of Arc and her victories but nothing about the Battles of Crecy and Agincourt. I don't know if this is true or not but I know that in my Grammar School in the late sixties, we were taught about Marlborough and his victories (but not about Eugene), Wolfe and Wellington. The War of the Austrian Succession was not on the syllabus. It was a great surprise to me when, about five years ago, I came across an English translation of "Fontenoy" by Denis Gandilhon and learnt of Maurice de Saxe's great victory over the Pragmatic Army led by the Duke of Cumberland.

I knew of de Saxe as he was one of only four Marshals of France who were given the ultimate accolade a non-noble could achieve in Regal France, (the others being Turenne, de Villars and Soult), so I hunted down this biography.

Maurice de Saxe, painted by Jean-Étienne Liotard

De Saxe was born in the North German town of Goslar on 26th October, 1696. In German, he is Graf Hermann Moritz von Sachsen. He was the illegitimate son of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony and Countess Maria Aurora of Konigsmarck, a Swedish countess. Maurice inherited his father's great physical strength and stature as shown in the Liotard portrait above.

Maurice de Saxe joined the ranks of the Saxon forces in Spring 1709, at the age of 12. This was the Saxon contingent that joined the forces of Marlborough and Eugene fighting against the French, first in the siege of Tournai and then at the Battle of Malplaquet, a bloodbath the memory of which stayed with him for the rest of his military career.

In the 1710's, Maurice fought in Northern Europe against the Swedes and then in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire. In this period he experienced the light and irregular troops of Eastern Europe whose style of fighting he championed.

A commission into the French Army was received in 1720, in whose service he passed the rest of his military career. The highlights of his career were in the 1740's.

In the War of the Polish Succession, on 19th November 1741 he seized Prague by a coup de main, surprising the garrison of a bastion very early in the morning, then opening a gate to other forces. This really brought him fame in France.

In the War of the Austrian Succession he had three great victories over the Allies.

First, on 11th May 1745, at the Battle of Fontenoy, he defeated the Pragmatic Army commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, Prince Waldeck and Count Konigsegg.

Second, on 11th October 1746, at the Battle of Rocoux, he defeated the Pragmatic Army again, under the  command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, Sir John Ligonier and Waldeck.

Third, on 2nd July 1747, at the Battle of Laufeld, he defeated the Pragmatic Army again, under Cumberland, Waldeck and Batthyory.

He then captured Brussels. At the end of the War he captured Maastricht, a substantial fortress designed by Vauban.

After the War, the French Army was reduced in numbers and Maurice was unemployed. He retired to the Chateau of Chambord with his own  small Army. To quote the author, "The vast pile epitomized his life: it was grand and spectacular, sad and eccentric." He died here, probably after a stroke and catching a severe chill, on 20th November 1750.

The impression I have from the book is that de Saxe was something of a military genius, accepted by King Louis XV and the Court for that military ability, but not accepted into the French nobility. He was de Saxe, a German, a Protestant.

"The Battle of Fontenoy" by Horace Vernet


Saturday 28 December 2013

I'm feeling very low... Ashes Test Match no. 4

(Photo from ECB Facebook)
At the end of day 3, England have thrown away their best chance of a substantial lead after the third innings. (Sigh, downcast look, shaking of head). Do I get up early again tomorrow?

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Greetings of the Season



Merry Christmas to one and all. I hope you are all nice and warm and cosy.

Christmas 1916 (IWM Collection)
On to lunch.......

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Fort Villey le Sec Moulin Turret Part II

I was having another look at the Facebook page for Fort Villey le Sec. The listings include the following pictures.

This is a copy of the proposed walk around the site. The turret is right in the centre of the reduit, the block on the right of the Fort. This plan is drawn upside down, with North at the bottom and South at the top. The two batteries face East, up the Moselle valley and look to give enfilading fire up the valley.

 This arial photo is taken from the lower right of the plan. The turret can be seen centre-right almost surrounded by trees, in its pre-restored form before receiving its new coat of paint. I think that many of the trees within the fort have been removed. The village is also clearly visible.
 A recent picture, a frosty early winter morning.



Fort Villey le Sec is an unusual shape for a Rivieres fort Most of the forts built in the 1870's and 1880's are polygonal, such as Fort Vaux at Verdun.



This photo of Fort Villey le Sec's South Battery demonstrates the reason for the different ground plan. When the French Army Engineers went to choose the site, they found a village already on the best site. The villagers did not want to move, so rather than pay a lot of compensation, the Army designed the fort around the village.

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Ashes Tour 2013 - 2014 : Perth Test Match



After the third test match (of five):


AUSTRALIA 3   ENGLAND 0


Australia have regained the Ashes. It hurts me to admit it, but Australia have totally outplayed us.

Monday 16 December 2013

Fort Villey le Sec Moulin Turret

This fort has a very good Facebook page - I'm not sure who runs the page - that has a lot of very good photos from the friends who are restoring the fort.

The fort was built in the 1880's and 1890's as part of the new defences following the Franco-Prussian War and the loss of Alsace and large parts of Lorraine to Germany.

The French provinces that were lost in 1871.

It is located just outside Toul, to the west of Nancy and on the River Moselle.

The friends have been restoring the fort for some time and have completed the Mougin turret.






The turret was designed by Commandant Mougin in 1875 and built by the de Bange artillery company. The cannons are 155mm. They were pivoted at the end of the barrel so that to increase or decrease range the breaches swung through a vertical arc. The cannons were fired at the enemy, then the turret would revolve so that the thicker armour would face any incoming fire whilst the cannons were being reloaded and relaid. By the time the turret had turned through 360 deg, the cannons would be ready to fire again.

I have copied the photos from the Fort Villey de Sec Facebook page. This contains many more photos of the work in progress and open days, and of some highland cattle which I assume are used for ground maintenance.

Friday 13 December 2013

The Hobbit Part 2....and long-tailed tits


This afternoon we went to the cinema to watch the new film "The Hobbit Part 2 - the Desolation of Smaug".

We loved it - almost three hours long, but it seemed like 50 minutes to me. I understand that Tolkienites have a few reservations as the film does not slavishly follow the book, but we loved it.

This was followed by a visit to M & S to buy some supplies for dinner and found this in the square outside the shop.


The dots in the trees are a flock of long-tailed tits, about 200 of them, who roost in these two trees. There was another flock at the other end of the square.


Thursday 12 December 2013

Red Sky in the Morning

The BBC tells me the South of England is shrouded in fog

Come to sunny Yorkshire for clear morning air



Although .... the old saying is red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.

Wednesday 11 December 2013

The Miniatures Page - Maginot Line

I have a daily look at www.theminiaturespage.com. This is a site primarily for modellers and wargamers but an occasional history question is asked.

Someone has posted "The Maginot Line - was it ineffective?". There has been a huge response - 43 postings - from the knee-jerk hindsight answers to the very considered answers. This appeals to both of my main history interests, in fortifications and in French history. After many years of reading and thinking about this, my conclusion is that the Maginot Line was very successful, it was not breached and it kept the Germans from crossing the Rhine. There are several reasons for the defeat of the Allies in 1940, a lack of understanding of blitzkrieg, of tank to tank action, of combines forces offensives, a lack of communication and control. At the core of these factors is a complete misunderstanding of modern warfare by all the Allies' command structures. If anyone would like to enter constructive dialogue about this, I would be extremely pleased to hear from you.

If you would like to see the responses, go the the TMP website, enter "Zones of Interest" - "Historical" - "World War 2 Land" then scroll down the Message Boards to the posting.

BBC TV : The Silent War

Yesterday I watched the first part of "The Silent War", part of the BBC TV Cold War series.

"The Silent War" is a two part programme on the submarine war during the cold war, with plenty of interviews of submariners from the UK, US and USSR navies. Lots of stuff here that I did not know, for example, in the 1950's the US put a listening cable across the 3,000 miles of the North Atlantic to the UK, which allowed them and us to log every USSR submarine that left the Baltic and Arctic bases. I know almost nothing about naval history in its own right, almost everything I know is as part of land campaigns, such as D-Day in 1944, or the occasional documentary on Trafalgar or the Battle of the North Atlantic. Can anyone recommend an introductory history book or documentary series?

I look forward to part two of "The Silent War".


Monday 9 December 2013

Ashes Series 2013/14 Australia 2 England 0

We lost the second match and in a five match series that does not bode well for England retaining the Ashes.

Bugger.

England scored 312 in their second innings and so lost the match by 218 runs. A better result than Brisbane but still.... a thrashing. Well done Australia. On to Perth for match 3, starting Friday 13th.

Sunday 8 December 2013

AWI Re-enactors at Fort Ticonderoga


A nice photo from the Facebook page of Fort Ticonderoga. American War of Independence reenactors test firing a small piece on a fortress carriage.

The patriots or rebels (depending on your point of view) had captured Fort Ticonderoga very early in the AWI/ARW.

On 11 April 1775 the New England militia laid siege to Boston. The militia successfully cut the land routes but could not close the port. In November, Henry Knox was given the task of bringing heavier cannons from the Fort to the siege lines. The ground was frozen so this probably helped the transfer, but it was February before the cannons were established in the siege lines, on Dorchester Heights. This position overlooked Boston harbour and so threatened British shipping. The British artillery could not hit the new position, so at the beginning of March the British commander, William Howe realised they could not hold the city and he chose to evacuate by sea. This was delayed for about 10 days by unfavourable winds. On 17th March 1776, 120 ships took 10,000 British troops out of Boston harbour to Nova Scotia.

An interesting siege. It lasted 11 months and ended not by storm or starvation but by manoeuvre.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Channel 4 - "1066: the Lost Battlefield - a Time Team Special"

Another good history programme on the television, UK Channel 4's "1066: the Lost Battlefield - a Time Team Special"

I'm not a fan of the Time Team format, although I will watch any military history edition. This programme was really good, really interesting. The Radio Times description was:-

"The Battle of Hastings is arguably the most famous in English history, but due to a lack of archaeological evidence, have historians put the battlefield in the wrong place?"

"Digging alone is inconclusive but cutting-edge aerial technology offers some surprising new evidence about the traditional battlefield site."

I wont give too much away, just in case someone wants to see the programme. I will say Sir Tony and his crew put forward a good arguement for relocating the battle away from the slopes and field of Battle Abbey. We enjoyed it (it's not often I can say my partner enjoys one of my military history programmes).

Tuesday 3 December 2013

BBC TV - "Strange Days : Cold War Britain"


BBC has launched a series of programmes on the Cold War. On BBC Television, they have aired "Strange Days : Cold War Britain", written and made by Dominic Sandbrook, a historian who seems to be specialising in post-war history.

I have watched this three part programme and I found it to be very interesting. As I was born in 1953 I recognise many of the events and issues, participated in some and with friends sat up long into the night discussing them, usually with a large quantity of alcoholic lubrication. I enjoyed the programme and I recommend them.

By coincidence, the film "High Treason" arrived in the mail on Friday from Lovefilm. This film is discussed in programme one as an example of the anti-USSR paranoia that was prevalent at the time. This British made film from 1951 had a storyline of left-wing saboteurs working in Britain as part of a wider Soviet plot. The saboteurs were not trade unionists or CNDers but intellectuals with a love of modern music and duffel coats, rather prescient as the major spies found in Britain to be working for the USSR, Burgess, McLean, Philby, Blunt, and Cairncross, were all at Cambridge together.

The BBC is scheduled to show more programmes in this Cold War series.

Dominic Sandbrook in Moscow, photo from BBC website

The saboteurs in their duffle coats