If they will not meet us on the open sea (a Trent TL)

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Saphroneth

Banned
Lawrenson reined in his horse by a small building - one of the few in the area, which was mostly part of the hinterland around Montreal.

"Well, we're here," he said, to nobody in particular, as the command party slowed around him. "At least it's warmer than last month."

There was a series of chuckles from the men around him.

"Okay, well," he went on. "Just need to hold the farm for an hour or so, and then Williams should be here and we can go off and do something interesting."

Another round of chuckles.

"Well, I didn't think it was that funny," Lawrenson muttered. Then, before he could continue, there was a faint sound - like a snapping twig.

A moment later it was followed by the burble of a rifle volley.

"Maybe not as boring as all that," the Major-General said. "Runner in that direction - find someone who knows what's going on, find out so we know as well!"

One of the aides dashed off, riding his horse over a nearby fence with the enthusiasm and verve of a huntsman - not surprising, as both he and his horse had indulged in the past.

"I think that's the Dragoons," another officer suggested. "It's their sector."

"What I'm more concerned is what they've run into," Lawrenson admonished. "If that's the Yankees, then that's good fast work."

He snapped his fingers. "Get the horse artillery moved up, as well. Best to have it ready if we need it."

The firing from the north came again, more strongly this time.






"They beat us here?" Blenker asked, Palatine accent touching his voice. "Damn. Cavalry, then."

"Yes, sir," the messenger agreed. "There were at least a dozen men seen holding horses, maybe more, and they've occupied two farmhouses as well."

"We'll have to bring up the guns," Blenker began, then shook his head. "No, no time. Fremont is expecting us to clear the road, so we'll have to use force instead of finesse - we spend too long winkling out a regiment of dragoons and there'll be a division of British in the way before we're done. Order to Stahel - my compliments, and he's to prepare an attack in force to clear out those horsemen."

The messenger rode off again in a spatter of mud, and Colonel Steinwehr - correctly von Steinwehr - frowned at him. "Frontal attack?"

"Not at all," Blenker replied. "Colonel, you are to take your brigade and advance while moving to the east, and Colonel Bohlen is to take his brigade and move to the west - near the river. We'll either push them out or bypass them."

He rose in the saddle, looking around. "Where's Dickel? I want our scouts out to clear the way!"

"No sign of him," a captain said. "He might be gathering his men - they were out to the east. I saw some of the cavalry, though - no report yet."

Blenker looked back along the road, seeing the 2nd and 3rd brigades marching along, and the artillery batteries moving behind them. "Keep the artillery on the road at least until they reach first brigade," he decided. "And-"

"More British cavalry moving in!" someone reported. "Same uniforms."

"Sounds like they're marching to the sound of the guns," Blenker said. "Well, rifles."

He looked to Steinwehr. "Well? Start your brigade moving, officer!"

"Jawohl," Steinwehr responded automatically, saluted, and rode off - Bohlen following suit a moment later.

Blenker watched for a moment as two of the regiments of the 1st Brigade formed a two-deep line, ready to advance, then lifted his gaze to the British cavalry riding along the tracks to the south - reinforcing their own position. All the same regiment, so far, by the looks of them.

He frowned, looking closer at one of the cavalry squadrons which looked out of place. Then they swung out of the line of march, by sixes, and took up a position in an unploughed field.

He realized what he was seeing, and winced. "Horse artillery as well..."

At least they seemed to have made one mistake. That was far too far for horse artillery to be effective - at least half a mile from the houses.

Behind, to the sound of bugle calls, the second and third brigades began to split off the road to follow their own path. Then there was a pouf, and almost simultaneously with it the sudden crash of a shell detonating not fifty yards downslope.

Based on that evidence, Blenker decided to ride along the slight rise to get to a copse.

Purely to avoid stray shots, of course.
 
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Saphroneth

Banned
Starfox5 said:
Typo: should be "Jawohl" not "Jahwol".
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Thanks, and corrected.

Though he has been in America a decade and more, so his accent's not the best :p

As an aside, what you're seeing here is some German army veterans... whose main experience is with percussion smoothbore armies, not rifled ones.
 

Derek Pullem

Kicked
Donor
Saphroneth said:
"One of the aides dashed off, riding his horse over a nearby fence with the precision of a showjumper - not surprising, as both he and his horse had indulged in the past.
.
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Bit of an anachronism there - first show jumping competition in England was held in 1907

May I suggest ".....with the enthusiasm of a huntsman........." - same sentiment.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
"Firing to the front of us," the messenger said, reining in in front of Fremont. "General Blenker sends his regards, and he's dividing his forces - there's only a cavalry regiment in front of him, so he's going to push them out of the way and form a blocking position."

"Good," Fremont nodded, willing himself to be confident. "Good - yes, take a message back to him. Good work, General Blenker, and I trust you will keep the road open. The Army of the St Lawrence is depending on him."

The messenger repeated the message, and wheeled to dash back down the path.

Fremont allowed himself a long sigh, then looked back at the distant bulk of the Mount Royal.

He'd been close. But not close enough.

But then again - perhaps he was being too pessimistic. There were still at least two divisions he'd been conserving for the actual assaults, plus another division or two who'd given as good as they'd got from the Canadian militia on the way north.

And yet... a pair of gunboats came into view from behind Ile Sainte-Helene, their big rifles moving on the pivot mounts to fire on the parallels.

At least the main road was far enough from the water that they wouldn't be able to harrass him as he left. Though... he'd probably have to leave some kind of rearguard, in case the Montreal garrison crossed by boat behind him and sent troops in pursuit.

The cannonade from the northwest increased, as the gunboats came closer and found no return fire.

It really wasn't a very good day. At least it wasn't raining.






There is a General in the West
Whose deeds have come to fame,
He is a gallant soldier,
And in movements he is game;
Then let us raise our voices high
And give three hearty cheers
For Siegel, hero of the West,
And his German volunteers.
For Siegel, hero of the West,
And his German volunteers...

Several hundred throats called out the song, and Steinwehr couldn't help but smile - even in a grim situation like this.

His men were Germans good and true, after all, and so what if the song was in English? Half his men were singing in German anyway, and it gave him a good feeling - especially on a sunny day like this one.

The sound of firing was still there - both the occasional pam of the artillery in the fight going on half a mile to the west, and the much deeper, more carrying booms of the heavy artillery up by the river.

If Steinwehr really strained, he could hear the third sound as well - guns from over where another division was fighting hard, and holding up the English.

Maybe there were a few shades of the Waterloo campaign there.

"Sir?" a sergeant said. "Those horsemen are watchin' us again."

Steinwehr followed the man's gaze, seeing a few of the British cavalrymen loitering nearby. It looked like they were a different unit to the dragoons, and Steinwehr frowned - wondering what unit they could be with.

He reached for his telescope, a model without any especial artifice to it, and turned the front end of the tube slightly to focus.

Blue coats, oddly enough. Maybe these were Canadian militia. No sign of a sidearm that would fit that, though, it looked like they lacked the Enfield carbine all the Canadian cavalry were supposed to use. Instead, there was a pistol, and a sword...

And-

Steinwehr stopped, and did another check.

A slender lance, one for each man. Held upright by buckets by their feet, which was what had made him nearly miss it against the backdrop of the trees. But one of them had turned, waving to another, and the movement had drawn his eye.

"Lancers," he said. "Interesting."

Then there was a shout, and his head whipped around.

More lancers. Dozens - hundreds - coming out from behind a hedgerow, horses already speeding up to a canter.

They were maybe six hundred yards away, moving in purposeful close order. Another column was coming out from the other side of the hedgerow, and a third were coming through a gate halfway through the middle.

Ambush, his mind screamed at him. Damn Dickel, we should have known-

"Square!" he shouted. "Form square! Plaatz!"

The ground began to tremble under the impact of the hooves of hundreds of horses, and he spurred his own towards the brigade. They were reacting - more men were taking up the call now, to form square, and the men were obeying.

But already something was wrong.

His volunteers had been under drill for months, but it had all been spent doing the things they thought they'd need. Movement on the field, the bayonet attack, care of the rifle - or musket - and any of a hundred other things, all of them taught by men who were learning it themselves, and then they'd been too busy the last few months organizing supplies and then attacking and fighting.

Four hundred yards.

The lancer cavalry were deploying, deliberately, not rushing things and not doing it wrong. Their columns opened like the back of a fan, and shook out into a double line abreast. Their lances shivered, and then for a moment most of the gaits of the horses synchronized and the resonance made the ground jump unexpectedly.

"Form square, damn you!" Steinwehr demanded.

It was coming, slowly, like the precipitation of a crystal. The veterans of other wars - other armies - held their place, and the rest of the brigade took them as a cue and formed up. But it was slowly, so slowly.

Two hundred yards, and the long ash-wood lances swept down. The British cavalry spurred into a gallop, earth-shaking. Seeming like an unstoppble force.

Steady infantry in a square, who hold their ground, are the greatest foe of cavalry. If a hollow square stands, then cavalry can beat itself against the square again and again and not break through, and destroy itself in the process.

But too many of Steinwehr's men were new. Someone in the front row flinched, seeing a lance aimed directly for his head, and shuffled back - so his friends did as well - and the movement spread, and amplified, and so when the command came to fire the men weren't ready-

Seven hundred British light cavalry slammed into the eastern face of the square. Some of them were stopped, horses shying away from the wall of glittering bayonets and the flash of thunder and smoke. Others were killed, brought down by rifle or musket fire, and only a couple of dozen drove their lances home into their German-American foes.

But nearly a hundred broke through into the middle of the square, and then the whole of the Second Brigade's square came apart in shouting and panic and chaos.

Steady infantry are the greatest foe of cavalry. But to a running man, alone, cavalry is Nemesis.
 
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Saphroneth

Banned
Despite how bad it looks, most of the Brigade are probably going to survive, though quite a lot of them will end up as prisoners. Whatever makes it out is not going to be a steady unit for a long time, though.

Incidentally, this regiment of lancers is actually Irish, and was only recreated in 1858. The prior 5th Regiment of Horse was dissolved after accusations of mutiny back in 1798, and so their precedence is right at the bottom of the list - and in OTL, their amalgamation with the 16th would lead to a regiment called the 16th/5th Lancers. (The regiment with more precedence comes first.)
 

cerebropetrologist

Derek Pullem said:
May I suggest ".....with the enthusiasm of a huntsman........." - same sentiment.
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Steeplechase would also work- as soon as I read the section I thought of Royal Flash.

Saphroneth said:
Red coats, not surprisingly.
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It's a little surprising, if these are the 5th rather than the 16th. Have I misread? It's just one of those things with the British army: the heavy cavalry wear red, except the 6th Dragoon Guards (ED: And the Royal Horse Guards, obviously), and the light cavalry wear blue, except the 16th Lancers.

Both the 16th and the 5th Lancers were apparently available for service, although the Lancer Brigade at Aldershot (the one that was medically inspected) was the 9th, 12th and 16th.

Saphroneth said:
The prior 5th Regiment of Horse was dissolved after accusations of mutiny back in 1798
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The 5th Regiment of Horse wasn't the one that was disbanded: like the other Regiments of Horse, it became Dragoon Guards. The regiment disbanded in 1798 was raised as a Regiment of Dragoons. Again, God bless the British army and all its little foibles.

Saphroneth said:
Nothing of note about the sidearm, it looked like the same kind of Enfield all the other British cavalry were supposed to use.
Click to expand...
Lancers get lance, sword, and a P1856 percussion rifled pistol, not a carbine. They might have been given revolvers in a burst of enthusiasm before going to war, though.
 
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Saphroneth

Banned
Thanks for the relentless fact check! I'll edit it to be a moment of confusion over whether they're militia cavalry..

As for why I said red... well, their nickname is listed on Wiki as the Redbreasts. Must be a 16th thing.

ED: Here's the boyos.

1867.jpg
 
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7 February - 6 March 1865
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    • Saphroneth

    Banned
    7 February

    The CSS Virginia is taken out of commission. She is not to be broken up - instead she will serve as a training ship, and there is already a movement for her to become a permanent symbol of Confederate independence - but she is already outdated by the standards of modern weapons and armament, and she has no room for growth in her displacement.


    9 February

    Several British ships, including the Royal Sovereign, conduct firing trials against a sea target. The guns used range from 40-lber rifles and 32-lber smoothbores to the mighty 10.5 inch smoothbore guns of the Royal Sovereign, and the structure of the target has been a source of much debate - in the end it is a 'laminate' formed of multiple 5.5 inch plates with backing between them.
    The intent is to measure accuracy, not penetration, so the unrealism of the target is not a problem - the main concern is that the target ship is not destroyed! In the event an already-damaged screw liner is used, with the ship entirely evacuated above the waterline, and no explosive shells are used. Shells are fired with sand filling instead to provide an accurate picture of the difference with solid bolts/shot.


    The experiments demonstrate a few important details.
    • Firing at a stationary target is easier than a moving target, but a slow-moving target is not much harder than a stationary one.
    • A target on a consistent course is quite easy to hit.
    • The guns with a higher muzzle velocity retain their accuracy against both moving and stationary targets for longer.
    • Depending on the sea state, a moving ship is a more stable platform.
    • The ships which are worse rollers are worse gun platforms, unless the roll is slow.
    • The 10.5 inch smoothbore is unacceptably slow to load in a seaway with manual loading. Powered loading would be needed.
    • Even at 3,000 yards and against a moving target, some 10% of hits can be scored with modern weapons.
    They also confirm that rifles are considerably more accurate at long range than most smoothbores, though the 68 pounder is almost as accurate as a rifle - this is seen as due to the fantastic speed of the round.

    As a result of these experiments, it is recommended that rifles of some description replace all smoothbores on Navy ships as soon as possible. Where armour penetration is unimportant (e.g. the secondary guns of gunboats) then first generation Armstrong guns are quite sufficient - otherwise, Armstrong-Elswick guns are desired.

    To this end, an order is placed for many hundreds of Armstrong-Elswick guns of a design to be finalized, with a bore somewhere in the 4-5 inch range, to replace 32 pounders. It is also instructed that experiments should take place on rerifling 32-lbers into RML guns, since it is felt that RML guns will suffice on the broadsides of ships of the line.



    14 February

    The first recommendation of the Consultative Council is voted on in Mexico, and presented to the Emperor. He agrees, and signs it into law - a formal declaration that slavery is not a status recognized as legal on Mexican soil, and therefore that any man who breathes the Mexican air is automatically emancipated (regardless of origin).
    This in truth is not much of a difference from the state of affairs as they already existed, but it is certainly a firm statement to the Confederacy just over the border.


    16 February

    The French government trials a "Creusot" field gun against a bronze rifle of the La Hitte system. The specifications given are met quite tolerably by the La Hitte gun, and at first it does not seem that the Creusot steel piece is much better - until the Schneider et Cie representative respectfully requests that the targets be moved twice as far away.
    The Creusot gun does not quite meet the specifications under this new set of distances, but the La Hitte guns perform much worse. As such, Napoleon III (impressed by the news) awards a contract to the Schneider et Cie corporation for fifty guns and sufficient money for further development. (He feels that, if the further development in question is successful, he can probably pass on the Creusot Mk. 1 guns to Maximilien.)


    19 February

    With the Kronprinz of Prussia now a little over six years old, efforts are underway to select for him an appropriate tutor. His parents are worried over how to best impress upon him the values they feel are right for the German people as a whole - chiefly liberalism and nobliesse oblige - and how to compensate for his poorly developed arm.

    A suggestion by his grandfather that Otto von Bismarck is "a fine Prussian gentleman" for the task is rejected.


    22 February

    A Russian army is seen being armed and prepared for a campaign in Poland over the summer. The men are being drilled in the correct tactics to deal with snipers and with fast cavaly, and a large portion of the rifled artillery of Russia is allocated to them for training.
    This news precipitates discussion in the German Confederation, including whether it is appropriate to enact yet another partition of Poland. (The Prussian view is no.)


    24 February

    The official curriculum of small-arms training at HMS Excellent is altered to take into account the breech-loading rifle. It differs somewhat from the foot infantry version, and has more of a focus on barrages of fire delivered from close order. (Skirmishing is seen as more of a Regular thing by the Royal Navy.)


    26 February

    A railway line completes construction to Orenburg.


    1 March

    Chamberlain marches against the Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier. Before the first day is out he has good reason to be glad of his riflemen, particularly the Snider-armed British regulars - there is plenty of sniping aimed at his men, possibly simply on general principle, but as yet no 'Khyber Pass Copies' have been made of the Snider or other breechloaders and so the British troops have an advantage.
    (Their superior training is also useful, but not as much as it would be in a field battle - the Pashtuns have an unfortunate habit of popping up to shoot for too short a time to actually aim properly and at a distant angle.)


    4 March

    George McClellan delivers his inaugural address. He stresses themes of peace and prosperity - both internal and external - and of America as a country with "the accoutrements and attitude for defence, not the attitude for aggression and the accoutrements for defeat".
    Observers note that the new 17th President of the United States - the youngest in history - will likely have more trouble with his own party than with the rather diminished Republican representation in Congress.

    Abraham Lincoln's view on his successor is one he keeps to himself, for now, but the Lincoln family has already planned to move back to Illinois. Lincoln's reputation as a leader is rather badly impacted by the mixed results of his presidency, but his legal reputation is mostly unmarred (which is somewhat ironic, as the main actual criticisms that could be levelled at Lincoln are largely legal in nature).


    6 March

    Parrott's first attempt at a 12 inch rifle blows itself to pieces on the second shot. As the comparison to Dahlgren's activities is one which rings quite true, the artillery inventor begins considering upgrading to wrought iron instead - it seems cast iron may no longer be a useful material for heavy rifles.
     
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    • Saphroneth

    Banned
    As an incidental note, as far as I can tell the very last wooden-sided capital ship in full commission was HMS Rodney (LD 1827, launched 1833, converted to screw 1860, ended final commission 1870). It goes to show just how quickly things changed - and probably why so many hulls substantially similar to Warrior or the like were built, to replace the old line with the new one.
     
    Vhen

    Vhen

    Saphroneth said:
    Chamberlain marches against the Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier. Before the first day is out he has good reason to be glad of his riflemen, particularly the Snider-armed British regulars - there is plenty of sniping aimed at his men, possibly simply on general principle, but as yet no 'Khyber Pass Copies' have been made of the Snider or other breechloaders and so the British troops have an advantage.
    (Their superior training is also useful, but not as much as it would be in a field battle - the Pashtuns have an unfortunate habit of popping up to shoot for too short a time to actually aim properly and at a distant angle.)
    Click to expand...

    Honestly, at times it seems like sniping is the national sport of some of those regions...
     

    Saphroneth

    Banned
    So here's something utterly odd. The person who invented OMG is not only already alive as of the TL but has already appeared in it.
     
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