Abigail's Cousin (13 page)

"Biggs!" It was the sentry so addressed
who seeing Masham, clicked his heels smartly, and Lieutenant Hill
called over: "Get
Serjeant Burke. Quick about it!"

Captain Masham
was not amused and told Hill: "You should have gone yourself,
lieutenant. You know Army Regulations."

"Balls to the
Regs." exploded Hill, "Still throwing your weight about eh captain.
If my pater had been alive, I'd be a captain. The only difference
between you and me is the depth of your father's pocket."

"You can still
become captain." said Masham lightly, "Tomorrow perhaps. The duke
likes promoting his junior officers."

There a peal
of raucous laughter from nearby and Hill somewhat rattled told
someone: "Is that you laughing, serge? I'll have you flogged for
insubordination."

The serjeant
appeared on the scene still laughing said: "You mean impertinence,
lieutenant." Then quickly sizing up the two officers, added:

"I'm sure it
says in Army Regulations that a sentry must not leave his post.
Ain't that right captain?"

Masham did not
answer but treated Hilll to a stare which said, 'See where your
slipshod attitude gets us'. Instead he addressed the serjeant as
follows:

"You are to
take a detachment to the watermill behind the village of
Berghausen. In it you will recover a store of fascines left there
and bring them to the lower valley where you will find our picquet.
It is imperative the operation is silent. Your guns must be left
behind."

Hill exploded: "No muskets? Not even my
pistol?"

Serjeant Burke laughed rummaging around
his waist and removing a nasty looking bayonet, the blade of which
he ostentatiously stroked: "Oh, my beauty.
My beauty! You'd just love to tickle the
innards of a Frenchie, wouldn't you?"

Hill looked a
bit green and Masham brought him round, asking:

"Everything
clear, lieutenant," and getting no answer added: "Having no guns to
carry will make it easier to carry the fascines. We need as many as
you can carry."

"Join the Army
and be a porter." complained Hill bitterly.

"That the
Pioneers for you, Hill. I did my stint." His eyes met the
sergeant's, which danced so he added smiling: "Do a good job,
lieutenant, and maybe the duke will make you a general."

Burke could
not contain his mirth and exploded with laughter which carried on
embarrassingly long until someone from the tent, bawled him to shut
up and that someone wanted to sleep. It was Hill's turn to stare
out Masham, as if to mean, 'that's what happens when officers are
mocked'.

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It has already
been described how the Captain-General, along with his
aide-de-camp, was building up a picture of the enemy's deployment
and the lay of the terrain all the details of which where laid out
on a large sheet of paper. When the leaders of the allied army were
invited to the duke's command marquee, they would each be able to
fix in their mind the picture of the battle-ground and comprehend
when Marlborough made suggestions.

On the day of
the battle Parker nudged the duke who had the born military
leader’s ability to sleep as and when required. Nonetheless the
duke attended to his personal toilette with as much care though
with limited facilities as though he were in England. His valet had
his campaign boots ready, his periwig and saw to it that he was
well turned out for the duke was paying a call. Leaving
instructions with Captain Parker as to where he might be found, the
duke set off in the direction of the Savoyard camp, there to call
upon his Excellency, Prince Eugene of Savoy.

Long before he reached his encampment
however, the Prince had met him halfway as the Prince had intended
to call upon the duke. It was still dark as light was only just
beginning to steal above the horizon so neither could see the
other's battle-plan for indeed the Prince's own adjutant had been
doing a similar job to Parker. It seemed that the Marquis de
Clerambault's flag had been sighted in the neighbourhood of
Blentheim. The duke invited the Prince back to his tent, his
campaign tent, where their generals, adjutants and other senior
of
ficers were already
assembling.

"Might I invite your Excellency to take
command of the allied right wing opposite your old friend, the
Elector of Bavaria whose headquarters a
re in the village of Oberglau."

"Jawohl!"
agreed the Prince, adding: "I'm not sure he would account me among
his friends, and more especially, I daresay, after today’s battle."
He chuckled and his good humour infected the duke as both turned
their horses towards the allied command marquee where they observed
their fellow generals and senior officers making their way seen in
the gloomy morning light as dark figures converging on their
rendezvous.

On arrival
they gave their mounts to the groom in attendance as Marlborough
deferred to his friend inviting him to enter the tent, but once
inside inwardly blessed his aide-de-camp's resolution of social and
military rank by assembling and placing benches, inviting guests to
occupy whatever place took their fancy, most preferring to sit by
their regimental colleagues. So a prince jostled a marquis who
rubbed shoulder with a lord and all needing their adjutants in
close if only to interpret a tactic or a joke.

Whatever social rank these men
were,
Captain Parker was
more acute of their military standing and here he was on firmer
ground as most were generals while those standing behind, in
support, were mostly colonels with himself the only captain.
Although he was unaware of it he was due to retain this rank just a
few more hours. The duke greeted is guests in the commonest
language:

"Guten Tag,
meine Herren!" nodding to his brother and the English lords, Cutts
and Orkney by the more familiar welcome: "Good morning, gentlemen!"
He was about to include his aide, when he laughed:

"There you are
Captain Parker, under my feet as usual." Both laughed nervously and
Parker took the paper from his captain-general's hand and rolled it
out holding it against his chest as the duke pointed out the
salient features of the battleground to the assembled officers.

"Bemerken Sie bitte diese Gegend blau
gestrichen.”
You'll
notice this area in blue on the lower slope and the bottom of the
valley where even at this moment Colonel Cadogan, my quartermaster,
is putting pontoons in place."

But, general,"
queried Prince Maximilian of Hessen, "why do we need pontoons. The
horses can swim and the men can wade. It's not that deep is
it?"

It was general
Netzmar who countered: "Your Excellency, it's for the cannons. They
cannot swim."

Marlborough
appreciated the Prussian's interruption as the Prince visibly
flushed. It was Prince Eugene who broke the tension by joking:

"The prince
was thinking of Baron Munchhausen's cannon which actually fly
through the air. "Everyone laughed including the Prince.

Marlborough
continued:

"The stream at
this crossing point is about four paces wide and perhaps a third of
that in depth and at the stretch opposite the village of Blentheim
it divides into two about thirty paces apart. It's very marshy
ground though we are fortunate that the hot summer has made it less
so."

"With your permission, Your
G
race!" It was Lord
Orkney and the duke gestured him to proceed:

"If we adopt
the formation of foot, horse, foot, horse the men first across can
form up to protect the crossing of the horses from lightning raids
by the enemy."

"Excellent, my lord Orkney," agreed his
commander and turning to the Prince added:
"We have practised this formation so often
back in England, your Excellency. It proved its value on campaign
in Holland."

Another voice called: "Did you practise it
whi
le being cannonaded,
your grace? May I venture to suggest that our crossing will likely
be opposed not by tirailleurs or cavalry but by Marshal Villard's
cannon?"

"Indeed," agreed the duke. "The first to
make the crossing I venture to suggest should be the prince as his
foot and horse have much further to go before taking up station
opposite Oberglau," and he po
inted his riding crop saying, "Here!"

"Could not the
prince proceed further along the valley where there is no river to
hold him up?" The speaker was General Churchill and it was the
prince himself who answered:

"Leider nicht,
mein Herr," He smiled at Churchill adding: "The approach below
Oberglau is much too steep and we have not brought our
mountaineering gear."

There was wid
espread laughter at this which the duke brought to
an end by raising his hand asking for further questions and tapped
Parker on the shoulder who allowed the map to take its natural
curl, then with the rolled up chart left the tent hearing the duke
wind up the meeting.

"Gentlemen,
the French army and the Bavarians are in a secure position on a
front from Blentheim on our left to the village of Overglau on our
right, a front of about three miles. It is our task to dislodge
them or pound them to destruction. Unfortunately time is on their
side not ours. Cannonading is only the final option not the first.
It will take infantry to winkel them out. Nonetheless an early
success could see the French weakening their centre to support
either Blentheim or Oberglau. That must be our strategy."

Marlborough
looked around at his guests pausing to look at each general in turn
before adding a final comment.

"Marshall Tallard has the advantage of
high ground, yet colonel Blood has pointed out that shooting
downwards will cause the balls to bounce whereas our balls shooting
upwards enjoy a more effec
tive trajectory. One more thing: our attack must be
coordinated. It will take less time for General Churchill to deploy
than his Excellecy the Prince. It may well be a hot time for us
waiting, but in combination the allied army will be more effective.
When you leave here please proceed to your units and wait upon
captain Parker's signal. He knows the overall position." He
finished by wishing: "Viel Gluck! Good luck and bonne
chance."

As the leaders
dispersed towards their regiments they all noticed the early
morning mist and observed one to the other that it would impede the
enemy from seeing the allied deployment. Then pointing upwards the
duke made a final observation:

"We have the sun and
the good Lord behind us."

------------------------------------

Marshall
Tallard was not a happy man, at least, not as happy and contented
as as he might have been, for he had been summoned from the good
living and the fleshpots of Alsace by his master in Paris, who, as
likely, had also been summoned from his fleshpots of the Palace of
Versailles, to proceed to the aid of the Elector of Bavaria. The
moment he had been notified of the movements of the army of the
Grand Alliance, his scouts had kept him well informed, even when
the English had started to build a bridge to effect a crossing of
the Rhine and his headquarters had been buzzing with expectations
as to Malbrouk's next move, Tallard had kept his nerve, even when
also Malbrouk's army had started to burn villages and ripening
crops. Then the Bavarians had sent messengers to Louis for
desperate help, who duly commanded his marshal to proceed south
which was exactly as Malbrouk (French rendering of Marlborough) had
predicted.

Tallard knew
it too but his master, Louis, was too far away to want to start an
argument, so le marechal reluctantly ordered his coach onto the
road, notified his quartermaster of the need for supplies for a
protracted campaign in territory stripped of fodder and food by his
enemy and summoned his officers to prepare to march their army
south to confront Malbrouk.

His vanguard
soon began to make contact with outlying units of Prince Eugene's
army which he hoped to destroy but in the course of one night the
prince’s army vanished. In vain Tallard scoured the country in all
directions but the Prince was keeping just out of battle range
doubtless heeding the advice of his ally, Malbrouk. Now Tallard had
the company of the Elector of Bavaria who had been keen to tell him
how he had bloodied the Prussians just a year ago and that the
Elector would be pleased to show Tallard how together, their
Franco-Bavarian army, could repeat his triumph.

Both the
French and the Grand Alliance of the English, Dutch, Germans and
Austrians had observed the manoeuvrings of the Prussians and
Bavarians with fascination. On the one hand the proud Prussians had
refused to join the Alliance distrusting the polyglot nature of the
allies while the Bavarians, formerly supporting the allied course,
saw advantages, as an ally of France, and their bravado and
opportunism had paid off when in 1703 they had met and defeated a
Prussian army.

It was then that the
Duke of Marlborough had conceived a plan
based upon his judgement that the Bavarians were vulnerable and the
first part of his strategy had paid off following his successful
attack of the Schellenberg fortress on the river Danube. It had
cost the allies dear in terms of killed and wounded but that very
fact yielded an unlooked for bonus because the Elector believed the
losses even greater. His faulty reasoning arose because in the
course of the allied assault, an allied contingent had come under
fire having been mistaken for Bavarians whose uniform colour they
shared. Learning of the 'friendly fire' Marlborough had allowed a
Bavarian prisoner to learn of the 'high' losses and then to escape.
The duke was to use the incident to his advantage during the battle
of Blenheim. Subsequent to the Schellenberg victory, Marlborough's
campaign of destruction across Bavaria, such a policy, to be known
centuries hence, as 'scorched earth', yielded the expected result
of the French being roused to support their new ally.