Following on from Rod MacArthur’s article, I decided to have a go at making a plummet as described to swing out the time for the various march rates. The King Volley article was received after the event so to speak, but I felt it might be logical to follow on from it. Ably assisted by Pete Gibbs - stop watch in his hand - I set out to see how far you can actually go using a 30" pace. Now I do have some experience of drill, however 14 years have passed and several stone have been gained. Of course mathematically if you take 75 30" paces in a minute you will cover a set distance every time won't you? So why bother? Well being a well trained veteran is one thing but how would you as a conscript of 1813/14 fare, rushed to the front and handed a musket en route? This is what I set out to find out and the following table not only proves the point but would send my drill sergeant into an apo-plectic fit. (God bless you Sgt. Trickett - Not!):- (The march was carried out over level - no slope - but slightly cut up ground.) March Rate Paces per minute. Mathematical Distance for 30" pace in a minute Actual Distance Covered in a minute Actual Paces taken Yards Metres Yards Metres 75 62.5 57.1 57.1 52.2 68.5 108 90 82.23 111.6 102 134 120 100 91.4 146 133.7 175 As you can see at 75 paces per minute, it wasn’t to bad, having long legs (34" inside leg) I almost managed to hold the pace. At 108 I was starting to race ahead, I was almost holding the rhythm but my stride was lengthening, at 120 I was galloping and struggling to reduce the ground that I covered. If nothing else, this proves the proceeding article, and hopeful-ly shows that a unit of conscripts is best left where it stands. One observation that we made was that at 75 paces I had to check my self twice when I lost the pace, which probably reduced the distance covered. At 108 and 120 I should have checked my progress on at least three occasions and maybe four would have been better. Did this indicate that an untrained unit attempting to march in formation on the battlefield would need to stop and dress ranks every 15 to 20 seconds to avoid total disorder? There is only one way to find out, I only know one man with access to a Napoleonic Army in the field so the First Empire carrier pigeon was dispatched to the depths of the Crimea. The following is a dispatch received on the subject from chosen man and valiant stormer Richard Moore. Over to you Richard... I have experimented in the same vein as your letter, Ukrainian soldiers have little stamina as a result of diet and routine, and have difficulty in maintaining any ‘Napoleonic’ formation at all (even a straight line!) During any ‘march’, they straggle terribly unless ‘encouragement’ is placed at the rear. Our markers - picked for height, bearing, attention - are placed at different points for them to relate to during a manoeuvre. They have no concept or interest in military matters and fall asleep at every opportunity. To train successfully, I use a 25 man unit as a base - the others watch. The most I ever manoeuvred was 125 soldiers in 5 blocks in an area around 200 yards square, of differing terrain. Any obstacle initially meant a broken formation; any increase in speed increased the confusion! During the French column attack in "Sharpe’s Enemy" - uphill, no water, 100 degree heat - we were “shagged out” as you put it - after two or three minutes; and covered about 100 metres. In wargame terms we would have been “shaken”. Our uphill pace was around 15" to 18"; any more would have been impossible and at the end of it the rear ranks were noticeably strung out. We tried and advance in 2 deep line once with a front of 60 soldiers. The line was like a dog’s hind leg - badly broken at that! - and obstacles broke it up and caused a halt to redress. In the Crimea there are few places where a line of 100 yards frontage can be kept together; even some of our crack N.A. units would have difficulty here! “Keeping the men together” as the Duke said, and presenting an even front of serried ranks; particularly in a prospective fire-fight far outweighs “getting there fastest with the mostest” My experiments on this has the usual result that you get there fastest but quite alone... Back to me... Well does any of this make the point that an untrained unit is of little use in the field? I think so. Order triumphs over chaos just a good does over evil (usually!). Of course where like meets like all is equal. However, lack of order reduces morale and confidence. Could this explain some of the more amazing feats carried out by various Old Guard units in 1813 - 1815? For example the Chasseurs at Hanau, the 2 battalions of Old Guard at Plancenoit. How else can 1,000 men displace a Prussian Brigade without firing a shot? Surely, good order must induce doubt and fear in lesser trained opponents and increase the morale and confidence of the possessors. That doubt and fear must be borne of the knowledge that when it comes, the volley will be a death blow to many. After all it is one thing to be stoic and steadfast in battle when you have as good a chance as any to survive, it is another matter all together, when the odds change and your sur-vival rate becomes minimal! Supplementary: Whilst in retirement on St. Helena, the Emperor designed a new model for the Napoleonic Army - based on the technology and tactics of the day - even down to specifying the lengths and weights of muskets and bayonets. In the course of this he stated that “Un homme occupant en baitaille 1 pied 6 pouces” (1' 6" - presumably French) and that 4 companies in line “occupera 72 toises de front...”, (a toise is a fathom or 6.395 feet (English)), equal to 153.48 yards. From this we can deduce that a company would have a frontage of 38.37 yards. Napoleon was discussing a 6 company battalion with each company being 158 men strong deployed in two ranks - remember that various members of a the company included in the 158 total are deployed to the rear of the line in the Grand Divisions. Beaking out the calculator, I can annouce that a 120 man company in 3 ranks would cover 20 yards. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #20 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com