One of the aspects of Napoleonic wargaming that never ceases to amaze me is the small percentage of wargamers who have read any first hand accounts of the real battles that they attempt to duplicate with models on the table top. Philip Haythomthwaite has done sterling service by using primary accounts in his work and transcribing the accounts he finds for us. What follows is Philip's transcription of an NCO's account of the battle of Talavera (July 1809). - JIM BIRDSEYE, NAPOLEONIC EDITOR. Although there exist hundreds of eye-witness accounts of the Napoleonic Wars, very few describe the duties of the regimental light companies of line battalions. The following, which includes some graphic descriptions, is taken from the original manuscript, and was written by an anonymous sergeant of the light company of the 1st Batt. 2nd (Coldstream) Regiment of Foot Guards, part of Wellington's army at Talavera. Grammar and spellings have been retained as in the original manuscript, but footnotes have been added to identify those officers mentioned but not named. "We took up a position in front of Talavera... where we remained untill noon of the 27th at which time we... took upon line in a position most admirably chosen... the several Brigades were formed under cover of a grove of Olive trees with the exception of the left, which extended beyond & covered a hill. About 4 in the afternoon the enemy approached in three columns,& arriving within gunshot commenced the action with a tremendous cannonading of shot & shell, which tho' generally speaking was well directed did not produce much mischief; our park of artillery placed on the left made considerable havoc amongst theirs. The firing of small Arms did not begin untill dusk when the Enemy foolishly attempting to impose upon the left Line, that there were Spaniards were suffered to advance nearly to the summit when the light Infantry of Genl. Hills division opened a fire upon them & retreated, by this they were deceived, & pressed further on & the Line then poured several vollies into them charged & bayonetted them back again. Shortly after this a dreadful mistake occurred which involved the safety of no less than the lives of the whole of the light Infantry who had formed a chain of communication from one flank to the other in front of the Line. By a sudden impulse on the left the ranks commenced a kind of firing resembling a feu dejoye, which communicated from one Battalion to the other & ran down with the rapidity of lightening, & by this our Battalion alone had one Lieut Col(l) mortally wounded & our Adjutant(2) was also wounded in three places & expired in the hands of the French... who buried him & several other British Officers with distinguished military honours. Our company had also one man very severely wounded & was afterwards made prisoner, The 3d Regiment had one man killed on the spot. The left sections of the Lt Infantry were not more than 25 yards from the muzzles of the firelocks & I who was one of them seeing what was likely to happen ordered the whole of my section to lay down on their faces & thus probably preserved my life for that time. This happening at dusk every thing was quiet for about two hours when a Pistol fired by the enemy as a signal, a most furious attack was commenced on the hill on the left of the Line... but continuing only about 20 minutes the enemy being repulsed, the firing ceased in that quarter & a fresh attack commenced on our right upon the Spaniards who had strengthened their front with a Brigade of 24 pounders... With this formidable front the Spaniards might well resist any attack... & they therefore allowed the Enemy's Infantry to come within 20 paces of the muzzles of their Guns when they commenced a tremendous firing of Cannon & small Arms, the Enemy in the mean time seemed determined to carry this point & fresh columns were led to the attack, their drums beating the charge, & their Officers animating their men with "Vive l'impereur" &c but to no purpose, whole ranks were mowed down by the grapeshot of the Spaniards. "Things remained quiet after this till day break when a general attack on our Line commenced which continued without interuppsion the whole day with varied success till about 4 o clock in the Afternoon, Victor attempted to break our Centre by a charge of two columns, who to give them their due advanced upon us, in as regular order, as if they had been going thru' the evolutions of a field day. This was the crisis... the Army opposed to us had never seen the like before; for instead of waiting to receive them, our centre advanced upon them with a cheer, which struck them with a panic, they faced about, & received two vollies whilst retiring in confusion... our Brigade advanced in order to preserve the line entire, & bringing up our right threatened to cut off the retreat of their flying columns, Marshal Ney perceiving this brought up his Infantry who were planted behind an Olive Grove... & opened a most galling fire from the shelter of the Olive trees, this threw our Brigade into disorder & we retired rather in an irregular manner, however, having regained the ground, we advanced, firm, our Brigade reformed & poured in a couple of well directed vollies, which did great execution & they retired in turn persued by the light Companies. At this time having obtained entrance in the Olive Grove occupied by them the Skirmishers on both sides singled out their objects, & thus for 10 or 15 minutes were amusing ourselves shooting at one another as deliberately as if we had been Pigeon Shooting... I cannot resist telling you that the object I had singled out, & myself exchanged three rounds each, the second on his, hit me slightly on the right Shoulder, & after my third he disappeared therefore I conclude he went home! In this service all the advantages are taken to conceal one's self if possible, therefore where a tree or other object presents itself it is made use of as a Shelter. Shortly after this, they collected again in considerable numbers in the Wood & drove us out, & during this time I thought it impossible I should have escaped unhurt but Thank God so it happened. Two men & myself of the same company having staid behind the rest not hearing the Bugles sound the recall, were within 20 or 30 paces of the Enemy ere we perceived the others had gone in, therefore nothing but flight could prevent us falling into their hands, & facing about away we started & were instantly Saluted with a Shower of Musketry & which was continued without intermission untill we reached our Line, nothing less than a miracle could have saved us, balls were loged in our clothes & knapsacks, yet unhurt! "Shot & shells were not the only dangers presented to the contending armies for the intermediate space of ground between the lines was covered partly with standing com & high stubble which from the incessant firing kept upon both sides, was set in a blaze several times during the day, & Lines of running fire half amile in length were frequent& fatal to many a Soldier, some by their pouches blowing up in passing the fire, other Wounded unable to reach their respective Armies lying weltering in their gore with the devouring element approaching & death most horrid staring thern in the face! This perished many & amongst the rest our Major of Brigade (3), one of the most gallant & at the same time useful Officers in his Majesty's service when in the act of rallying the Brigade after retiring in disorder, he was knocked off his horse & fell a victim to the flames before assistance could be given, towards dusk the fire slackened &the Enemy made a show of maneurveing with Cavalry in our front & we accordingly prepared to give them a reception. In order to ascertain their indication of movement myself & my file coverer were detached to the front under cover of the dark by Col. Stopford to within half Pistol shot of them with orders to return in as quick as possible should they remove to the front; however this was nothing more than a feint to cover the retreat of their Artillery & Infantry & the whole had disappeared by day break. "This was a dismal night great numbers of wounded on both sides lying on the field, & their cries & groans were most piercingly grievous however at daylight all the assistance that could be, was given & parties were sent out from every Corps to collect them & bury the dead. This was a part of service by no means-pleasant; mangled Carcases & broken limbs, was a Spectacle truly shocking & notwithstanding the utmost tenderness was used, the removal of the wounded occasioned the most piercing shrieks - It was my lot to go with a Corporal of the company to the general Hospital in Talavera, & I beheld what I never wish to see again - the road (about a mile) leading to the town was literally covered with wounded, & wounded Men dying whilst being carried there. Every street in the town was filled with them & absolutely impassible for no place had been prepared for their reception, & the Spaniards would not admit them into their houses, not even the Officers who had been billeted on them previous to the Action, without the interference of the Alcalde. They seemed to look upon us with a sort of admiration mingled with horror for it was incomprehensible to them how such a handful of Men could beat off the hitherto victorious legions of Bounaparte... we remained on the ground until the 3rd of August when the air became extremely offensive, & notwithstanding that parties of Spanish Peasantry had been daily employed in burying the Enemy's dead it was scarce completed when we broke up for Oropisa & latterly the smell became so offensive that the dead bodies were collected in heaps & laid on piles of faggots which being set fire to were thus consumed! Cuesta shot 13 Spaniards in front of our lines viz 12 for Cowardice &one (an Officer) tho' badly wounded& who sat in a chair for being taken in the service of the valiant King Joe. "May God in his goodness preserve England from the horrors of a Campaign, you can have no idea of the ravages committed by a disappointed & exhausted army. I have many days counted upwards of an hundred bodies of murdered inhabitants & Frenchmen lying on the roads; horses, mules, & asses innumerable Towns * Villages plundered & burnt, Vinyards, Cornfields &c distroyed instances too numerous & too shocking to relate..." Footnotes 1. Lt. Col. Ross 2. Capt. & Adjt. Bryan 3. Capt. Beckett APPLICATION TO WARGAMES The piece above describes several actions that were part of a large battle. Some of these would make excellent small games that could be tied to a larger game. The first action ends in a classic case of "friendly fire". this is one of the reasons that Napoleonic armies were not too keen on night actions. An excellent way to simulate night actions is to use the box method. Each player places his figures in a cardboard box which represents the area that his unit or figures can see. The umpire changes the terrain as the unit moves and adds shadows of units as they move into the unit's area. Needless to say the player makes decisions to fire, stand, advance, or whatever in the "dark". Orders can be offensive of defensive. The players should also be allowed to get lost and send out patrols or scouts. This can be played by regiments down to individual skirmish figures. The next playable game is a skirmish action between two sets of skirmishers. The action is between the lines. These lines of line infantry can be represented in the game or used as a base line on the table. The British mission described above is to screen the line troops behind from the French light infantry. The action is described as if it was individual combat. Whether this picking a mutual "object" of attention was part of the battlefield etiquette, a convenient method of self preservation or just a fanciful description by the author I do not know, but it makes for an interesting game. Each player should be assigned one to five light infantrymen. At Talavera there were numerous open areas but there also seemed to be plenty of cover. Victory conditions for each side should be stated at the start. The umpire should consider changing them during the play. Morale for the section should be maintained and checked with events. There should also be an individual morale but a failure of individual or section morale should not involve a rout. These were elite troops being watched by the line infantry. A morale loss should be a retrograde movement of several yards or assistance to a wounded comrade. Officers often rode or walked behind the lines and the umpire could add interest by having a senior NCO or Officer enter the battlefield. Other relieving sections could be ordered down to relieve the skirmishers. There are a number of skirmish rules that could be used for this type of action, or you can experiment with your own. One other aspect of the account is the ebb and flow of the battle. This NCO describes several French attacks. These are usually in column, only the first is aggressively counterattacked by the British after the Lights fire a volley and retreat. I assume that the retreat is a passage of lines because the French are drawn into the main line. But this is not completely clear. Perhaps the friendly fire was into the Lights as they withdrew in front of the advancing French. This would account for the French recovering the wounded and burying the dead officers so killed. I still feel that the Lights were placed out in the dark after the French attack was forced back and in the dark they were fired upon by the nervous line to their rear. The key of steady troops and the force of collective will described by the NCO who was impressed by the steady advance and the "regular order" of the French columns. The French were only broken by the volley and counter charge of the British line, then used their light infantry to cover the withdrawal of their troops. The French fire forced the British back in what is most likely understated as "an irregular manner" after which the British rallied and "recovered" the ground. The light companies pursued the beaten French in a manner similar to cavalry. In rough ground perhaps the winner of a close action should be allowed to deploy his light troops as an option. The retreating force should also be allowed to deploy its lights/skirmishers to screen its retreat. Lastly this account gives an insight to some of the other events that occur on the battlefield. Brush fires represent a threat or a nuisance depending on the wind direction. Its smoke and flame can obscure units and commanders views of the battlefield. The danger of fire should be added to games, depending on the season and climate. The direction and speed of the fire would be erratic, driven by wind gusts as strong as 25-30 miles an hour, faster than most men and horses. Damage from the fire would be both in castings and morale if the fire sweeps through a unit, supply and ammunition wagons having a chance to explode. Fortifications will generally stop a wild fire. As this NCO describes the scene, ammo in the packs of the soldiers caught in the fire explodes perhaps mercifully sparing them a painful death in the flames. Losses of unwounded troops were minimal but this situation had to affect morale. This is but one account of Talavera, there are others. But we must remember that there are thousands of observations that were never recorded. Each man sees events slightly differently, this NCO is from an elite unit of The Coldstream Guards. He is a professional, perhaps with experience in North America in the American Revolution. His observations are valuable and concise, perhaps his experienced eye overlooked the routine and he reported on the unusual. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #55 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com