Eighteen Maneuvers
for His Majesty's Infantry

(1792: Reprint)

review by Ken Bunger

Bill Leeson has begun anew series of reprints. The first of these is Historic Military Documents No. 1: The Eighteen Manoevres For His Majesty's Infantry, by Sergeant Thomas Langley, 1st Royal Regt. 1794. The 1792 Regulations for the British Army by David Dundas exceeded 400 pages. This booklet is the author's forty page condensation of Dundas' regulations as it relates to battalion drill. For each of the eighteen maneuvers and formation changes, the author has included the relevant series of commands to be made by both the battalion and company (platoon) commander. Each maneuver also is well explained and diagramed. The 1792 Regulations, or slight variations, were used by the British infantry throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Langley's booklet is one of several pocket references to these Regulations actually carried in the field by the regimental officers. To the wargamer who invariably becomes accustomed to watching his units magically change formation, and a half-turn later, march off in perfect alignment, I highly recommend this booklet.

One tends to forget the complicated process necessary to maneuver a unit in the field. I don't advocate that all wargamers concern themselves with the maneuver of battalion. But, unless one understands how these maneuvers occur, the warfare of the period can't really be understood. This applies to any period of history. For an in-depth study of Eighteenth Century drill, I highly recommend J.A. Houlding, Fit For Service, Oxford, 1981.

Also, Park and Nafziger, The British Military 1803-1815, Rafm, 1983, is Leeson's booklet contains forty 5 1/2x8 inch pages, and includes a three page appendix of additional notes on Dundas. It sells for three and a half pounds Sterling, and is available at Athena Books, 34 Imperial Crescent, Town Moor, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN2 5BU, England. Athena accepts VISA and Mastercard.

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