190th Anniversary Re-enactment of Waterloo
The piper wakes us up at 0700 so that we can get up and be ready to leave for the battle which is due to start at 0900. I sometimes wish that I am part of a line regiment as they march at ordinary time (70bpm) light infantry march at quick time (120bpm). Maintaining that kind of pace is not impossible but fairly exhausting.
The first part of the battle is conducted in the village square at Plancenoit, the Dutch are the first troops in from the red team :) The light company follows them in and are the first British troops to fire during the battle - go us. After pretty much every regiment has been shuffled in and has had a go at firing (We even managed to get some light stuff going in the very confined space) the French were forced out and we followed.
The second part of the battle was conducted on a nearby field. This allowed involvement of cavalry and artillery, which had been missing from the previous encounter. This was more of a blur for me, the light company took ground to the right, then came back to the left, through the cannon line, did a bit of fancy light drill and generally harassed our end of the French line.
Then we had the first major casualty I had seen in my 6 years of re-enactment. We were stood at ease and taking water when I looked up the hill at the rest of the British line. I saw a muzzle flash and a bearskin fly into the air. Soon after people were running about and it became clear that someone was badly hurt. A member of the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers had had his musket go off while he was loading it. I heard later that he had surgery to remove gunpowder from his eye.
We finished pushing the French off the field and started to make our way to the final field. There was a long delay while both sides were re-stocked with water (We had been going for over 1.5 hours in the blazing sun by this time).
The Rifles and the light company arrived on the field to find the French forming a square at the bottom of the hill. The rest of the British line was nowhere to be seen. They stayed hidden somewhere for about 20 mins. By this time we had moved to the ridge above the French square and were ready to give them a stuffing once the line appeared.
Before we could do this we were recalled back to the line so that we could participate in a brigade volley. However there was another 10 mins or so of haggling by the staff officers. This prompted the now quite bored line to start a few Mexican waves!! A highlander moved forward and lifted his kilt to the French and one section sang "The first staff officer jumped right over the second staff officers back". I remarked that "We came, we saw..."
I was told that it was very impressive to have the 150-200 yards of the allied line firing a volley. Although I would have preferred to have done some skirmishing beforehand.
We fired three volleys at the French as we marched across the field. Once we were in range we performed the traditional bayonette charge and it was all over bar the shouting.
Can't wait for the next one in 5 years time.
The first part of the battle is conducted in the village square at Plancenoit, the Dutch are the first troops in from the red team :) The light company follows them in and are the first British troops to fire during the battle - go us. After pretty much every regiment has been shuffled in and has had a go at firing (We even managed to get some light stuff going in the very confined space) the French were forced out and we followed.
The second part of the battle was conducted on a nearby field. This allowed involvement of cavalry and artillery, which had been missing from the previous encounter. This was more of a blur for me, the light company took ground to the right, then came back to the left, through the cannon line, did a bit of fancy light drill and generally harassed our end of the French line.
Then we had the first major casualty I had seen in my 6 years of re-enactment. We were stood at ease and taking water when I looked up the hill at the rest of the British line. I saw a muzzle flash and a bearskin fly into the air. Soon after people were running about and it became clear that someone was badly hurt. A member of the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers had had his musket go off while he was loading it. I heard later that he had surgery to remove gunpowder from his eye.
We finished pushing the French off the field and started to make our way to the final field. There was a long delay while both sides were re-stocked with water (We had been going for over 1.5 hours in the blazing sun by this time).
The Rifles and the light company arrived on the field to find the French forming a square at the bottom of the hill. The rest of the British line was nowhere to be seen. They stayed hidden somewhere for about 20 mins. By this time we had moved to the ridge above the French square and were ready to give them a stuffing once the line appeared.
Before we could do this we were recalled back to the line so that we could participate in a brigade volley. However there was another 10 mins or so of haggling by the staff officers. This prompted the now quite bored line to start a few Mexican waves!! A highlander moved forward and lifted his kilt to the French and one section sang "The first staff officer jumped right over the second staff officers back". I remarked that "We came, we saw..."
I was told that it was very impressive to have the 150-200 yards of the allied line firing a volley. Although I would have preferred to have done some skirmishing beforehand.
We fired three volleys at the French as we marched across the field. Once we were in range we performed the traditional bayonette charge and it was all over bar the shouting.
Can't wait for the next one in 5 years time.