"Factoids" Topic

Articles provided by John W Pursell, GA, USA

Of possible interest?

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Amicalement
Armand

Some interesting items here. The article on August Willich was particularly interesting. I came to know about Willich because of an interesting variation on the infantry tactics he trained his brigade in. He no doubt imported it from Europe. Instead of a two rank line with the men shoulder to shoulder, he put them in four ranks with an empty file between each file of four men. (I imagine he got the men in this formation by simply facing them to the right where they would 'double' into a column of fours and then faced them back to the left without having them 'undouble.)

Once in this formation, the front rank man would aim and fire and then he would retire back through the empty file and take his place at the rear of the other three men and begin loading. The new front rank man would then fire and do the same thing. By the time the last man had fired, the first man would be reloaded and the process would repeat. In this fashion the line would gradually retreat. It could also be done where the front rank man fires, but stays in place and the rearmost man would walk up through the empty file and place himself in front. In this fashion the line would gradually advance.

Apparently Willich used this tactic several times in combat with good results. I tried it with my reenactment battalion a couple of times and it actually is not hard to do at all. My troops caught on and were doing it correctly after just a few minutes of instruction.

Happy you enjoyed it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Scott,

That was a standard Civil War Tactic – The English Civil War that is!

Some things never go out of fashion. What's a couple of hundred years, here or there?

Yes, that clearly was his inspiration. Or more likely considering his country of birth, the 30 Years War :)

The same scheme could also be used in advancing: after the front rank fires, and while it reloads, the other three ranks advance through it, each rank taking a turn at firing while the others reload. It was known, logically enough, as "advance firing." Willich used it at Chickamauga, IIRC.