On This Day ... in 1743 & 1942
King George II, commanding 35,000 British, Hanoverian and Hessian troops, defeated the French army of the Duc de Noailles, 26,000 strong, at Dettingen in Bavaria. It was the last time that a British monarch led an army in the field.
The French army held a strong defensive position, but the Duc de Noialles, bored of waiting for an attack, rashly launched one himself.
The battle was marked by ferocious cavalry actions. Cornet Richardson of the 7th Dragoon Guards suffered 37 wounds defending his Regiment's Standard. The flag survives to the present day, the oldest in the British Army, in the Regimental Museum of the Royal Dragoon Guards.
Trooper Thomas Brown of the 3rd Dragoons also distinguished himself in defence of Colours. Seeing his Regiment's standard being carried away in triumph by a French cavalryman after a fierce melee which left over half the Dragoons dead or wounded, and despite having had part of his left hand severed by a sword blow, Brown managed to retrieve the flag and fight his way back alone through the French lines, suffering six further wounds to the head and body. He was knighted on the spot by King George, along with the Earl of Stair and Colonel Campbell of the Scots Greys; the last time that knighthood was conferred on the field of battle.
Handel wrote the Dettingen Te Deum to celebrate the victory. The campaign was also marked by the agreement between the two sides to treat military hospitals as neutral sanctuaries, largely due to the efforts of Sir John Pringle, often regarded as the founder of modern military medicine.
1942: At Mersa Matruh in the Western Desert, a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry came under tank attack. Fire from the enemy tanks killed or wounded all the crew of a 2 pdr anti-tank gun. Nevertheless, one of them, Private Wakenshaw, despite having had his left arm blown off, continued to load and fire the gun alone, scoring hits on the tanks until a further enemy shell physically blew him away from the gun.
Wakenshaw crawled back to it, but then a third shell scored a direct hit on the ammunition stock, killing him and destroying the gun. Wakenshaw was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
His citation reads ...
No. 4270383 Private Adam Herbert Wakenshaw, The Durham Light Infantry (Newcastle-on-Tyne).
On the 27th June, 1942, South of Mersa Matruh, Private Wakenshaw was a member of the crew of a 2-pounder anti-tank gun that was sited on a forward slope in front of the infantry position.
Shortly after drawn the enemy attacked and an enemy tracked vehicle towing a light gun was brought to within short range of the position. The gun crew opened fire and succeeded in putting a round through the engine immobilising vehicle.
Another mobile gun then came into action. All members of the crew manning the 2-pounder including Private Wakenshaw were killed or seriously wounded and the 2-pounder was silenced. In this respite the enemy moved forward towards their damaged tractor in order to get the light gun into action against our infantry.
Realising the danger to his comrades, under intense mortar and artillery fire which swept the gun site, Private Wakenshaw crawled back to his gun. Although his left arm was blown off above the elbow, he loaded the gun with one arm and fired five more rounds. These succeeded in setting the tractor on fire and damaged the light gun. A near miss then killed the gun aimer and blew Private Wakenshaw away from the gun giving him further severe wounds. Undeterred he slowly dragged himself back to the gun, placed a round in the breach, and was preparing to fire when a direct hit on the ammunition killed him and destroyed the gun.
In the evening after the action, the body of Private Wakenshaw was found stretched out at the back of the breach block beside the ammunition box. This act of conspicuous gallantry prevented the enemy from using their light gun on the infantry Company which was only 200 yards away. It was through the self sacrifice and courageous devotion to duty of this infantry anti-tank gunner that the Company was enabled to withdraw and to embus in safety.
Comments
Rather a good effort from the Scots, then, on the Dettingen campaign.
Posted by: dearieme | June 27, 2007 4:23 PM
From "Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe" :
"Missing two fingers, with a brace of bullets in his back and his face hacked like a butchers block, Thomas Brown was rewarded with promotion and popular celebrity. The disfigured hero subsequently received a pension with which he bought a tavern in his native Yorkshire. But the scars of Dettingen were not merely physical; within three years he had drunk himself to death"
Posted by: Laban Tall | July 14, 2008 10:48 PM