On This Day ... in 1513 & Others
The English inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the Scots at Flodden Field in Northumberland, King James IV of Scotland falling along with the flower of Scots nobility. James had invaded England with perhaps 30,000 or more men whilst Henry VIII was engaged against the French on the Continent, but he was met by a veteran English general, the Earl of Surrey, commanding northern English troops. The English longbows achieved their last memorable victory, mowing down the Scots pikemen. Some 10,000 were reported killed, including most of the Scots gentry who formed the front rank.
1916: On the Somme, Corporal Clarke of the Eastern Ontario Regiment led a grenade-armed section in an effort to hold up German counter-attacks whilst a newly captured section of trench was prepared for defence behind them. Most of his men had fallen casualty when a fresh counter-attack by more than twenty Germans materialised. Clarke met them alone, armed only with a revolver, and despite suffering a bayonet wound, killed five opponents and drove the rest off. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1940: Another large attack on London was attempted by the Luftwaffe in the late afternoon, but met fierce opposition from Fighter Command .
1943: US and British troops landed at Salerno in Operation Avalanche. The landings proceeded well to begin with, but then encountered strong German forces. Elsewhere in southern Italy, Royal Navy warships landed British troops at Taranto: the Italian garrison met them with cheers.
Comments
Interesting that 2 field artillery pieces are depicted on the archers right flank.
Given the accuracy and rate of fire of English bowmen, I've always wondered that the longbow vanished from the field of battle as early as it did. Any thoughts, gentle readers?
Posted by: Bomber Harris | September 8, 2008 3:46 PM
At Flodden the Scots had more and heavier artilery than the English, but shooting downhill it was ineffective. It takes a lifetime to learn the longbow, an afternoon for a handgun. The Scots also found that it takes more than a few weeks to turn Scottish spearmen into the equivalent of Swiss pikemen.
Posted by: James Churchill | September 8, 2008 7:20 PM
The longbow also carried a health risk (for the operator) as the training started young it messed up the consoiidation of the shoulder bones. It was english law that after church was longbow practice, lots of old villages have the"butts" where this took place, as bomber asked why did this powerful weapon and intrinsic part of english life vanish? it must have been way more accurate and have a faster rate of fire??
Posted by: chris Edwards | September 9, 2009 1:08 AM