Abigail's Cousin (18 page)

The
lieutenant-messenger called his attention to a solitary rider and
once again the duke switched the direction of his glass. He told
Parker and the lieutenant:

"It's Captain
Masham. He is shouting something to the officer in charge. He's
halted his men. Can you hear what he's saying Parker?"

"Whatever it
is, the French are obeying him. Look, they're at stand-to. And
Masham is riding on up the hill."

The duke was
now excited. Like an enthusiastic boy he shouted:

"He's seen
another column of musketeers and has stopped them as well." Then to
his officers: "Lieutenant, how far are the walking wounded. Will
they make it to the village before the French smell a rat." Then
calling over to him, says excitedly: "Ride down lieutenant, if you
please and hurry them along."

The lieutenant
was away before the duke had finished speaking and both Parker and
the duke watched as he shouted and waved his arms in the direction
of Blentheim. The wounded men caught his urgency and carrying their
muskets started running. The French also saw them and their officer
called them to attention looking around for Masham who had vanished
from sight.. But as both Parker and Marlborough watched, the
wounded men had lost none of their discipline. A corporal called
them to form ranks, and with seconds, they heard the orders:

"Cock your muskets! Aim! First rank,
fire!" and six balls zinged their way towards the marching
tirailleurs. The English front rank retired and moments later, the
second rank fired. In the meantime more wounded men had arrived to
repeat the manoeuvre and with a minute there was a sustained fire
directed at the French who one by one dropped, and then all
at
once, they turned
tail and ran.

Their retreat
impeded the second column which eventually emerged though in the
meantime, more English wounded had joined the others and were soon
in action with the result that a zone fifty yards removed became a
killing ground. After losing two tirailleurs who had raced ahead,
the officer halted them, formed them up and ordered them to fire,
but their balls were ineffective being too far away, as accuracy of
muskets is woeful beyond fifty yards and the French were well
beyond that.

"Look!" It was
Parker who pointed to a plunging horseman and the French tirailleur
officer had also seen him and quickly ordered his men to fire at
Masham who carried on regardless and then was out of range. Parker
waved furiously as did the lieutenant who had returned from his
mission, and at last, Masham acknowledged their frantic signals and
trotted towards them.

------------------------------------------

Uncertainty removed at Blentheim, whereby
the perimeter could be closed so that Colonel Blood could deploy
his batteries and commence bombardment, and having secured his
centre, the duke turned his mind to Oberglau, but his first
priority in the next minutes was one of pleasure, the prospect of
rewarding a fellow so
ldier filled the duke with joy.

Captain Masham was warmly greeted by both
captain Parker and lieutenant Rogers, lord Orkney's erstwhile
messenger whom the duke had retained for a while. After warmly
greeting Masham and praising his daring in halting the French
tiraileurs, the duke turned to captain Parker,
saying
, "I've a mind,
Parker, to send my thanks to count Fuggers for his timely
intervention. What say we send the colonel?"

Parker looked
nonplussed and turned around and finding nobody else asked the
duke: "I concur with your sentiment my lord though mystified as to
your messenger."

"Nonsense, my
dear Parker! Our colonel is right beside you." Then addressing
Masham, Marlborough told him: "In your new rank of brevet-colonel,
will you be kind enough to convey my greetings to his Excellency
Count Fuggers, and thanks him for his timely and successful
intervention at the Nebel, Colonel Masham!"

Masham was
stunned and showed it colouring violently but recovered enough to
respond:

"You are too
generous, my lord. What I did was my duty. But, it will afford me
the greatest honour to serve your grace. I will convey your
greeting, compliments and heartfelt thanks to his Excellency with
pleasure." So saying Masham put his riding crop to his forehead in
an unofficial but becoming salute and added:

"May I
ascertain, your grace from your esteemed aide-de-camp the
whereabouts of the count?" The duke smiled and turned to his
faithful aide:

"Go along with
colonel Masham, Parker. You'll find me with his lordship, general
Orkney. Until then!" Thus dismissed both captain and colonel rode
off in the direction of Oberglau while the duke and lieutenant
Rogers sought out Lord Orkney. Orkney was with lord Cutts and both
cantered forward to meet the duke. The gentlemen concerned seemed
impatient but it was Orkney who spoke first:

"My lord,
having withdrawn all my foot and horse from the attack on
Blentheim, we are in dire danger of dying from boredom. Are we here
to fight, or to play games?"

"My lord
Orkney," the duke answered, "what say you to rolling up the centre;
if you will muster your squadrons in the cornfields here."

"And my foot?"
asked Orkney.

At once the
duke addressed lord Cutts: "Will you be kind enough to command the
foot, general Cutts. We shall need all the battalions you can
muster, once Blood's cannonade has softened up the village."

A visibly
delighted Lord Orkney giving spur to his horse rode towards general
Willloughby giving him his orders and as he did so, lord Cutts
addressed the duke:

"Allow me to
seek General Churchill, your grace." The duke looked to their
right. It was a scene from the Inferno. The cornfields were
littered with bodies of men and the carcasses of horses. The golden
colouring of corn was long replaced by the ghastly tinge of
scarlet, blackened by smoke and everywhere there were the trails of
blood where horses had dipped their hooves and men their boots in
moving around the battlefield. Despite these grisly reminders of
death, the living was still very much in evidence as cavalry and
musketeers stood or moved. There were tears but also the
unmistakable tinkle of laughter. The duke looked intently but could
not see his brother, General Churchill, so turned and smiled at the
offer of help from lord Cutts responding in the affirmative:

"My thanks,
sir! Present my compliments if you can find him and advise him of
the need to marshal all available foot below the bluff."

As Cutts rode
away the duke stopped still to listen to the sound of a church
clock, boom, boom which was also being listened to by the comte de
Merode-Westerloo who turned to his commander-in-chief as the last
boom, boom resounds across the field of battle:

"Il fait cinq
heures, monsieur le marechal et bientot on peut dire que vous avey
gagne la bataille."

"Non!" replied
the marshal grimly, "the battle is not won until le Malbrouk has
quit the field. We shall hold Blentheim and Oberglau, but where are
our cavalry. I've not seen sight nor sound of them apart from the
escadrons of the Elector."

Prince Eugene
was mounting a fourth attack reinforced by the returning squadrons
of cuirassiers of count Fugger loaned to Marlborough and now
returned, but it was failing yet again to make an impression
because his attack centred on a narrow front well defended by the
Elector's combined foot and horse. Paradoxically the Elector's
winning strategy which they had agreed at the outset gave Tallard a
false sense of success.

It occurred to
le marechal that were the Elector to go over to the offensive, the
Bavarians could put the Prince's Savoyards to flight and utilise
the forces thus freed to mount a Franco-Bavarian attack upon the
duke's forces at Blentheim. The Elector disagreed as in his opinion
the strategy of defence was correct. It was up to Eugene to prise
him from Oberglau. This negative from the Elector did not deter
Tallard who looked for another expedient and told Merode-Westerloo
to bring up twelve batallions of foot being held in reserve behind
Oberglau. He told him to enfilade them either side of the village
and upon Eugene's next attack to mount a continuous fire at the
attacking cavalry from either flank.

Merode-Westerloo's protest that they were un-blooded brought the
rebuke from Tallard:

"They'll learn
the hard way. Like we did comte. Give capitaine Hubert his orders,
at once. I shall be with Zurlauben."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Two things gave joy to Colonel Blood. One
was seeing the results of his placements of batteries producing
devastation leading to a successful attack; the other joy was the
task in which he was now engaged, the choosing of sites, ordering
his gunners to fit the harness from team to cannon and the placing
of such accompanied by a deal of sweaty labour urging the team a
bit forward or a bit back, the final positioning being manual
exertions in swivelling the gun, it's elevation and finally
clearing a pathway for the cannon so that when it belched and
roared it's anger, it could run clear on its wheels.

Colonel Blood eyed his gunners all
stripped to the waist, their bodies running with sweat; as the face
of a gunner appeared, all he could see were the whites of his eyes
peering from blackened features, the result of constant discharge
of gunpowder. Rider-less horses were everywhere, wandering around
their hanging reins sometimes fouling a cannon-blasted tree,
whinnying in distress, but nobody with the time to care. Other
horses lay with their stomachs ripped open, spilling their
intestines, often also with smashed and splintered bones. He tried
to igno
re them. He had a
job to do.

The duke had
given him his advice but it was up to him to carry out the actual
siting and he was doubly pleased because for the first time in this
battle, the centre having been cleared of the enemy, many of his
teams had struggled towards Oberglau and could start to give the
Bavarians some of the same medicine meted out to the French with
such success.

The duke's
vantage point had altered. He was now in a good position to observe
both Blentheim and Oberglau although he could only observe the
latter village with the aid of his glass. Even so the sight he
witnessed sickened him. He turned to his aide:

"It's pitiful,
Parker, pitiful. They must be raw recruits attacking the Prince's
cavalry. They have more place on a playground than a
battlefield."

"Pitiful,
sir." agreed his aide, "Canister is an awful weapon against human
flesh."

"I don't know
what Tallard is doing. Forming them up without cavalry support.
They have no chance at all." The duke shook his head in disbelief,
but meanwhile Parker was shouting loudly:

"It's Lord Orkney, sir. It was tough
getting to the summit but they have the bit between their teeth.
Zurlauben's hussars aren't putting up much of a fight.
The
y're slowly being
forced back."

The captain
was distracted by a rider approaching at a fast gallop towards
them. The duke also heard it and put down his glass. Parker
said:

"He's likely
from the Prince."

The rider
reined in fiercely in front of the two men and saluting the duke
shouted to be heard above the roar of Blood's cannons:

"Seine Hoheit
schickt seine Grusse, meine Herren. Er hat die Lage des Feldherrs
Marsin durchgesclagen. Der Feind ist im Ruckzug und wird
verfolgt."

"Ich gratuliere, mein Herr." replied the
duke.
Parker said to him
in an urgent tone. "Ask him about Blood's artillery, your grace. We
don't want to cause his troops any problems."

"Pardon me,
your grace, I heard that. Marshal Marsin was attacking our flank
beyond the village. Our escadrons are in pursuit on the right of
Oberglau, so the cannons should continue their fire."

The duke
thanked him asking him to convey greetings to the Prince:

"Ich freue
mich auf das Wiedersehen mit dem Prinz. Sag ihm das, bitte sehr,
herr lieutenant!"

They watched
the aide galloping back to the Prince's position, then returned
their gaze towards the ridge but there was no sign of Orkney.
Parker laughed commenting:

"Lord Orkney
seems to have put paid to Zurlauben, sir. He'll chase them to the
Danube, I've no doubt."

"And beyond,
if I know Orkney." commented the duke also laughing. Both men were
relaxed. The day was all but won. They turned to observe Colonel
Blood and one of the batteries aiming towards Blentheim. It was
some distance away but they can clearly see the men, stripped to
the waist. One is cleaning the barrel by stuffing wadding with a
long pole to clean the inside, another places a charge and a third
adds the ball. The whole routine goes like clockwork and now the
first man pours a trickle of gunpowder using a horn into the top of
the barrel. The order is given to stand back and the men put hands
to ears as a man with lighted taper puts his flame to the charge,
there is a hiss and a spurt of flame from the top of the barrel,
but a much bigger one from the mouth followed by a crash as the
projectile is fired. It hits a farmhouse gouging a huge gap in the
wall and they could hear the ball ricochet around inside, then
momentary silence until another cannon belches.

Blood has now thirty cannon ringing
Blentheim and Parker voices the duke's thoughts: "Hope
w
e have enough shot and
powder."

Marlborough
might have responded but they are approached by Lord Cutts who is
anxious to give the duke a progress report: