Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

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Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by Captain of Dragoons » Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:56 pm

The battle of Ramillies opened with a attack by four battalions of Dutch Guards against the villages of Franquennee and Taviers, which were held by Swiss troops in French pay.

Is there any information on how the Dutch advance? Four battalions in line or two up two back, etc.

Believe the Dutch also may of had battalion guns also.

Thinking of a future scenario.

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Edward
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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by maciek » Tue Dec 18, 2012 9:44 pm

The battle of Ramillies opened with a attack by four battalions of Dutch Guards against the villages of Franquennee and Taviers, which were held by Swiss troops in French pay.
- There were three battalions of Dutch Guards, not four
- There are controversies if Swiss really were in both villages. Some modern authors suggest that French right wing was refused far more than widely recognized and that Swiss were positioned not only behind the village of Taviers, but even more in the rear - behind the Mehainge / Vistoule fork (see Neil Litten's "Ramillies").
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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by Captain of Dragoons » Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:49 pm

Hello Maciek,

I was looking at Litten's book today on OMM, 50 bucks though.

Most accounts I have seen say four battalions, if three were Blue Guards any idea who the fourth battalion was.

IIRC believed I read that in the First village was two battalions from the Regiment de Greder (Swiss). To far away from Taviers to be supported.

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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by maciek » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:53 am

With Mr Litten' book in hand I can say that:
- he claims that four Dutch battalions involved were: Oranje Friesland (2 battns), Slangenburg and Salish, with two light guns
- he claims that both villages were undefended, according to French commander La Motte report to Chamilliart (citing Wijn as a source); he also states that initially there were only one battalion of Greder, placed behind the river and that the Swiss even tried to demolish a bridge (which makes sense only if Taviers were left undefended as Mehaigne rivulet is behind the village, looking from Allied side).
- only after Greder Battn was attacked, French commanders realized how vulnerable wad their flank and dismounted 14 squadrons of dragoons (regts Nothaft, Aquaviva, Le Roi, Ferrare and Aubigne) to support the Swiss, then send there a brigade composed of Cologne Rgt Wolfskehl (2 battn) and Bavarian Rgt Kurprinz (2 battn)

BTW, Litten's book is one of the best I've read for this period.
And, no offence to British historians but as I've read a lot of English language books about WSS I've found that majority of them (especially those written before 1970's) looks like based on the same sources. Neil Litten's book emerge as a new, fresh effort to describe the history of this fascinating war.
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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by Captain of Dragoons » Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:49 pm

Thanks

Edward
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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by Rebel » Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:26 am

Maciek,

oddly enough one of my current writing projects at the moment is a book on Ramillies...Am still awaiting my copy of the Litten book, but after the initial research my take on the villages is that they were similar to the Round Tops at Gettysburg - unimportant until the enemy tried taking them....

Mike.
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Re: Dutch Guard attack at Ramillies

Post by simon boulton » Sat Dec 22, 2012 2:30 pm

I thought Littens book was very good and would recommend it to anyone interested in the period.
Best wishes,
Simon
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