[OSW]不列颠第27步兵团1815年滑铁卢战役 by Tony Barton

RChase · 发表于 2012-6-26 09:16

Captain Eyestrain

Join Date: May 2006
Location: York
Posts: 743

British 27th Foot at Waterloo ,1815 .

27th Foot at Waterloo

The Duke of Wellington , on being pointed out some of his British Infantry in the streets of Brussels before the campaign began , said : “ There…. It all depends on that article whether we do the business or not. Give me enough of it and I am sure “.
He didn’t , in the outcome , get quite enough of it , making Waterloo at times a
“ near run thing “ , but what he did get proved itself on the day , beyond any criticism.

The common soldiers of 1815 are creatures from another planet . We get an occasional glimpse of them from the few who were literate and wrote down their experiences , and we can reconstruct their kit and even tramp about in muddy fields wearing it .
But we can so rarely touch the reality of what they had to endure.

The 27th had , that day , one of the worst human experiences it is possible to conceive of .
They were subjected to several hours of long range cannon fire without being able to move or fire back , charged repeatedly ( and unsuccessfully ) by French Cavalry, then had the misfortune to be posted , towards the climax of the battle , in a part of the Line most exposed to the French artillery, which had advanced to within canister range , and the attentions of swarms of skirmishers who came forward with them.

They did not take part in the general advance , because they couldn’t.
Of 750 all ranks present , their casualties were 476.
2 officers , 7 Sergeants, 96 ORs killed ;13 Officers, 10 Sergeants , 348 ORs wounded.
They were described by eyewitnesses as lying dead in square.

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The figure :
This figure first appeared in Ransome Chua’s
“ 1/6th Masterpieces” . Since that book is now effectively sold out , I’m free to post him. He also has had a few improvements since the pics for the book were done.

He’s the third in my trio of Waterloo figures....Pat the Inniskillen.

The 27th Inniskillen regiment were nominally recruited in Ireland : in fact , most British regiments at the time contained a proportion of Irish , though very rarely a majority : it was a great escape from poverty .
Despite the regional titles , however, it was almost unknown for any Regiment’s men to be recruited solely from the official recruiting area : Irish , Scots and English were also present in almost all units , even the supposedly purely Highland ones. During the long War against Napoleon , large numbers of men were also recruited voluntarily from the English Militia, who could be sent to almost any unit.

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As with the previous two, this is largely scratchbuilt , with the exception of the shortened and modified DML body.
The red coat is from the DiD Bruce , with all the lace and facings removed, and new ones added. It would have been quicker to start from scratch, which would have improved the cut.
The lace is from 2mm and 4mm lacet , from Little Trimmings , painted white , with the red and blue woven lines added with the finest of coloured ink pens.
New pewter buttons.
Shako from felt and leather , new 27th plate ( after a surviving example ) in pewter with brass leafing.
The trousers are sewn from some grey cloth from an old skirt .
The buff leather strapping is deerskin, with brass wire working buckles. The pouch from black stained calf, fully working.

The bayonet ( 2” too short ) is from DiD Bruce , but will have to do until I can cast my own.
The musket is my own India pattern in resin.
The haversack and waterbottle are the correct dimensions, based on surviving items.

The knapsack : thereby hangs a tale :~

From the 1760s the British Infantryman had been provided with a painted canvas knapsack to keep his spare clothes in. Unlike the closed hairy calfskin versions worn by the European powers , the British version was a simple folded rectangle of canvas , lined with linen , and with three pockets inside to hold his necessaries. The sides were open , held taut by straps or ties , and it was carried on fixed shoulder straps with a breast strap .
The type is generally called the “ envelope “ knapsack .
Several of these survive intact in museums , and there is no controversy about them.

For years , all the books have said that from around 1807 , British Infantry were re-equipped with the closed “Trotter” knapsack, made of canvas with a wooden frame inside.
None of these survives .
Whole fantasies have been created around the discomfort of carrying this object .
Even the revised Osprey “ Infantry Equipments” , by Mike Chappell , whom I revere , perpetuates this story, and creates a highly plausible reconstruction , which I used in the first version of my figure :

The Trotter knapsack turns out to be a fallacy , endlessly copied by authors following God knows which person first wrote down this idea… it may have been from a misreading of a document back in 1929.

There is no evidence for a pack with wooden boards before about 1826.

Recent research , prompted by re-enactors who have to make and wear the things, and largely the work of the aptly-named Frank Packer, have shown that firstly the Trotter company went out of business in 1806 and therefore had nothing to do with it , and secondly that a new design of pack was approved by a Committee of General Officers in 1811.

The Committee does not give a description, but there are contemporary pictures which show a new type clearly enough to make a decent and functional reconstruction.
The new 1812 type was made of black painted canvas, probably lined with coarse linen with two pockets, and held together by two separate 8- shaped buff straps , one loop around the pack and one round the shoulders. There were no wooden boards , the shape being entirely determined by the contents.

The main changes from the older envelope type , which continued in use , was the addition of side flaps which closed the sides to the weather , and the replacement of the fixed straps with the new removeable ones.
I’ve followed Pierre Turner’s neat reconstruction , which he did with Mr. Packer’s advice , with the Regimental number and the Castle of Inniskillen painted on the back.

The greatcoat , or blanket ( they never carried both , and most accounts of the very wet night before the Battle mention blankets ) is carried rolled on the top , with the new D section messtin attached , in its canvas cover.
The rear view shows just how bulky all this kit was on a small man:

The base represents the crop of rye that covered the ridge of Mont St.Jean , which was trampled into a mat by the troops that occupying it.