The Military History Thread

[haroldeye]

De Valera was a man full of hate and was never the best person to guide a country into the world.

[Ennath]

June 29, 1659
Battle of Konotop

During his reign, Ukrainian leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky managed to wrest Ukraine from Polish domination, but was later forced to enter into a new and uneasy relation with Russia in 1654. His successor, general chancellor and close adviser Ivan Vyhovsky, was left to deal with Moscow's growing interference in Ukraine's internal affairs and even overt instigation of a civil war by way of supporting Cossack factions opposing Vyhovsky.

In 1656, Russia signed a peace accord with and increased pressure on Ukraine. As a result Vyhovsky entered into negotiations with the Poles, and concluded the Treaty of Hadiach on September 16, 1658. Under the new treaty, 3 voivodships of central Ukraine (Kiev, Bratslav and Podilya) were to become an equal constituent nation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, forming the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth. However, the Sejm (Polish Diet) ratified the treaty in a very limited version, where the idea of an independent Ruthenian Principality was completely abandoned.

The news of a Cossack-Polish alliance alarmed Moscow and the Ukrainian Cossacks opposing Vyhovsky (led by Ivan Bezpaly) to the extent that an expeditionary force was dispatched to Ukraine in the autumn of 1658 headed by Prince Grigory Romodanovsky. The new commander not only supported the election of a new rival hetman, but began occupying towns held by Vyhovsky's supporters, eliminating them.

Open hostilities followed. Skirmishes and attacks occurred throughout the country, the most prominent of which was the capture of Konotop by Cossacks under Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky. In the spring of 1659 a Russian army of perhaps 30,000 men was dispatched to Ukraine to assist Romodanovsky.

The army reached the Ukrainian border on January 30, 1659 and halted for 40 days while negotiations attempted to win over Cossack supporters. These talks failed to have much effect. After the negotiations failed, hostilities began. The Russians, together with anti-Vyhovsky insurgents defeated Vyhovsky's troops at Romny and Lokhvytsya. After that, the overall military commander Prince Alexei Trubetskoy decided to eliminate the small 4000 garrison of Konotop Castle before continuing his pursuit of Vyhovsky.

Prince Trubetskoy's hopes for quick resolution of the Konotop stand-off were dimmed as garrison commander Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky and his Cossacks mounted a fierce and protracted defense. On April 21, Trubetskoy ordered an all-out assault. At one point Trubetskoy's troops broke in, but were eventually driven out again. Trubetskoy now abandoned his plans of a quick assault and proceeded to shell the city and to fill the moat with earth. The Cossacks stubbornly held on; during the night the earth used to fill in the moat was used to strengthen the city walls, and the besieged even undertook several sorties. These attacks forced Trubetskoy to move his main camp 6 miles from the city and thereby split his forces between the main army with his HQ and the army besieging Konotop. Instead of a quick campaign the siege dragged on for 70 days and gave Vyhovsky the much-needed time to prepare a response.

The hetman organized a relief force and secured the help of allies. By agreement with the Crimean Tatars, Khan Mehmed IV Girei made his way towards Konotop in early summer with 30,000 men, as did a 4000-man Polish detachment with the support of Serbian, Moldavian and German mercenaries.

On June 24, Vyhovsky and his allies defeated a small reconnaissance detachment near Shapovalivka, several miles southwest of Konotop. According to the plan made that evening, the Tatars were left in an ambush southeast of the river Sosnivka, and Vyhovsky's forces with Poles and mercenaries were positioned at the village of Sosnivka, south of the river of the same name.

Meanwhile, Vyhovsky left the command of his forces to the brother of Hryhoriy Hulyanytsky, Stepan, and at the head of a small Cossack detachment left for Konotop. Early morning of June 27, Vyhovsky's detachment attacked Trubetskoy's army near Konotop, and using this sudden and unexpected attack managed to capture a sizable number of horses and drive them away and further into the steppe. A Russian counterattack forced the Poles to retreat back toward their camp. Trubetskoy dispatched a force of 6000 cavalry led by Prince Semyon Pozharsky to pursue. Trubetskoy's forces were thus further divided.

On June 28, Pozharsky crossed the Sosnivka and made camp on the southern bank. During the night a small Cossack detachment led by Stepan Hulyanytsky, having padded the hoofs of their horses with cloth, moved under the cover of night and captured the bridge that Pozharsky used to cross the river. The bridge was dismantled and the river dammed, flooding the valley around it.

Early on the morning of June 29, Vyhovsky at the head of a small detachment attacked Pozharsky's army. After a short skirmish, he feigned retreat in the direction of his main force. The unsuspecting Pozharsky ordered his army to pursue. Once the Russians entered Sosnivka, the Cossacks fired three cannon shots to give the signal to the Tatars and counterattacked with his full force. Having realized the trap, Pozharsky ordered a retreat, but his heavy cavalry got bogged down in the soggy ground created by the flooding the night before. At this moment the Tatars also advanced from the east, and outright slaughter ensued. Almost all the Russian troops perished, with few taken alive. Among the captured was Prince Pozharsky himself; brought before the Crimean Khan, he was so humiliated that he spat into the Khan’s face and was promptly beheaded. The severed head was sent along with a captive to Trubetskoy’s camp.

Having learned of the defeat of Pozharsky's force, Trubetskoy ordered the siege of Konotop lifted and started to retreat from Ukraine. At that moment, the garrison emerged from behind the walls and attacked the retreating army. Trubetskoy lost most of his artillery, his banners and the treasury. The retreating army recovered well, however, and Vyhovsky and the Tatars abandoned their 3-day pursuit near the Russian border.

The victory, however welcome, was to provide Ukraine with only a temporary respite. The civil war continued to rage and Vyhovsky could capture few rebel strongholds. Then, Zaporozhyan Cossacks attacked Crimean outposts in the south and Khan Girei marched off to defend his own country. Many towns and Cossack regiments began swearing allegiance to the tsar. By the end of the year, Vyhovsky was forced to flee to Poland, where he was executed in 1664. The civil war raged on.

[Ennath]

June 30, 1333
Siege of Kamakura

Throughout much of the Kamakura period, the shogunate was controlled by the Hojo clan, whose members held the title of shikken (regent for the shogun), and passed it on within the clan. The Emperor was little more than a figurehead, holding no real administrative power.

In 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo tried to seize power and overthrow the shogunate. Along with an army of his loyal supporters, he attacked the shikken in the shogunal capital of Kamakura. He was defeated, however, as the result of the betrayal of a close associate named Yoshida Sadafusa. The Emperor hid the Sacred Treasures in a secluded castle in Kasagiyama (modern Kasagi, Kyoto Prefecture) and raised an army, but the castle fell to the shogunal army the following year. The shogunate enthroned Emperor Kogon and exiled Go-Daigo to the island of Oki. The Emperor's son Prince Morinaga continued to fight, leading his father's army alongside Kusunoki Masashige.

Emperor Go-Daigo escaped Oki in 1333, two years after his exile, with the help of Nawa Nagatoshi and his family, raising an army at Funagami Mountain. Meanwhile, Ashikaga Takauji, the chief general of the Hojo family, turned against the clan and fought for the Emperor in the hopes of being named shogun.

Meanwhile, Nitta Yoshisada, also originally a Hojo supporter, was convinced to support the imperial cause. From his home base in Kozuke Province, Nitta and a group of other nobles including his brother Yoshisuke took advantage of the light defenses left in the Kamakura area and entered Musashi Province in force. Following the important Kamakura Kaido highway, Nitta's army received fresh recruits along the way from local powerful clans. After an indecisive cavalry battle at Kotesashi (June 23), the large shogunal army won a Pyrrhic victory the next day at Kumegawa. The exhausted victors withdrew to Bubaigawa to await reinforcements. They Nitta caught up with them on June 27. At first the battle went in favor of the shogun’s army, but the Nitta were reinforced on the 16th and won a complete victory. The Hojo remnants retreated to Kamakura.

Kamakura was built in a very defensible position. The city was surrounded by mountains, and could only be reached along a number of fortified mountain passes or by sea. These passes later became known as the Seven Gates or Seven Entrances of Kamakura, but that name wasn't current in 1333. During the siege of 1333 the Hojo fleet protected the bay, preventing any attempt to attack from the sea. The city was garrisoned by the remaining Hojo armies in the east. A second Bakufu army had been sent east to raise reinforcements, but that army had also been defeated and forced back to Kamakura.

Although Kamakura was a strong defensive position, its defenders position was hopeless. Their main armies had been sent west. The army of Ashikaga Takauji had captured Kyoto, destroying the Shogunate's headquarters at the Rokuhara. The Shogunate army besieging Chihaya had been destroyed while attempting to retreat to safety after learning of the fall of the Rokuhara. News of Nitta Yoshisada's successes encouraged many neutral warriors from the provinces around Kamakura to join his army.

Yoshisada split his army into three divisions, taking command of one himself. The first army was to attack the Gokurakuji Passage, to the west of the city. The second attacked the Kobukurozaka Pass in the north. The third, which Yoshisada commanded in person, attacked the Kewaizaka Pass to the northwest of the city. This was perhaps the main approach to the city and led to the road to Musashi Province. The defenders split their army into four, three to face the attacking armies directly and the fourth to act as a reserve.

At dawn on June 30, Yoshisada's men lit fires in the villages surrounding the city, causing alarm. The fighting began during the hour of the snake (the two hour period before noon) and on this first day the defenders generally held their own. The attackers reached Yamanouchi, but this still put them outside the passes.

On the July 1, Yoshisada's right-hand division came close to the southern edge of the city, but its commander, Odate Muneuji, was killed in a counterattack and his surviving troops pulled back to the west. After this setback there may have been a pause in the fighting, for the next events recorded take place on the night of July 3-4. Nitta Yoshisada led a strong force to the Gokurakuji Pass, where Odate had been killed. The main pass was strongly defended, but in theory it could be outflanked along the coast. The defenders of the city had thought of this. Their fleet was anchored off the shore within arrow-range, while the beach was littered with obstacles.

According to the annals, Nitta Yoshisada cast his gold-mounted sword into the sea and prayed for help from the “eight dragon-gods of the inner and outer seas”. He was rewarded with an unusually low tide, which allowed his troops to slip past the beach obstacles and also forced the defending ships away from their positions.

The city was now doomed. Yoshisada's men flooded in from the south, attacking the defenders of the passes in the rear. Some of the defenders began to surrender or change allegiance, while others committed suicide. A few escaped. There was also a great deal of hard fighting as outnumbered bands of supporters of the Shogunate attempted to make last stands, but it was now clear that the defenders had failed. Hojo Takatoki set fire to the Bakufu buildings and retreated to the Toshoji Temple, where he committed suicide, followed by 208 other males of the clan. The temple was then set on fire, and another 600 of the temple's last defenders committed suicide.

The fall of the city marked the end of the Kamakura Shogunate. In the same month Go-Daigo returned to Kyoto, where he began a short period of direct Imperial rule (the Kemmu Restoration). Within a few years, he had alienated Ashikaga Takauji, triggering a revolt that would see the Emperor forced to flee from Kyoto for a second time. Once again Nitta Yoshisada would remain loyal, only to be defeated in battle and finally killed during the siege of Kuromaru in August 1338.

[Ennath]

July 1, 251
Battle of Forum Terebronii

Soon after Decius ascended to the throne in 249, barbarian tribes invaded the Roman Balkan provinces of Dacia, Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior. Two factors had contributed to growing unrest in the area north of Danube. First, Decius’ predecessor Philipus Arabus had refused to continue payments, initiated by Emperor Maximinus Thrax in 238, of annual subsidies to the aggressive tribes of the region. Second and more important, there were continuous movements of new peoples. Decius may also have taken with him troops from the Danube frontier, in order to depose Philipus in 249. The resultant military vacuum would inevitably attract invaders.

In 250 the Carpi (descendents of the Dacians) invaded Dacia, eastern Moesia Superior and western Moesia Inferior. At the same time, a tribal coalition under Cniva crossed the frontier, probably advancing in two columns. Whether these consisted only of Goths is rather. It is quite possible that other peoples of Germanic and Sarmatian origin (like Bastarnae, Taifali and Vandals) had joined the invaders. However, the name of the king is indeed Gothic and probably genuine.

The first column of Cniva's army, a detachment likely led by the chieftains Argaith and Gunteric, besieged Marcianopolis, without success. Then they probably headed south to besiege Philippopolis. Cniva's main column, under the King himself, crossed Danube at Oescus then headed eastwards to Novae, where he was repelled by the provincial governor (and future emperor) Trebonianus Gallus. Then the invaders headed south to plunder Nicopolis ad Istrum where Decius defeated them but not decisively. After these initial setbacks, the barbarians moved southwards through Haemus mountain and Decius pursued them (likely through the Shipka Pass) to save Philippopolis. This time Decius' army was taken by surprise while resting at Beroe/Augusta Traiana. The Romans were heavily defeated in the ensuing battle. Decius was forced to withdraw his army to the north at Oescus, leaving Cniva ample time to ravage Moesia and finally capture Philippopolis in the summer of 251, in part with the help of its commander, a certain Titus Julius Priscus who had proclaimed himself Emperor. It seems that Priscus, after receiving the news of the defeat at Beroe, thought that the Goths would spare him and the city. He was wrong and was probably killed when the city fell. Then the barbarians began returning to their homeland, laden with booty and captives, among them many of senatorial rank.

In the meantime, Decius had returned with his reorganized army, accompanied by his son Herennius Etruscus and the general Trebonianus Gallus, intending to defeat the invaders and recover the booty. The Roman army engaged the allied barbarians under Cniva near Forum Terebronii. The strengths of the armies are unknown, but we know that Cniva divided his forces into three parts, with one of these concealed behind a swamp. Jordanes and Aurelius Victor claim that Herennius Etruscus was killed by an arrow during a skirmish before the outset of the battle and that his father told his soldiers “Let no one mourn. The death of one soldier is not a great loss to the Republic”. However, other sources state that Herennius died with his father.

Decius attacked and defeated the barbarian first line, but made the fatal mistake of pursuing the fleeing enemy into the swamp, where they were ambushed and routed. The immense slaughter marked one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of the Roman Empire and resulted in the death of Decius himself.

The supposedly treacherous behavior of Trebonianus Gallus who, according to Zosimus, signaled the final Gothic assault is not accepted today. It seems impossible that the shattered Roman legions proclaimed as emperor a traitor who was responsible for the loss of so many soldiers from their ranks. Another strong point against Gallus' treason is the fact that he adopted Hostilian, the younger son of Decius, after returning to Rome.

Gallus, who became emperor upon Decius' death, negotiated a treaty with the Goths under duress, which allowed them to keep their booty and return to their homes on the other side of the Danube. It is also possible that he agreed to pay an annual tribute in return for the Goths' promise to respect Roman territory. This humiliating treaty, the spread of plague and the chaotic situation in the East with a Sassanian invasion left Gallus with a very bad reputation amongst later Roman historians. In any case, Gallus had no choice but to get rid of the Goths as soon as possible.

Later Roman historians considered the defeat on a par with the Teutoberg Forest of Adrianople. It marked a serious weakening of Rome’s defenses and before long, the barbarians noticed, beginning two decades of desperate struggle to prevent the Empire being overrun before Aurelius defeated the Alemanni in 271.

[Ennath]

July 2, 1214
Battle of Roche-au-Moine

In the aftermath of the victory at Damme, King John continued his war preparations and extended his continental alliances by signing pacts with Count Renaud of Boulogne and Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, although his ally Pedro of Aragon had been defeated and killed at the Battle of Muret in the autumn of 1213. John also hired new mercenaries, including large numbers of Flemish knights. In November, John held a war council at Oxford; his distrust of his barons, worsened by their defiance during the summer, was such that he ordered them to come unarmed. Nevertheless, he set a date early in 1214 for his decisive offensive against France. On the February 1, he sailed from Portsmouth.

John’s army landed at La Rochelle on February 16. The expedition was part of a 2-front offensive in cooperation with Emperor Otto. The goal was the crushing of the Capetian dynasty and the recovery of the Angevin lands in France that had been lost in 1199-1204.

The campaign began well. John began extending his control of the La Rochelle area before seeking a clash with King Philip of France. By March 8, 26 strongholds had been restored to him. With his position south of the Loire secure, John turned northward toward Angers, the capital of his ancestors. Just as he appeared set to encircle it after more gains, he made a forced march west and took Nantes in mid-June, threatening Normandy. Angers capitulated on June 17.

One of Angers’ satellite castles was La Roche-au-Moine, built recently to guard the Nantes-Angers road from the Angevin garrison at nearby Rochefort. Intending to secure Nantes as a supply base, John now turned his whole force against La Roche-au-Moine. His artillery began bombarding the walls on the 19th. The defense was vigorous, the garrison using whatever they could find to strengthen the defenses. However, by the end of the month, the defenders seemed on the point of surrender. But help was on the way.

In April, Philip and his main army had been at Chateroux on the border of Berry and Poitou. Faced by threats on two fronts – John from the southwest and Otto from the northeast – Philip split his force, leading the larger force to meet the emperor, while sending Prince Louis to Chinon to face John. With Louis went the experienced Henri Clement, Marshal of France. Philip knew this division of forces was risky, but he had little choice but to exactly as the coalition leaders wanted. If he concentrated solely on the threat from the Low Countries, John would have a free hand in the west, but if he focused on John, he left the way open to Paris.

The French king, intending to bolster his army with feudal and municipal levies on his way, left Prince Louis with a substantial force, eventually reaching almost 14,000 men. This may be an inflated figure, but Philip was mobilizing the whole kingdom for a war of dynastic, perhaps even national, survival, so it is conceivable.

Louis was at Chinon when he heard of the siege at La Roche-au-Moine. Hesitant to act precipitously, as he was outnumbered, he sent to his father for instructions. When the reply came, it was clear – raise the siege. Philip knew that if the English advance was not soon checked, increasing numbers of barons in the Loire would defect to John. Fortunately, for the first time in the campaign, John was pinned in place. Louis ordered an advance. By July 2, he was ready to attack John’s siege camp. Through scouts, John was aware of Louis’ approach and inferior numbers; he decided to face battle.

John’s plans went awry from the start. John’s Poitevin barons refused to fight; declaring themselves unprepared for pitched battle. More likely, they were reluctant to fight against their suzerain. The barons withdrew, leading to uncertainty in John’s ranks; where some led, others could follow. John was never an assured and confident commander who could rely wholeheartedly on his soldiers’ loyalty and he suffered for it. As the French advanced, he fled back to La Rochelle. The English-Angevin army routed and the French pillaged his camp. Many of the fleeing army were cut down or drowned trying to cross the Loire on overladen barges.

Louis rapidly retook many of the castles recently lost to John and ravaged the lands of some of the defectors. John still had a force at La Rochelle and had not actually given up his hopes of success, but the campaign in the west was all but decided. Philip would now face the army of the Emperor, but his rear was secure.

[Ennath]

July 3, 1863
Pickett’s Charge, Part 1

The second day’s fighting at Gettysburg had proved disappointing for the Confederates. General Lee wished to renew the attack on July 3, using the same basic plan as the previous day: Longstreet would attack the Federal left, while Ewell attacked Culp's Hill. However, before Longstreet was ready, Union XII Corps troops started a dawn artillery bombardment against the Confederates on Culp's Hill in an effort to regain a portion of their lost works. The Confederates attacked, and the second fight for Culp's Hill ended around 11 AM, with the Union line intact and held more strongly than before.

Lee was forced to change his plans. Convinced that the Federals had been forced to strengthen their flanks and so were weak in the center, he decided to attack there. Longstreet would command Pickett's Virginia division of his own First Corps, plus six brigades from Hill's Corps, in an attack on the Federal II Corps position on Cemetery Ridge. Prior to the attack, all the artillery the Confederacy could bring to bear on the Federal positions would bombard and weaken the enemy's line. The newly arrived cavalry corps of J.E.B. Stuart would circle around behind the Union army and strike the rear of the ridge just as Longstreet’s troops arrived, splitting the Army of the Potomac in two.

At about 11:00, Stuart reached Cress Ridge, just north of what is now called East Cavalry Field, and signaled Lee that he was in position by ordering the firing of four guns, one in each direction of the compass. This was a foolish error because he also alerted Brig. Gen. David Gregg, commanding a division of Union cavalry, to his presence. The brigades of McIntosh and Custer were positioned to block Stuart. As the Confederates approached, Gregg engaged them in an artillery duel, and the superior skills of the Union horse artillerymen got the better of Stuart's guns.

Stuart's plan had been to pin down the Union skirmishers and swing over Cress Ridge, around the left flank of the defenders, but the Federal skirmish line pushed back tenaciously. Stuart decided on a direct cavalry charge to break their resistance. The battle started in earnest at approximately 1:00, at the same time that the Confederate artillery opened up on Cemetery Ridge. Fitzhugh Lee's Virginia troopers came pouring through the farm of John Rummel, scattering the Union skirmish line.

Gregg ordered Custer to counterattack with the 7th Michigan. Custer personally led the regiment, shouting “Come on, you Wolverines!” Waves of horsemen collided in furious fighting along the fence line on Rummel's farm; 700 men fought at point-blank range carbines, pistols, and sabers. Custer's horse was shot out from under him, and he commandeered a bugler's horse. Eventually, the Virginians retreated. Stuart sent in reinforcements from all 3 of his brigades, Custer's pursuit was broken, and the 7th Michigan fell back in a disorderly retreat.

Stuart tried again for a breakthrough by sending in a charge by the bulk of Wade Hampton's brigade. Once again, Custer attacked, leading the 1st Michigan Cavalry into the fray. As the horsemen fought desperately in the center, Col. John McIntosh led his brigade against Hampton's right flank and the 3rd Pennsylvania and 1st New Jersey hit Hampton's left from north. Hampton received a serious saber wound to the head; Custer lost his second horse of the day. Assaulted from three sides, the Confederates withdrew. The Union troopers were in no condition to pursue beyond the Rummel farmhouse.

The losses from the 40 intense minutes of fighting on East Cavalry Field were relatively minor: 254 Union casualties, 219 of them from Custer's brigade; 181 Confederate. Although tactically inconclusive, the battle was a strategic loss for Lee, whose plans to drive into the Union rear were foiled.

Meanwhile, the main assault was being prepared.. Longstreet had 3 divisions, commanded by George Pickett, Johnston Pettigrew and Isaac Trimble, the latter 2 from A.P. Hill’s corps. The target was the center of the Union line, defended by Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps, with the divisions of John Gibbon, Alexander Hays and Abner Doubleday (from I Corps). During a council of war on the night of the 2nd, Meade had correctly identified exactly where Lee would attempt to attack the next day.

Despite Lee's hope for an early start, it took all morning to arrange the infantry assault force. Neither Lee's nor Longstreet's headquarters sent orders to Pickett to have his division on the battlefield by daylight. Some of the many criticisms of Longstreet's Gettysburg performance by the postbellum “Lost Cause” authors cite this failure as evidence that Longstreet deliberately undermined Lee's plan for the battle. Longstreet opposed the charge from the beginning, convinced the charge would fail, preferring his own plan for a strategic movement around the Union left flank. He told Lee, “General, I have been a soldier all my life... It is my opinion that no 15,000 men ever arrayed for battle can take that position.”

The infantry charge was preceded by what Lee hoped would be a powerful and well-concentrated cannonade of the Union center, destroying the artillery batteries that could defeat the assault and demoralizing the Union infantry. But a combination of inept artillery leadership and defective equipment doomed the barrage from the beginning. Longstreet's corps artillery chief, Col. Edward Porter Alexander, had effective command of the field; Lee's artillery chief, Maj. Gen. William Pendleton, played little role other than to obstruct the effective placement of artillery from the other two corps. Despite Alexander's efforts, then, there was insufficient concentration of Confederate fire on the objective.

The bombardment was likely the largest of the war, with hundreds of guns from both sides firing along the lines, starting around 1:00. Confederate guns numbered between 150 and 170 and fired from a line over two miles long, starting in the south at the Peach Orchard and running roughly parallel to the Emmitsburg Road. Despite its ferocity, the fire was mostly ineffectual. Confederate guns often overshot the front lines - in some cases because of inferior shell fuses that delayed detonation - and the smoke covering the field concealed that fact from the gunners. Union artillery chief Brig. Gen. Henry Hunt had only about 80 guns available for counter-battery fire; the geographic features of the Union line had limited areas for effective gun emplacement. He also ordered that firing cease to conserve ammunition, but to fool Alexander, Hunt ordered his cannons to cease fire slowly to create the illusion that they were being destroyed one by one. By the time all of Hunt's guns ceased fire, Alexander fell for Hunt's illusion and interpreted this to mean that many of the batteries had been destroyed. Hunt had to resist the strong arguments of General Hancock, who demanded fire to lift the spirits of the infantrymen pinned down under Alexander's bombardment. Even Meade was affected by the artillery - his Leister house HQ was a victim of frequent overshots, and he had to evacuate with his staff to Powers Hill.

The day was hot (87 °F) and humid, and the Confederates suffered under the hot sun and from the Union counterbattery fire as they awaited the order to advance. When Union gunners overshot their targets, they often hit the massed infantry waiting in the woods of Seminary Ridge or in the shallow depressions just behind Alexander's guns, causing significant casualties before the charge even began.

Longstreet wanted to avoid personally ordering the charge by attempting to pass the mantle onto Colonel Alexander, telling him that he should inform General Pickett at the optimum time to begin the advance, based on his assessment that the Union artillery had been effectively silenced. Although he had insufficient information, Alexander eventually notified Pickett that he was running dangerously short of ammunition, sending the message “If you are coming at all, come at once, or I cannot give you proper support, but the enemy's fire has not slackened at all. At least 18 guns are still firing from the cemetery itself.” Pickett asked Longstreet, “General, shall I advance?” Longstreet's memoir recalled: “The effort to speak the order failed, and I could only indicate it by an affirmative bow.”

After his encounter with Pickett, Longstreet discussed the artillery situation with Porter, and was informed that Porter did not have full confidence that all the enemy's guns were silenced and that his ammunition was almost exhausted. Longstreet ordered Porter to stop Pickett, but the young colonel explained that replenishing his ammunition from the trains in the rear would take over an hour, and this delay would nullify any advantage the previous barrage had given them. The infantry assault went forward, without the Confederate artillery providing close support.

[Ennath]

July 3, 1863
Pickett’s Charge, Part 2

The entire force that stepped off toward the Union positions at about 2:00 consisted of about 12,500 men. Although the attack is popularly called a charge, the men marched deliberately in line, to speed up and then charge only when they were within a few hundred yards of the enemy. The line consisted of Pettigrew and Trimble on the left, and Pickett to the right. The nine brigades stretched over a mile-long front. The Confederates encountered heavy artillery fire while advancing nearly three quarters of a mile across open fields to reach the Union line and were slowed by fences in their path. Initially sloping down, the terrain changed to a gentle upward incline approximately mid-way between the lines. These obstacles played a large role in the increasing number of casualties the advancing Confederates incurred. The ground between Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge is slightly undulating, and the advancing troops periodically disappeared from the view of the Union gunners. As the three Confederate divisions advanced, awaiting Union soldiers began shouting “Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!” in reference to the disastrous Union advance on the Confederate line during the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg. Fire from Lt. Col. Freeman McGilvery's concealed artillery north of Little Round Top raked the Confederate right, while the artillery fire from Cemetery Hill hit the left. Shell and solid shot in the beginning turned to canister and musket fire as the Confederates came within 400 yards of the Union line. The mile-long front shrank to less than half a mile as the men filled in gaps that appeared throughout the line and followed the natural tendency to move away from the flanking fire.

On the left flank of the attack, Brockenbrough's brigade was devastated by artillery fire from Cemetery Hill. They were also subjected to a surprise musket fusillade from the 8th Ohio Infantry. The 160 Ohioans, firing from a single line, so surprised Brockenbrough's Virginians, already demoralized by their losses to artillery fire, that they panicked and fled back to Seminary Ridge, crashing through Trimble's division and causing many of his men to bolt as well. The Ohioans followed up with a successful flanking attack on Davis's brigade of Mississippians and North Carolinians, which was now the left flank of Pettigrew's division. The survivors were subjected to increasing artillery fire from Cemetery Hill. This portion of the assault never advanced much farther than the sturdy fence at the Emmitsburg Road. By this time, the Confederates were close enough to be fired on by canister and Alexander Hays’ division unleashed very effective musketry from behind the stone wall, with every rifleman of the division lined up as many as four deep, exchanging places in line as they fired and then fell back to reload.

Trimble's division followed Pettigrew's, but made poor progress. Confusing orders from Trimble caused Lane to send only 3½ of his North Carolina regiments forward. Renewed fire from the 8th Ohio and the onslaught of Hays' riflemen prevented most of these men from getting past the Emmitsburg Road. Scales' North Carolina brigade, started with a heavier disadvantage - they had lost almost two-thirds of their men on July 1. They were also driven back. The Union defenders also took casualties, but Hays encouraged his men by riding back and forth just behind the battle line, shouting “Hurrah! Boys, we're giving them hell!”. Two horses were shot out from under him.

On the right flank, Pickett's Virginians crossed the Emmitsburg road and wheeled partially to their left to face northeast. They marched in two lines, led by the brigades of Brig. Gen. James Kemper on the right and Brig. Gen. Richard Garnett on the left; Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead's brigade followed closely behind. As the division wheeled to the left, its right flank was exposed to McGilvery's guns and the front of Doubleday's Union division on Cemetery Ridge. Stannard's Vermont Brigade marched out, faced north, and delivered withering fire into the rear of Kemper's brigade. At about this time, General Hancock, who had been prominent in displaying himself on horseback to his men during the Confederate artillery bombardment, was wounded by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle, entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail. He refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was settled.

As Pickett's men advanced, they withstood the defensive fire of 3 brigades, before approaching a minor salient in the Union center, a low stone wall taking an 80-yard right-angle turn known afterward as "The Angle." It was defended by Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb's Philadelphia Brigade. Webb placed the two remaining guns of (the severely wounded) Lt. Alonzo Cushing's Battery A, 4th US Artillery, at the front of his line at the stone fence, with the 69th and 71st Pennsylvania regiments of his brigade to defend the fence and the guns. The two guns and 940 men could not match the massive firepower that Hays's division, to their right, had been able to unleash.

Two gaps opened up in the Union line: the commander of the 71st Pennsylvania ordered his men to retreat when the Confederates came too close to the Angle; south of the copse of trees, the men of the 59th New York (Hall's brigade) inexplicably bolted for the rear, leaving Captain Andrew Cowan and his 1st New York Independent Artillery Battery to face the oncoming infantry. Assisted personally by artillery chief Henry Hunt, Cowan ordered five guns to fire double canister simultaneously. The entire Confederate line to his front disappeared. The gap vacated by most of the 71st Pennsylvania, however, was more serious, leaving only a handful of the 71st, 268 men of the 69th Pennsylvania, and Cushing's two 3” rifles to receive the 2500-3000 men of Garnett's and Armistead's brigades as they began to cross the stone wall. The Irishmen of the 69th Pennsylvania resisted fiercely in a melee of rifle fire, bayonets, and fists. Webb, mortified that the 71st had retreated, attempted to bring the 72nd Pennsylvania (a Zouave regiment) forward, but for some reason they did not obey, so he had to bring other regiments in to help fill the gap. During the fight, Cushing was killed as he shouted to his men, three bullets striking him, the third in his mouth. The Confederates seized his two guns and turned them to face the Union troops, but they had no ammunition. As more Union reinforcements arrived and charged into the breach, the defensive line became impregnable and the Confederates began to slip away individually, with no senior officers remaining to call a formal retreat. The infantry assault lasted less than an hour.

While the Union lost about 1500 killed and wounded, the Confederate casualty rate was over 50%. Pickett's division suffered 498 killed, 643 wounded, and 1514 captured. Pettigrew's losses are estimated to be about 470 killed, 1893 wounded, 337 captured. Trimble's two brigades lost 155 killed, 650 wounded, and 80 captured. Thus, total losses during the attack were about 6000.

The casualties were also high among the commanders. Trimble and Pettigrew were the most senior casualties of the day; Trimble lost a leg, and Pettigrew received a minor wound to the hand (only to die from a bullet to the abdomen in a minor skirmish during the retreat to Virginia). In Pickett's division, 26 of the 40 field grade officers were casualties. All of his brigade commanders fell: Kemper was wounded seriously, captured by Union soldiers, rescued, and then captured again during the retreat to Virginia; Garnett and Armistead were killed. Garnett had a previous leg injury and rode his horse during the charge, despite knowing that conspicuously riding would mean almost certain death. Armistead, known for leading his brigade with his cap on the tip of his sword, made the farthest progress through the Union lines. He was mortally wounded, falling near The Angle at what is now called the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. Ironically, the Union troops that fatally wounded Armistead were under the command of his old friend, Winfield Hancock. Per his dying wishes, General Longstreet delivered Armistead's Bible and other personal effects to General Hancock's wife, Almira.

As soldiers straggled back to the Confederate lines along Seminary Ridge, Lee feared a Union counteroffensive and tried to rally his center, telling returning soldiers that the failure was “all my fault.” When Lee told Pickett to rally his division for the defense, Pickett replied, “General Lee, I have no division.” He never forgave Lee for ordering the charge.

The Union counteroffensive never came; the Army of the Potomac was exhausted and nearly as damaged at the end of the three days as the Army of Northern Virginia. On July 4, the armies observed an informal truce and collected their dead and wounded.

Pickett's Charge became one of the iconic symbols of the literary and cultural movement known as the Lost Cause. William Faulkner summed up the picture in Southern memory: “For every Southern boy 14 years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet 2:00 on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a 14-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago.”

[danton]

Originally Posted by Ennath

June 28, 1922
Irish Civil War, Part 2

The large towns in Ireland were all relatively easily taken by the Free State in August. Collins, Mulcahy and Eoin O'Duffy planned a nationwide offensive,

[Edit by danton. Please read the entire entry.]

O'Duffy led Ireland's Green Shirts to fight for Gen. Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Fellow fascist sympathiser, W.B.Yeats wrote a marching song for the contingent. It amazes me how so many on the British Left take such a rosey view of Irish Republicanism, as if it were some Celtic variant of socialism. Even more amazing is how wonderful the Irish are. The whole thing was a disaster for all concerned. Sentimentality breeds brutality?

[Ennath]

July 4, 362 BC
Battle of Mantinea

After the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC had shattered the foundations of Spartan hegemony, Thebes' chief politician and general Epaminondas attempted to build a Theban hegemony. Consequently, the Thebans had marched south, into the area traditionally dominated by the Spartans, and set up the Arcadian League, a federation of city-states of the central Peloponnesian plateau, to contain Spartan influence and maintain overall Theban dominance. In the next few years, the Spartans had joined with the Eleans (Elis being a city with a territorial grudge against the Arcadians) in an effort to undermine the League. When the Arcadians miscalculated and seized the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in Elis, one of the Arcadian city-states, Mantinea, detached itself from the League. The Spartans and Eleans joined the Mantineans in an attack on the Arcadian League. Athens decided to support the Spartans, as she resented the growing Theban power. The Athenians also recalled that at the end of Peloponnesian War, the Thebans demanded that Athens be destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved; the Spartans had resisted these demands. An Athenian army was sent by sea to join the Spartan-led forces, in order to avoid being intercepted on land by Theban forces. Epaminondas then led a Theban army into the Peloponnese to restore order and reestablish Theban/Arcadian hegemony there.

The two armies met near Mantinea in 362 BC. The allies were led by the Spartan king, Agesilaus II. The Theban army also included contingents from city-states of the pro-Theban Boeotian League. Epaminondas' Thebans were assisted by the Arcadians loyal to the League, principally from the city-states of Megalopolis and Tegea.

The Mantineans, since the engagement was in their territory, occupied the position of honor at the right end of the allied line near the Mytikas ridge. Next came the Arcadians, then the Lacedaemonians , then the Eleans and the Achaeans in the centre, with the Athenians taking the left-flank position. The Mantinean and Athenian contingents fielded cavalry, guarding the flanks of the phalanx at the foot of the hills, and, unusually for a battle in this era, some Elean cavalry was held in reserve. The hoplites probably numbered 5000 Mantineans, 1500 Spartans, 3000 Eleans, 2500 Achaeans and 6000 Athenians. There were about 3000 peltasts mostly mercenaries, and 1600 cavalry which may have included all the Lacedaemonian cavalry, about 360, which Agesilaus sent ahead with the hoplites, 500 Athenians, 400 Mantineans and 300 Eleans. There were almost 24,000 men in total.

The Thebans held the left of their line, arrayed in a 50-deep block, then came the Tegeans and then the Argives. Next were the Euboeans, Locrians, Sicyonians, Messenians, Malians and Aenianians, and then the Thessalians and remaining allies. The Theban cavalry was deployed on both wings, and their left wing also had Thessalian cavalry. The whereabouts of the Arcadian cavalry is unknown. The Theban cavalry was supported by hamippoi, footmen, which gave them the edge over their allied opposites. Hoplites probably numbered 8000 Thebans and Boeotians, 5000 Argives, 5000 Arcadians, 3000 Euboeans, 1000 Locrians, 1000 Sicyonians and 3000 Messenians. The Malians, Thessalians, Aenianians and mercenaries provided 4000 peltasts and light infantry. There were 3000 cavalry mostly Thessalian but probably 800 Boeotian with a few hundred Arcadians. Total strength was about 29,000.

The Theban coalition advanced north up the road from Tegea, intersected by a few small streams; deployed to the west across the plain covered by a screen of cavalry which threw up much dust to obscure his intent and a force of hoplites to check any Athenian intervention, and gave the impression that he was ready to encamp and ground arms. Seeing this, the Spartans and their allies went to their midday meal, upon which the Thebans rapidly attacked across the plain. The Allies hurriedly stood to arms.

The Mantinean cavalry was pushed back by the Theban and Thessalian cavalry, while on the eastern flank, the Athenian horse was defeated by the Theban cavalry, hamippoi and slingers deployed along the Kapnistra ridge, aided by Thessalian javelinmen.

The Theban deep phalanx crashed into the allied phalanx, and helped by their victorious cavalry, broke it. At the moment of victory, Epaminondas was mortally wounded by a Spartan called Antikrates. Deprived of their leader, the coalition forces failed to pursue the defeated allies, and the battle to date came to in inconclusive end. On the Eastern flank, the victorious auxiliaries and peltasts had dispersed to plunder, and most of them were killed by the Athenians. At some point one of Xenophon's sons was killed. Both sides set up trophies as victors and both sides sent heralds as the vanquished to ask for the bodies of the fallen.

On his deathbed, Epaminondas instructed the Thebans to make peace, despite having won the battle. Without his leadership, Theban hopes for hegemony faded. The Spartans, however, having been again defeated in battle, were unable to replace their losses. The ultimate result of the battle was to pave the way for the rise of Macedon.

[Ennath]

July 5, 1336
Battle of Minatogawa

In the Spring of 1333, the Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters believed that the moment had arrived to restore the glory of the imperial court, in opposition to over a century of domination by the warriors. Two of the movement's greatest spokesmen were Prince Morinaga and Kitabatake Chikafusa. Morinaga was the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and arch rival to Ashikaga Takauji, main leader of the armies that overthrew the Hojo.

In 1335 Ashikaga Takauji rebelled against the imperial court and proclaimed the beginning of a new warrior regime. After his proclamation, he was forced to retreat to Kyushu after the imperialist forces of Kitabatake Akiie attacked and defeated him near Kyoto. This betrayal of the Restoration by Takauji blackened his name in later periods of Japanese history, and officially began a period of warfare lasting for the rest of the century. His rebellion encouraged a large body of dissatisfied warriors (there were always those whose petitions were not granted) who desired to see the creation of another warrior regime modeled after Kamakura.

In a position of strength, Kusunoki Masashige attempted to persuade Emperor Go-Daigo to seek peace with the Ashikaga clan but was refused; Go-Daigo believed that the threat of Ashikaga clan could be eliminated. Nitta Yoshisada was ordered to assemble the army while Masashige was ordered back to his domain in disgrace.

In 1336, Yoshisada launched his campaign but Akamatsu Norimura, who sided with the Ashikaga, forced the Imperials into a protracted siege of Shirohata Castle in Harima Province. This gave the Ashikaga time to regroup and consolidate in Kyushu, defeating Imperial supporters at the Battle of Tatarahama. Immediately, Takauji launched a counter-invasion of Honshu, approaching Kyoto in June.

Nitta Yoshisada favored opposing him en route, a strategy opposed by Kusunoki Masashige. Emperor Go-Daigo gave his approval to Nitta's defense on offense approach, and Masashige reluctantly went along. Yoshisada ended the siege of Shirohata and attempted to find a better defensive position by retreating to Settsu Province but with Ashikaga forces giving chase and morale falling, the Imperial force dwindled in number as local forces defected.

Running out of options, Emperor Go-Daigo ordered Masashige to gather his force and reinforce Yoshisada. After failing to argue for the strategy of letting Ashikaga clan into Kyoto and forcing them to defend it while harassing its supply route, knowing the futility of trying to defend with a demoralized and numerically inferior force, Masashige ordered Kusunoki Masatsura, his eldest son to back to his domain to continue the war and advanced to join Yoshisada.

The Imperial army arrayed itself to the west of the mouth of the Minato River, with its main contingents under the command of Yoshisada and Nitta Yoshisuke, while Kusunoki commanded some 700 men just east of the Minato. Takauji, whether by chance or design, engineered what turned out to be an almost textbook attack. When the fighting started, Shoni Yorihisa attacked Yoshisada's front while Hosokawa Jozen sailed up and began landing to his rear. Nitta panicked and pulled back, leaving Kusunoki's 700 men to face the full brunt of Ashikaga Tadayoshi's army. Kusunoki and his men fought bravely but in the end were overwhelmed. After almost six hours of fighting Masashige and his brother Masasue committed suicide, joined by those Kusunoki retainers who had not already been killed.

Yoshisada was able to rally his force to mount a ferocious counterattack. This was still not enough as the numerical difference begin to show and even Yoshisada himself was forced enter personal combat to enable his force to retreat. The remaining Imperial force was forced back to Kyoto which was quickly abandoned as indefensible and Go-Daigo retreated to the religious sanctuary of Mount Hiei. The unimpeded Ashikaga force entered Kyoto and the puppet Emperor Komyo was enthroned. Nitta Yoshisada, who escaped Minatogawa, was later killed. Two rival courts now existed, in the north and south. A period of endemic warfare begun, which would last for the rest of the century.