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07 18th, 2009| 
Ferguson, in the meantime,, had been promoted Major and brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, and put in command of the ‘American Volunteers’, a corps of loyalists from New York and New Jersey and armed with the Ferguson rifle antique slovakia ceramics vase . The unit sailed with the expedition commanded by Sir Henry Clinton and Was present at the siege and capture of Charleston antique pembroke tble . Ferguson was then made a Brigadier-General of the Loyal Carolina Militia, and with his own corps of about ioo men as a nucleus marched into the interior, collecting loyalist recruits on the way square brass dial . On the 7th October 178o, his camp at King’s Mountain, close to the border of North Carolina, was surprised by a large force of mountaineers under the command of General Shelby value of hand painted wales china tea set . The training of Ferguson’s men did not match their enthusiasm, and after a gallant defence the majority of them were either killed or captured john widdicomb china cabinets . Ferguson himself was amongst the former 17th century imported oriental cabinet .
With the death of its inventor, the destruction of his rifle units and the capture of their armament, the Ferguson rifle disappeared from the Army antique paper mache card table . Beautifully made models for sportsmen were, however, made for many years afterwards photos of victorian sofa with zebra pattern fabric .
There is an interesting contemporary account of the manufacture of Ferguson rifles table lamps . A Mr berkey & gay american empire furniture . William Clincher records in his diary of 1776 that he visited Birmingham and waited upon Mr edmund etling glass bird . Baskerville who showed him his gun factory belgian gothic revival cabinet . He described this as follows:
‘ The Gun manufactory is pretty; the forging, scraping, and boreing, pleas’d me much;—The Rifle Guns are handsome pretty pieces, 800 are nearly finish’d on government account, at three pounds three shillings each; A Gentleman, with one of them at a distance of i So yards, shot a Ball six times out of eight within the circumference of the crown of my hat: at 400 yards he shot within half a yard of the mark antique brass table with animal legs .
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GUNMAKERS
The number of gunmakers in Great Britain during the eighteenth century was very considerable antique drop leaf table with leaf built in . Those of them who made military arms could be roughly divided into selmersheim .
(a) Makers under contract to the Government to supply either complete weapons or component parts arabesque vertical plate racks .
(b) Establishments which made firearms of Government pattern which were subsequently purchased for the Army middle east antique collectors .
(c) Makers of firearms designed for military use, but not of a Government pattern art deco dining table . These were primarily intended for purchase by officers, and might be of the particular gunsmith’s own design, or one in common private use chippendale knife boxes octagon .
Some of them engaged in two, or even all three, of these activities; and, in addition, made sporting arms as well regency ironstone marks blue . To name all the gunsmiths making military arms would entail the compilation of a fairly lengthy catalogue expensive antique furniture chests . It will suffice to give a few typical examples antique gaming table claw feet .
I louis xvi revival sideboard with porcelain inlays . Clarkson, who flourished as a gunsmith from m 1680 to 1730, made flintlock muskets and holster pistols for the Army under Government contract antique early american drop-leaf butterfly table . In addition, he made the box-lock type of pistol which was introduced in the reign of Queen Anne wooton chest . The lock of this pistol, instead of being mounted on one side plate with a counter-plate on the other side of the weapon to support it, had a plate on top- joined to one on each side to form a metal box lacquered furniture . The cock, flash-pan and steel were mounted on the top plate telescopic table pedestal . The barrel was the cannon-shaped screw-on type, with breech-loading gateleg table with drawers and drop leaf . This box-lock was to be popular for over loo years painted silver trays . In later years Clarkson made some breech-loading holster pistols, the mechanism of which was of the screw-plug arrangement from which the Ferguson breech was derived “table george iv” .
John Hawkins conducted a business in London from 168o to 1714, which was carried on by his son to 176o, and his grandson to 1776 epergne antique for sale . His particular speciality was a flintlock holster pistol which had a brass barrel with a bell muzzle robinson and leadbeater figure . ‘It is of interest that George Washington had a pair of these pistols which were made by the second Hawkins 18th century walnut-veneered and oak chest of seven drawers .
Another founder of two further generations of gunsmiths was James Freeman of London, the business lasting from 1705 to 1782 art deco english suburban house . Freeman also made box-lock pistols, and, in addition, muskets and holster pistols under Government contract luxury antique items .
In Scotland for most of the eighteenth century there were a number of gunsmiths of the name of Murdoch engaged in making all-metal flintlock pistols wallendorf candelabras . Two of them, father and son and both christened James, had a shop in Inverness barker brothers coffee table for sale . Some of those made by the father had the lobe-shaped butt, and he differed from his son in chasing the whole of the barrel century hepplewhite walnut card table . The pistols made by the younger James have only the muzzle chased 18 century wooden novelty pipes .
Thomas Murdoch worked at Leith, and made pistols with both lobe and ram’s-horn butts wrought iron church candle sticks . In the museum of the Royal United Service Institution are two pistols with rain’s-horn butts which have ‘To: Murdoch’ engraved on the lock plate german 1940s furniture styles . They were picked up on the battlefield of Culloden british designers dining table . They are a beautiful pair and must have been the pride of some gallant Jacobite of the ‘Forty-five sutherland drop leaf table . One wonders what happened to their owner, and if the pistols were found where he had hurled them empty at the stolid English infantry shagreen knife box .
John Murdoch had a shop at Doune french neoclassical tables . His pistols have ram’s-horn butts, acorn triggers, and are sometimes ornamented with gilt brass stock and butt 4 foot wide walnut drop leaf table . Major John Pitcairn, who commanded the British advanced guard at Lexington on the 19th April 1775, had a pair of these pistols kotahya pottery . It is supposed that with one of them Pitcairn fired the first shot of the American War of Independence mason patent ironstone china . In the struggle which followed he lost his pistols, which were subsequently picked up and given to General Rufus Putnam british antique wardrobes . Putnam carried them for the remainder of the war, and they are now at the Lexington museum nesting tea tables .
One other Murdoch made pistols in Edinburgh with the lobe-shaped butt fall-front chest of drawers .
Joseph Farmer of London was in business from 1718 to 176,2 how to repair veneer table on couch . He had a Government contract to make standard flintlock muskets and also short flintlock muskets fitted with grenade cups for the Grenadiers bureau de coene art deco . One of these latter is in the Museum of the Royal United Service Institution 19th century glass fronted cabinet . The inscription ‘Farmer 1744′ is placed vertically on the lock plate behind the cock adjustable silver candlesticks . This method of discharging a grenade was revived in the First World War, and survived to become a
standard Army weapon wardrobe of a 17th century lady . Farmer also made a double-barrelled I version of the box-lock pistol antique chamber cabinets .
Bidet, who emigrated from France, practised as a gunsmith in London from 17-21 to- 1731 antiques with plain legs . He did not make military weapons, but a sporting rifle he produced had a breech mechanism which is an obvious forerunner of Ferguson’s idea inlaid marble table lapis lazuli antique . The trigger guard was a lever turning a screw plug; but in this case the plug came right out and had a single thread harlequin painted bar . The action was therefore much slower than Ferguson’s, and the return of the plug to its seating might well be difficult in the heat of battle “perspectiva cabinet” . I trestle tables refectory . Johnson made a similar sporting rifle about 1750-B pictures of 5 drawer antique library desks and tables . Griffin had a shop in Bond Street from 1739 to 1773-Apart from the superlative quality of his arms, his chief claim to fame is probably a breech-loading carbine which will be described later 18th century mahogany wine cooler with brass feet . He also made fine holster pistols with silver mountings antique 1960’s table cigarette dispenser . Under the later name of Griffin and Tow their manufacture was continued till 1796 2009 chinese porcelain antique . The small `IG’ on a Griffin forged barrel was a hallmark of excellence countries where art deco was very popular .
William Ketland was one of the most famous of gunsmiths antique inlaid pembroke table . He started making guns in Birmingham in 174o, and was primarily responsible for establishing the town’s reputation for the manufacture of firearms 18th century writing table cabriole ball claw feet . Ketland was one of the greatest makers of Brown Bess muskets, and other ‘Brown Bess’ arms, for the Government furniture . In 176o a shop was opened antique chinese display stand dealers . in London r dubarry art deco . After William Ketland’s death one of his grandsons carried on the business as Ketland & Co angouleme guerhard . until his own -death in 1804, His brother-in-law, Thomas Izon, continued under the same name until in 1831 financial difficulties led to the firm closing american tripod tables . Old William Ketland is still commemorated, however, in the Birmingham Proof Mark imperial drop leaf antique table . In 1813 the Gunmakers’ Company of London tried to get a Bill through Parliament to compel every gunsmith to mark his firearms with the place of manufacture italian buffet furniture . The reason for this was that firearms marked `1,n don’ coiamat,ded a higher price than those made elsewhere night chamber pot . Some Birmingham makers had accordingly succumbed to temptation and put ‘London’ on their own arms pictures of yellow antiqued cabinets . The public implication that Birmingham arms were inferior to those of London make, however, annoyed the better Birmingham gunsmiths, and they formed a Guild to protect the standard of the products of their own town art deco french inspired dresser . This new Guild was called ‘The Guardians of the Birmingham Proof House’ antique campaign chair with lion paws . The proof house mentioned in the title was set up at the same ‘ time lion feet table . Ketland & Co turn tripod into table . had taken a prominent part in this movement and the proof mark adopted was an adaptation of the arraourer’s mark of two crossed sceptres, used by old William Ketland antique stores brass ashtrays made in china . The Birmingham viewer’s mark, stamped on the barrel after testing in the rough, consisted of the crossed sceptres between a crown above and a V below antique mushroom shaped table lamps . The proof mark for the finished barrel again had the crossed sceptres and crown, but in place of the V in the bottom angle, there were the letters B, P and C: the B and C being in the flanking angles and the P in the base andre hunebelle glass .
The two generations of John Richards, who covered the years 1745 to 1810; had shops in both London (in the Strand) and Birmingham for sale louis 16th walnut sideboard cabinet . They made an odd weapon, not uncommon at this period,•which was a bell muzzle flintlock pistol with a small bayonet under the stock which sprang into position on odiot tureen . releasing a spring antique clerks desk . Owing to the number of times a flintlock missed fire it probably had an appeal as providing an emergency weapon for close combat “english ironstone”+england”+marks .
One of the most famous of London gunmakers had the peculiar name of Durs Egg antique bentwood chaise . Business was carried on under that name from 1770 to x834 “alexander roux” pietra . It was then changed to D antique mahogany chippendale dining table . I meissen cris de paris . Egg (probably by a son or nephew) and lasted as such till 1865 antique oak drop leaf end table . Egg had a shop for the sale of private arms at No antique spring loaded drawer arm . x Pall Mall mid eastern style shell drawer . He had a Government contract for muskets and carbines, and made a large number of the Ferguson rifles queen anne gate leg table 18th century . In addition, he made a smooth-bore flintlock breech-loading carbine of his own design antique empire mahogany curved buffet with mirror . This was actually adopted by the Government and issued in large numbers to the cavalry towards the end of the century sheraton occasional table . It had a hinged chamber which was tipped up to receive the charge duncan phyfe buffet with legs . It had the advantage that since the chamber was loaded from its front end it could be loaded with the same cartridge as was issued for muzzleloaders antique oak and fabric dressing screen with fretwork . After loading, the chamber was lowered again and locked in position by giving a quarter turn to a steel bar which pivoted on the top of the chamber and engaged in two slots mid century antiques and porcelain tea sets .
This Egg carbine was capable of a fairly rapid rate of fire walnut veneer wardrobes art deco . To load it entailed only the simple operations, which could be performed on horseback, of tearing the cartridge, priming the pan, opening the breech, inserting the cartridge in the chamber, and finally closing the breech antique oak tables with leaves . Good as it was, however, the breech mechanism did not provide a gas-tight joint and there was thus a considerable escape of flame french clothes designers during 17th century . The reason for this was that there was only surface contact between the faces of chamber and barrel fauteuil bureau .
That such a carbine was required for cavalry use is shown by a passage from Captain Hinde’s The Discipline of the Light Horse antique wood inlayed wine cellaret . Hinde says:
`As light troops are more intended to act loose than in bodies, their principal practice should be to acquire personal address, viz escritoire antique . to manage the horse well, to use the sword with dexterity, and fire the carbine with great justness steele art deco chair wood arm rests . The proposal of Monsieur de Saxe, for loading at the breach of the carbine, seems well calculated for the fire arms of cavalry, if it will not make them too complicated (the author once saw a carbine belonging to a brother officer, made according to this proposal of Monsieur de Saxe; to be loaded, it was held firmly in the left hand, as when it was presented to be fired, and about the same place; then with the right hand the guard over the trigger was pulled back, on which the but of the carbine dropped down, hanging by a pin, and discovered the breach of it quite open; in a cartridge box he carried nine iron tubes loaded, one of which he thrust into the barrel, and directly with his right hand pushed up the butt, which made a click, and securely shut up the breach british longcase makers . On striking the lock with his hand the piece primed it self, and he fired without missing fire at any time art deco dinner service . He loaded his iron tube or cartridges without any rammer, with his finger shoving down powder, ball, and paper india old antique dining table . I think he told me Mr Griffin, gunsmith, in Old Bond-street, was the maker of it, and the officer had himself invented it, as he was a very mechanical ingenious gentleman, and an horse officer) the ramrod is apt to be lost, and at any rate is very difficult to manage on horseback, whereas a chamber with a fresh charge, could easily be introduced; but of this, the period preceding art deco .Mr Barbor, or any other gunsmith, can give the best account “art moderne” furniture . The objection of expense should not be admitted, for economy in the price of arms is, at best, very injudicious “bristol porcelain” for sale 18th century .’
The ‘Barbor’ mentioned by Hinde is probably I antique sideboard cabriole legs . Barbar who had a shop in London, from 1740 to 1780, in Shoe Lane antique ivory sofa table . The firm, however, seems to have been in existence since the beginning of the century, and to have been one of the foremost in fine decorative work marble table inlaid antique .
T tudor rose design waterfall furniture . Twigg was another well-known London gunsmith of 176o to 1780 designs for dressing table glasses . The firm was carried on from 1780 to 1783 as Twigg & Bass; and then reverted to Twigg only again from 1783 to 1813 antique mahogany card table, imperial . Twigg made Government flintlock holster pistols, and also flintlock holster pistols for officers which were of very fine workmanship art deco examples . His most noteworthy contribution to gunmaking was a number of different designs of multi-shot flintlock pistols chess table spiral legs . One of these was a seven-barrel pepperbox type of weapon, the barrels of which were rotated by hand after each shot joan klock, amsterdam, clockmaker . Some of his pistols had the under spring bayonet, which was released by sliding back the trigger guard jupe dining table’ . Twigg had a foreman named John Manton, who founded his own business at about the time Bass was introduced into the partnership antique enamelled glass . Manton, too, became a famous gunsmith, but he belongs more to the; nineteenth century and will be dealt with more fully in a later clawfoot antique lowboy . chapter 19th mahogany clerks desk .
John F satinwood commode john cobb . Probin of the Minories in London, 1780 to 1831, made flintlock holster pistols and carbines under Government contract meissen porcelain louis xiv . He also made pistols for officers, and there is, in the museum of the Royal United Service Institution, a pair made by him for General Sir Thomas Picton and carried by him in 18 r 5 antique walnut gateleg table . They have J neoclassical dressing table . Probin’ on the lock plate, and along the top of the barrel ‘Probin Maker to His R H the Prince of Wales’ delicate leg drop leaf table .
One of the troubles experienced with eighteenth-century flintlock weapons was failure of various parts of the mechanism due mainly to rusting glass supper table . Military locks were strongly made to withstand the rough usage which they inevitably experienced, but they could not be made waterproof antique porceline candle sticks . As a result regiments frequently suffered a serious loss of fire-power through draw leaf table northern furniture company . the number of muskets which were out of action owing to mechanical faults neo-rococo rockingham lamps . Rusting particularly affected the small moving parts of the lock, and the screws which held the various components together designs of arcs and pillars . The most serious breakages were the screws, for the rusted pieces were often so firmly imbedded that it was beyond the powers of the regimental armourer to remove them coalbrookdale neptune dish . The trouble caused considerable concern and gunsmiths were encouraged by the Government to offer suggestions 1800’s furniture makers .
The first to give a practical response was Jonathan Hennem, who submitted a design for a screwless flintlock musket to the Board of Ordnance on the 2nd May 1781 18th century card table . The Board appear to have been favourably impressed, for they directed `that two Musqueis be delivered to John Hennet [sic> for him to alter according to his proposal’ english baroque pottery . Arrangements were made for Hennem to carry out experiments near Woolwich, and he was engaged on these for the next two years antique meets modern furniture . Trials were apparently concluded successfully by the 18th October 1783; for on that date the Master-General of the Ordnance issued instructions to the Board ‘That zoo locks be provided by Mr imperial gateleg table . Hennem of his own Construction and that an Imprest of C70 may be granted to him towards Compleating the Order, the said Locks being found of great Utility in his Majesty’s Service’ swiss walnut art deco motif .
A short time later a celebrated London gunmaker, Henry Nock, made an apparently surprising intervention clear glass trinket boxes or powder boxes . On the 8th November 1783, he presented a bill for twenty’Musquet locks of Hannim’s Construction’, for which he charged 9s utensils used in britain for cooking . 6d paris style art deco desk . each sheraton +antique +gaming table . In view of the 18th century austrian porcelain . fact that Nock himself, as will appear later, was engaged in somewhat similar experiments he may well have taken Hennem under his financial wing leather revolutionary war writing box .
Finally Hennem sent in 400 locks, or four times the original order, and was consequently able to lower the price kedleston hall birds . Of these 400, 201 were coloured black and 199 were polished, presumably for comparative trials cedar chest genoa 16thc .
The 2oth Foot (now The Lancashire Fusiliers) was chosen to carry out trials with the Hennem locks 1900 era drop leaf gate leg table . The regiment was about to embark for Ireland on active service and it was already short of muskets; though if these were the reasons for issuing it with new and untried weapons, the former particularly seems to have been a pretty weak one art deco stemware . Anyhow, they received 308 of them, and in July 1784 Hennem was given permission by the Commanding Officer to instruct the men in the use of the locks the development of art deco . Hennem duly arrived at Plymouth only to find that the regiment had left for Ireland ming porcelains . He then obtained permission to follow it, with the proviso that his stay in Cork must not exceed three weeks fiddle shape flatware . This limitation proved, however, impracticable, for the 2oth was split up over southern Ireland in widely scattered detachments, and the roads and unsettled conditions of the time made travel slow and hazardous glass/wood art deco designs .
There was little in the appearance of Hennem’s lock to differentiate it from the ordinary flintlock bugatti furniture range . There were no screws, of course, and the mechanism was secured by pins riveted to the lock plate islamic influence 18th century . By means of a tool which Hennem called a ’spring lifter’, the lock could be completely dismantled in a few seconds antique trends .
The pike was quickly followed by a number of other shafted weapons, all of which owed their origin to it, and all for the use of the foot soldier. The linstock was intended for the artilleryman. It consisted of a pike with the addition of lateral branches on each side of the head, sometimes terminating in bird’s or serpent’s heads. These latter were intended
FIG. 12. PARTIZANS.
Edward IV; C. 1500., Henry VIII; German, c. x61o; James 1.
to hold the match for firing cannon. Previously the cannoneer had had to discard his pike in order to apply the match to the touch-hole, and was frequently slain in the process. The linstock ensured that he remained armed.
The partizan was originally something like a pike with lateral projections at the base of the blade. The blade later became longer, flatter and more ornamental, and often gilt and covered with elaborate engraving. As a mediaeval weapon it had a comparatively short practical life. After the reign of Henry VIII its use seems to have been confined to ceremonial occasions and for the arming of bodyguards.
The spontoon had a flat blade like the partizan, but it did not have the projections at the base. It had a much shorter staff than the pike, and was intended for use in closer combat,
FIG- 13. SPONTOONS.
Tower of London.
The halbert was more akin to the bill than the pike, and it has been suggested that its name is derived from the German Halb-Barthe, meaning ‘half battle-axe’. In form it was something like a pike with an axe-head mounted immediately below the pike blade; so that it could be used either for cutting or thrusting.
Swords were, of course, used at Hastings. It would be difficult to cite any pre-twentieth_century battle in which they were not carried into action. They are, by tradition, the most honourable weapon of all. the very symbol of the profession of arms.
Saxon swords were of two kinds, both being of iron; about three feet in length, and straight. One of these was double-edged and very sharp. It had no guard, not even a simple crosspiece. The other was very similar, but it had a cross-piece as a
FIG. 14. HALBERTS.
Henry VII; Henry V111; Edward V1-, Mary.
guard, and a pommel which was sometimes foliated. The hilts of these swords were generally of wood covered with leather, horn or bone. The sword hilts of some of the greater or wealthier nobles, however, were frequently covered with plates of gold or silver.
The Norm in swords can be seen on the early Royal and baronial seals, and a very similar type was used throughout the mediaeval period. The blade was long and tapering, double-edged, with a simple cross-piece guard to the hilt, either straight or curving towards the blade; the pommels being round or of various ornamental shapes. In the latter half of the fifteenth century the blades tapered to a very fine point, and the upper part was often gilt and engraved. These mediaeval swords were intended for either cutting or thrusting. The many carved effigies which remain in churches throughout the country afford abundant examples of the swords which were in fashion at different periods.
FIG. 15. SWORDS.
Henry V; Edward VI; Henry VII; 1495, engraved by
Albrecht Mirer; Henry VIII.
Saxon and Norman sword scabbards were generally of wood covered with leather, sometimes with bronze mounts. Later, scabbards of metal and cuirbouilli (boiled leather) made their appearance. From about the thirteenth century the mounts and chapel, or metal tips to the scabbard, were ornamental in shape and often heavily engraved.
FIG. 16. SWORD-BELTS.
Top row: A Septvans, Chartham Church, Kent; Brian Lord Fitzalan of Bedale, from Bedale Church, Oxford; Brass of Sir John de St. Quentin, Bransburton Church, Yorkshire. fiddle row: Sir Walter Arden, Aston Church, Warwickshire; Detail of Belt in previous illustration; Brass of a Knight in Laughton Church, Lincolnshire. Bottom row: Mode of fastening Sword-belt, fifteenth century, from• Viollet-le-Duc; Brass of John Cray at Chinnor, Oxfordshire. Ann. 1390. Sword-belt, Queen Elizabeth.
FIG- 17- SWORDS.
Top row: Edward IV-, Henry VI; Henry VII; Henry VII; Henry VIII; Queen Elizabeth. Middle row: Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Henry VIII. Bottom row-. Queen Elizabeth; Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Henry VIII-, Queen Elizabeth-, Sword of Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of the Rhine, 1614-
The bow was well known, of course, to the Saxons, but it was used by them far more for hunting than for war. It was the Normans who showed on an English battlefield what a formidable weapon it could be. Nevertheless, even for the Normans the bow was very much of an auxiliary weapon, and it is surprising what a small part it played in warfare for two and a half centuries after the battle of Hastings.
The bows of the eleventh century Thirteenth century;
were short, stretching only from head Fourteenth century.
to knee, and they had nothing like the power of the later bows which were to make the English archers so famous. It was Edward III who raised a disciplined force of archers, probably owing to a shortage of heavy horses for men-at-arms, and thereby revived infantry as a factor on the battlefield. The shooting power of these new troops was demonstrated to an astonished Continent at the battle of Crecy in 1346.
The English archers were armed
with a bow measuring six feet or more,
and made chiefly of yew, but sometimes
of ash, elm or witch-hazel. The bow-
string was of hemp, flax or silk. The
standard arrow, the ‘cloth-yard shaft’,
was made of ash, oak, birch or one or
two other woods. The point was of
burnished steel, and it was winged
with feathers from the grey goose; or sometimes the peacock,
the swan or other birds. The bow was generally carried in a case to protect it from the weather and to stop it from warping.
That bows and arrows were adequate both in quality and numbers’was always of concern in mediaeval times. In 1405, for instance, it was found that faulty heads had been made for arrows and quarrels. As a result a statute was promulgated directing that, ‘All the Heads for Arrows and Quarrels after this Time to be made, shall be well boiled or brased, and
FIG. 20. CRAPES.
Henry VIII, Dagger Sheath; Henry VIII, Sword Sheath;
1321 Sword Sheath from effigy in Hereford Cathedral,
hardened at the Points with Steel’ ; and also that, ‘E very Arrow head and Quarrel be Marked with the Mark of him that made the same’. During the latter part of the fifteenth century there was apparently a constant shortage of bowstaves. In 1472 it was decreed that any merchant ship coming from a foreign city, town or country, which had at any time sent bowstaves into England, was to bring four bowstaves with every ton of merchandise. In 1483 there was some trouble with the Lombards, who had been guilty, apparently, of supplying very poor bowstaves, and of profiteering in them as well. They were cnsequently required to include ten good bowstaves free of charge with every butt of wine imported into England.
It was a long time before hand firearms replaced the long bow in England. In the hands of the English archers the latter was a far more accurate weapon than the early and primitive firearm; and it excelled it, too, both in range and rate of discharge. It was not till the sixteenth century was well advanced that the bow was finally superseded; and this was due more to the shortage of trained archers than to superiority in the firearms of the day. It took practice from youth up to train an archer, and in the hey-day of archery it was practised on every village green. But the spread of firearms and their use for sport inevitably resulted in a growing dearth of young men who could draw the long bow. Henry
VIII did his best to keep up.
the standard of archers. In Left: Steel Sheath, Henry VIII. a statute of i Sog he forbade Right: Copper Sheath, Elizabeth I.
the use of gun or crossbow except under special licence from the King; and in a further statute of 15 11 he required every man under the age of forty to provide himself with bow and arrows and to practise shooting with the long bow.
At the battle of Flodden the bow was still the principal missile weapon of the infantry, but the use of firearms was already increasing rapidly. In 1537 Henry VIII recognized the inevitable, and granted a patent to the overseers of the Guild of Saint George (now the Honourable Artillery Company) by which they and their successors were authorized to establish a perpetual fraternity or guild of artillery and ‘to exercise themselves in shooting with the long-bow, crossbow, and hand-guns’.
The lance was, of course, the weapon specially associated with the knight. At its head, in the great days of chivalry, it bore the small flag which indicated the knight’s rank and. status. A baron or knight-banneret had a square or rectangular banner emblazoned with its owner’s arms. A knight commanding in the field had a swallow-tailed pennon, also
FIG. 6. BATTLE-AXES.
2, Henry VIII; 3 & 4, Elizabeth I; 5, James I; 6, Dutch.
emblazoned with his arms. If, for his distinguished conduct in action, he was made a knight-bannerct on the battlefield, his pennon was converted technically into a banner by cutting off the swallow tails. An ordinary knight, fighting in the ranks, carried a triangular pennon, or pensil, on which might be either his badge or arms, and frequently depicted so that they were the right way up when the lance was horizontal. In the reign of Henry VIII all this gay individual heraldry was swept away, and the lances of the cavalry bore the white pennon and red cross of St. George.
There were a number of other shafted weapons which had their origin in mediaeval times; some of them lasting until a
FIG. 8. BATTLE-AXES. From the Bayeux Tapestry.
much later period of history. The oldest of these was probably the battle-axe, which was used by the Normans at Hastings, and it had some affinity with the Saxon bill. It had, however, a much shorter shaft, and was essentially a weapon for the mounted man. Another early weapon was the guisarme, which was a form of lance with a hook at,its side, and which was known to the Normans in the eleventh century. It was probably derived from the peasant’s ox-goad.
FIG. 9. MACES.
Top row: Quadrelle, temp. Edward IV; Massuelle, temp. Richard III; temp. Henry VII with hand-gun; Henry VIII; Philip & Mary. Middle row: Mace, temp. Henry V-, Henry VI; Henry VI, Edward IV; Henry VII; Henry VII; Henry VIII. Bottom row: Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Edward VI.
The guisarme appears to have been little used in England, but from it came a derivative which was very popular in Wales. It had a broad, heavy, pointed blade on the end of a long shaft, and could be used either for cutting or thrusting. Presumably experience of it in the Welsh wars had impressed its value on the English, for in the first year of Richard III’s reign one Nicholas Spicer is recorded as having issued an order for the impressment of smiths to make Zoo Welsh glaives. Chaucer gives a hint at its formidable nature in a line: ‘And
FIG. 10. PIKE HEADS.
Left to right: Henry VII;’Henry VIII; Edward VI; Elizabeth I;
James 1; Charles I; Cromwell; Charles II; Charles II.
whet their tongue as sharp as sword or glaive’. In the sixteenth century the glaive was fashioned in all manner of decorative shapes, and generally richly engraved.
The baston is another of the shafted weapons of the Bayeux Tapestry. At its best it was an iron-tipped staff, but was sometimes merely a wooden bludgeon or a knotted club. It was succeeded by the similar but much more decorative mace. Maces became very popular with the many war-like prelates of the Middle Ages; since by using this arm in battle they were able to persuade their elastic consciences that they were evading the condemnation of all holding office in the Church who fought with the sword. Maces were made in all sorts of decorative and fantastic shapes, and they were the weapons of the King’s Serjeants-at-Arms as early as the fourteenth century. There was a smaller kind of mace called a masuel. This must have been a cheap, handy and dangerous little weapon, for it was included in the list of arms which Edward 1, in the first year of his reign, forbade his turbulent London subjects to carry.
The pike, which from the time of its introduction until the coming of the bayonet was to be the main shock weapon of the British infantry, did not reach England until the reign of
FIG. II. LINSTOCKS.
Early Italian; Elizabeth I; Elizabeth I; Charles 1.
Edward IV. It could not claim to be an original weapon; for it was merely a modification of the cavalry lance adapted to the needs of infantry, and a reintroduction in a slightly different form of the earlier short and light infantry spear. Nevertheless, its appearance on the continent of Europe in the hands of well-disciplined infantry revolutionized military tactics. For the first time for centuries infantry had a shock weapon with which they could face and repel cavalry. For 400 years mounted troops had dominated the battlefield. That place was now to be taken by the infantry until armoured formations arrived to-redress the balance some 5oo years later.
The Germans concentrated their armour from the start in special armoured divisions comprising a balanced force of tanks, artillery, infantry, engineers, and administrative services. No consideration was given to the idea behind the French and British ‘infantry’ tanks and the doctrines associated with them. The tanks, supported by their own artillery and infantry, were to operate as a concentrated strategic force directed against the enemy’s weakest spots and well ahead of the main, slower, infantry army.
This tank army, trained as a team, consisting of ten armoured divisions by May 9, 1940, contained at all levels a wealth of experience. Many of its officers and men were members of tank units which fought on Franco’s side in the Spanish Civil War. Here they gained battle practice: they tested new techniques and the mechanical capabilities of their machines; and they saw the fate that befell tank forces that were put into battle dispersed in ‘penny packets’. Moreover, intensive peacetime exercises in Germany had been supplemented by the bloodless occupations of Austria in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939. In rapid, long-distance thrusts through these countries, the armoured forces taught themselves essential administrative lessons without having actually to engage in combat.
In September 1939, when the fighting began, the administration worked well and the armoured divisions outfought the old-fashioned Polish army in a matter of days, showing that the quality of the highly specialised, mechanised forces was master of the quantity mustered by the larger, traditional conscript armies. It also confirmed what had been long understood: that the air arm, working in close cooperation with tanks, conferred a powerful element of heavy fire-support on forces operating deep in the enemy rear. The aircraft were in fact a substitute for heavy artillery.
Singers without song
Thus on May 9, 1940, the relative overall condition of the opposing armoured forces can be summarised as follows. The French, saddled with a technique that was 20 years out of date, and with machines operated by men who lacked experience of the pace and scope of modern battle conditions, were partnered by the British, whose techniques were far more up-to-date, but who were attempting to practise them with too few machines, and with a number of officers and men who had not yet had time to grasp the significance of their new role. Indeed, it was this lack of experience that most seriously bedevilled the fighting quality of the Allies. Their armoured formations, either through reasons of policy, doctrine, or lack of machines, had not practised together. Nor was there close co-operation with the air arm in the forefront of the land battle. So they were in fact singers without a song.
Fatally linked with their limited use of tanks was the failure of the Allied command to understand and make adequate strategic preparations to defeat the German attacks when they eventually came. There was a belief, sincerely held, despite warnings from men of practical experience, that some terrains were naturally tank-proof and others could be made secure by the erection of concrete and steel fortifications. It was thought that mechanised armies would not be able to pass through the narrow lanes, forests, and valleys of the Ardennes; that the Maginot Line would be impenetrable, and that the extensions of the Maginot Line along the Belgian frontier, certain inundations, and large built-up areas would also be serious obstacles to tank action.
Therefore the Allies made no elaborate plans for tank counterthrusts in the localities they had classified as tank-proof. The best, mobile armoured portions of the French army were not deployed in a manner permitting them to launch an immediate, concentrated counterstroke —even if their doctrine had envisaged such action. As we have seen, no such doctrine existed and as a result it was quite conceivable —even probable—that the light mechanised divisions and the new tank divisions could be flung in piecemeal (and therefore outnumbered) against superior enemy formations.
Their opponents, the Germans, lacked neither doctrine, equipment, training, nor experience. They were masters of a new war-winning technique that brought speed and mobility to the battlefield. By a combination of speed, thrust, and shock action they could bring a completely new momentum to the battle. The impact of the German armoured divisions could not be compared with that of the basically cavalry- and infantry-oriented methods of the Allies: they had in fact — with their range and striking power —introduced a new dimension to warfare.
Types of tank
Yet inevitably the balance of material was in favour of the Allies, who had more tanks than the Germans and many that were technically superior. In their ten armoured divisions the Germans had only 627 of the good Mark III and IV tanks, armed respectively with a 37-mm and a 75-mm gun, and protected by armour not more than 30-mm in thickness. The remaining 2,060 tanks were lightly armoured machines, mostly armed only with a 20-mm gun — although 381 of these were the sound Czech light T-38, equipped with a 37-mm gun. In addition to the 2,690 tanks with the armoured divisions, there were some 800 machines, mostly light ones, in reserve.
Against this array the French fielded about 3,000 machines, of which 500 were in units in the course of formation, plus older reserve machines. Of these 3,000 tanks, 1,292 were with the light mechanised divisions and the new tank divisions; the remainder were split up among the infantry armies. To this total should be added the British. On May 9 they had in France
210 light tanks in the light armoured regiments, and 100 ‘1′ tanks in the lst Army Tank Brigade. A further 174 light tanks and 156 of the new cruisers, belonging to the Armoured Division, were ready to cross the Channel as the battle started. Thus the Allies could oppose 3,000 German tanks with something like 3,600 of their own — if they chose.
On balance, the quality of the machines possessed by the two sides was about equal. The best French tank, the Char B, mounted the excellent 47-mm gun in a fully rotating turret and had a 75-mm gun mounted in the hull. The 20-ton Somua had a 47-mm gun, too, and was fast. The armour of these tanks was from 40 to 60 mm thick, compared with the best German armour of 30 mm. There were 800 of these new machines and even the older ones compared well with the German lighter vehicles. The 384 light British tanks were certain to be severely outclassed in a stand-up fight, because their guns could not penetrate armour, although their high speed and small size might serve them well when engaged on reconnaissance. But the 100 infantry tanks, of which 23 were the new Matilda, were covered by immensely thick armour (up to 70 mm) and quite safe from the fire of the German tank guns. And the 2-pounder gun, mounted in the thinner cruisers of the Armoured Division and also on the Matilda, was a weapon capable of penetrating any of the German machines at battle ranges.
But while the German and British machines (with one exception) were designed with two- or three-man turrets, the French machines had a single man in the turret confronted with the difficult task of commanding the vehicle, loading and firing the gun, and sometimes controlling the tactics of sub-units. The single British exception was the Mark I infantry tank, and this too presented terrible problems of combat efficiency and command.
This technical factor meant that the German and most of the British crews would be able to fight as teams within the all-embracing organisation of the armoured formations to which they belonged—but would also give the Germans an important advantage when their tank formations clashed with the French. This would make up for the fact that the majority of their tanks were vulnerable to the enemy tank guns, while their own guns would not penetrate the armour of a large proportion of the Allied tanks.
Leadership
The importance of personal command and direction is far more apparent to the fighting man in a climate of military opinion that insists that the generals should remain in the fore-front of the battle, in close touch with the leading tanks both visually and by radio. The Germans practised this method more than the Allies. The French kept their command posts further to the rear in accordance with the practice of 1918, and in any case did not possess a control system suited to high-speed combat. This fact, when combined with the separation of the tank-crew commander from the rest of his crew, would be liable to foster a drop in morale among the French tank units (there is evidence to support this —noted by British tank crews working alongside the French later in the campaign). It was clear, they said, that when faced by German tanks the French crews became cautious and were almost paralysed; and this exaggerated respect for the enemy was a result of the drubbing they had received in their first encounters with the German tanks. Even if the balance of morale between the contestants was equal on May 9, a week later the defects in organisation, leadership, and tactics had swung the scales irrevocably in favour of the Germans.
The overriding superiority of the Germans over the Allies was inherent in their intention to make use of well co-ordinated, massed, all-arms formations, launched into battle at the critical points, commanded by inspired men of vision and determination. Men of the stamp of Guderian and Reinhardt led the armoured corps from the van of the battle (with Rommel leading one of the divisions) — and this wealth of talent could not fail to overwhelm lesser men with old-fashioned ideas. For on the Allied side, none of the generals of 1940 had
• deep knowledge of armoured warfare; with
• startling lack of foresight, those men who had made a study of the subject had been distributed to positions where their talents lay unused. Martel commanded an infantry division; Broad, Pile, and Lindsay had been sent—some say deliberately—to posts unconnected with armoured warfare; and Hobart had been removed from the Active List, though he was ultimately to be recalled. De Gaulle was only just in the process of assembling a brand new and totally inexperienced tank division.
Let it be admitted that men such as these were not easy to live with. They had learned to be ruthless in the face of long-established tradition, that out-dated rules must be broken whatever the personal and immediate consequences, and that these circumstances applied in all armies. Men insufficiently imbued with spirit failed in the face of military ‘vested interests’; those who stood up to them but were unblessed by fortune were removed—as Hobart was; those who fought, and were lucky, followed their stars to success in war in the forefront of the armoured battle.
In 1940, it was the Germans whose spirit and good fortune had combined — and so they dominated. Most of the French armoured commanders were ineffective, and the grossly outnumbered British tank men could not, except on one outstanding occasion, make a decisive contribution.
In numbers the Allies were superior to the Germans; in quality of equipment they were, on balance, about equal; in strategic and tactical application, they were markedly inferior.
The sheer superiority of German armoured technique ensured the certainty of their victory before the frontiers were crossed.
