Chapter 27 – Into the trees
The Marquis and the scout reached the outskirts of the French encampment shortly after two thirty in the morning. They left the road and proceeded in a south westerly direction knowing that they would eventually intercept the country road leading to the Nanoux valley. They narrowly avoided several small camps of French cavalrymen. These camps were thinly spread out over a wide area, presumably to prevent King Jason and the Montugan cavalry from breaking through to the Nanoux valley. It required considerable vigilance to breach the cordon.
After they reached the country road, the Marquis turned back to survey the French camp. Their slightly elevated position gave them a good view of the French camp and the terrain around the intersection.
They continued along the road it turned towards the West and eventually the intersection behind them became obscured by a hill which formed one side of the narrow Nanoux valley. As they entered the valley the Marquis tried to spot the encampment of the two hundred soldiers they had left behind, but he saw nothing. How he missed his son’s keen vision now.
‘Stop! Password!’ The loud voice hailed from an elevated position on the hill to their right.
‘I do not have the password. I am the Marquis d’Artois. I am here with instructions from his majesty the king.’ It occurred to the Marquis that this was not the first time he had encountered Montugans in hidden elevated positions.
‘My lord do you recognise my voice?’ another voice from above cried out. To the Marquis’s great relief, this voice was familiar.
‘Yes of course, Captain Anders. Who is in command here? ‘
‘Commander Clemens.’ A royal guard appeared out of the gloom and lead the Marquis and the scout to the Commander’s tent.
‘My lord, what is going on?’ the Commander asked as he saluted the Marquis. The Commander tried to suppress a yawn.
‘The French are at the intersection. They are waiting to engage the king and his mounted guards. We need you to move your troops over the saddle of this hill so that you can launch a surprise attack on the French from their rear.’
‘How many of them are there?’ the Commander asked.
‘We estimate about eighteen hundred cavalry. How many men do you have?’
‘Four hundred and twenty. With the king’s mounted guards we will have seven hundred and twenty. We will be outnumbered by over two to one,’ the Commander concluded in dismay.
‘Yes, but if we use the element of surprise well, we should be able to carry the day. The French do not seem to know that you are here,’ the Marquis pointed out.
‘We are still not likely to prevail, my lord. Even if we do, we will take massive casualties. Why did the king and the troops not accompany your lordship? Here in the valley we have set up superb elevated positions with two cannon. We can hold the French whilst most of our men retreat up the pass. The rest of us can then abandon our positions and similarly retreat up the pass. We might take a few casualties on the way up if they chase us, but once the French get to the top of the pass, you know what will happen to them.’
‘We came close to being detected several times and we were only two. There is no way three hundred men or a single horse could have done so. They know we seek the sanctuary of the pass and some of them have been posted to prevent that! Furthermore, time is against us.’
Jason woke at four o’clock in the morning. He had scarcely slept. He had endured a restless night trying to figure out how three hundred men on horseback could deal with a cavalry charge by around eighteen hundred expert swordsmen. Even if all his men managed to fire two deadly rounds each, they stood to be overwhelmed by around twelve hundred French cavalrymen before they would be able to fire a third volley. Fortunately, a solution occurred to Jason and he discussed it with his officers an hour later.
A few hours later Jason’s column came within view of the French cavalry. The French were lined up in ranks and files which traversed the road and which stretched out on either side of the intersection right up to the edge of the forest. Rows upon rows of tightly packed pine trees stretched along the length of the right hand side of the road and it continued all the way to the intersection. The forest’s edge was about fifty yards from the road. Jason’s scouts confirmed that the French had only managed to arrive with this cavalry force.
Jason wondered whether the French intended to use their cavalry to block their retreat until their infantry and artillery arrived, or whether, considering their superior numbers, they intended to proceed to attack Jason’s forces with their cavalry alone.
The latter emerged as the French strategy when one of Jason’s scouts pointed out the position where the French had concealed about two hundred cavalrymen in the forest. The expected plan was no doubt that they would emerge from the forest after Jason’s column had passed. They would attack the Montugan right flank or from their rear. Obviously, this surprise would only commence after the main body of the French cavalry had launched their charge.
Jason, however, brought his men to a halt about three hundred yards before the point where the hidden French cavalry were reported to be. He waited for the French to make the next move. Jason realised that he would not have to wait long. The French were aware that they outnumbered his force by around five to one. Sure enough, the main body of the French cavalry began to charge at a gallop. Shortly before they reached their concealed compatriots, two hundred more Frenchmen on horseback emerged from the forest and joined the charge shouting loudly and brandishing their swords. It was a sight which was both intimidating and impressive.
Jason gave a signal and the Montugan cavalry immediately turned right, departed from the road and headed for the section of forest nearest them. As the each of Jason’s horseman reached the forest, he entered it and then performed an immediate turn to the left with his horse in order to face the road. Although the dense forest did not make this manoeuvre an easy one, it was not long before one hundred and fifty horses blocked any entry to the forest along a significant length of the forest edge. The French slowed as they approached a long line of individual Montugan horseman interspersed with a tree on each side. Other Montugan guards penetrated deeper into the forest before turning to similarly use their horses to form Jason’s left and right flanks inside the forest. The result was a U shaped formation, save that each side was flat, not rounded. A sizeable number of his royal guards alighted from their horses inside the forest and formed a second row of infantrymen. They stood behind the mounted riders who were blocking the edge of the forest.
As the French cavalry drew close, the Montugans stood their ground between the trees and began firing their muskets from their saddles. Many of them followed this up with shots from pistols they kept in saddle bags. Hundreds of French cavalrymen fell. The noise emanating from what seemed to be an impenetrable wall caused many of the French horses to come to a dead stop, causing a few riders to fall from their saddles. Some of these riders were trampled by whinnying horses as panic took hold. A few horses foamed at the mouth as they resisted their riders’ apparently senseless attempts to charge at a forest which was blocked by other horses and trees.
Much as Jason had suspected, the cavalry were trained to charge at infantry or other cavalry who would typically give way. This would permit the French cavalry to break through the enemy lines, and once through, they would ordinarily use their cutlasses to great effect in order to sow deadly confusion from within the midst of the ranks of their enemy. Instead of switching to muskets, the French cavalrymen panicked as they tried to regroup and to figure out how to make their numbers count in an effective cavalry charge.
Jason figured that the French cavalrymen were unaccustomed to using their issued muskets in the heat of battle. Their horses resisted repeated attempts by their riders to charge at the seemingly impenetrable wall and some even threw their riders and whilst others turned around in confusion. The second row of Montugans, who had dismounted from their horses behind the mounted first row, used the tr
ees for cover as they fired at the dismounted French riders and at the riders whose panic stricken horses refused to respond. A few cavalrymen staged a desperate charge on foot. They brandished their cutlasses as they ran towards the Montugans, but each of them fell as they were shot by guards who emerged from behind the trees. The latter thereafter returned to the cover provided by the tree trunks in order to reload.
A few French cavalrymen managed to enter the forest by going around the Montugan flanks. But they found it difficult to wield their cutlasses effectively in the confined space on offer. They found that their horses could not manoeuvre and that their swords frequently struck trees or low branches instead of those Montugans assigned to protecting the flanks within the forest. Despite their difficulties, Jason realised that a growing number of the French riders were managing to enter the forest at each of his flanks.
He could hear the sounds of intense battle from deeper within the forest behind him as more French riders managed to engage his flanks, which although blocked by his cavalry, did not have the additional support of as many dismounted riders. This limited the number of volleys the flanks could fire at the French attackers. Realising this, the French harassed his flanks from deeper within the forest. If either of his flanks were to collapse, the French would be able to attack Jason’s forces from within the forest and from his rear. This would make it easy for the French to drive his forces out from the forest edge and into the open, where they would be outnumbered and overwhelmed.
Jason took advantage of the confusion amongst the French riders in the open to order one in every two of his dismounted riders to leave the edge of the forest in order to reinforce the two flanks. This decision bore fruit immediately. The additional volleys of musket fire not only killed dozens of French cavalrymen, it also sowed confusion amongst their horses in the forest and many started to back away from the Montugan flanks. The thick smoke caused by the gunfire accumulated between the trees. The reduced visibility made it difficult for the French to regroup. The respite allowed some the reinforcements to reload and to respond to isolated attacks from a few French riders who had managed to penetrate deep into the forest, past the flanks and who were now approaching directly from the rear. All of the latter were intercepted by volleys of musket fire.
The line of royal guards blocking the access to the forest edge continued to use it as a shield. As the confusion amongst the French cavalrymen and their horses seemed to dissipate and their numbers threatened to pierce holes in the Montugan line, many of the dismounted riders who had successfully turned the tide at the Montugan flanks returned to the main battle line at the forest edge. The royal guards kept reloading and fired volley after volley into the French cavalry from their position of relative sanctuary. The renewed confusion amongst the French cavalry reached its height as a volley of gunfire reverberated from the other side of the road and a few dozen more Frenchmen fell from their horses. The French had been so focused on trying to draw Jason’s men out of the forest that they did not see the Marquis’s men approaching from their rear. The French cavalry were now taking fire from two sides. Despite the risks posed by the French cavalry’s cutlasses, the Marquis’s men tried to close the distance between themselves and the French to ensure that they would come within range of some protective fire from Jason’s men in the forest whilst they were reloading their muskets for their second volley.
Numerous French cavalrymen took advantage of the lull as the Marquis’ men reloaded. They launched a savage charge into the midst of the reloading guards, using their cutlasses to great effect as they slaughtered many of the newly arrived royal guards. The slaughter was interrupted when more Frenchmen fell to a fresh volley from within the forest and from other Montugan guards at closer range who had survived the French charge. A surprising number of royal guards had managed to reload their muskets and to fire a second volley despite the ferocity of that attack. The cries of dying and wounded men and horses on both sides now matched the noise of the gunfire and the battles cries of the cavalry. Bloodied corpses and injured men lay strewn across the area between the road and the edge of the forest. Streams of bright red blood flowed along the open ground in all directions. Clouds of smoke from the Montugan firearms drifted gently through those who remained standing or seated on their horses, adding brief moments of invisibility to an already chaotic engagement.
After the Montugan flanks repelled the last of the French cavalry within the forest, Jason ordered all his men to extend the existing ‘wall’ at the edge of the forest. The additional fire from these guards tore into the remaining French cavalry and as they continued in their savage efforts to overwhelm the Marquis’ men who were still fighting in the open ground.
The consistent covering fire from the forest edge together with that of the survivors amongst the Marquis’s men took its toll on the French cavalry. As their numbers dwindled, they were forced to retreat in disarray. Their retreat was thwarted however, by a volley of gunfire from their Western flank.
Several hundred French royalists bearing muskets and others with swords had managed to march, virtually unnoticed towards the battle from the West. By the time the remnants of the French cavalry had spotted them, it was too late.
One of the royalists bore a flag displaying the emblem of the Bourbon monarchy. The arrival of the royalists encouraged several dozen mounted Montugan Guards to charge out of the forest to prevent any Frenchmen from escaping towards the East. The French realised that they were now surrounded and they threw down their cutlasses and their remaining weapons and dismounted. They raised their hands in surrender to the sound of loud cheers from the Montugans and the French royalists. As the royalists reached the Montugans they embraced warmly. Jason’s sense of relief at the unlikely victory declined significantly when it became apparent that Napoleon was not amongst the prisoners surrendering. He learned that another French general had been given command of this French task force. Napoleon had clearly decided that ensuring the safety of the fleet at Toulon was the greater priority.
The leader of the French royalists requested custody of the French prisoners. It was a request to which Jason was only too happy to agree. He had not relished the prospect of marching through the pass to Montuga with horses, the wounded and the French prisoners. All told, Jason established that approximately fifty five of his men had been killed and nearly as many were wounded. Jason made a point of spending a few moments at the side of each of his casualties, irrespective of whether they were dead or wounded. The gesture was noted with appreciation by the surviving royal guards, most of whom had lost valued friends and comrades.
‘Our casualties are high if one considers the size of our force,’ Jason lamented afterwards.
‘Your majesty, I do not mean to make light of our losses,’ contradicted Commander Clemens. ‘But considering the fact that we were so heavily outnumbered, I am amazed that we won at all and even more amazed that we did not lose at least three quarters of our total force in the effort.’
Jason noticed that the front of the Commander’s jacket was ruined by a long tear which evidenced that a cutlass had narrowly missed its target.
‘I agree,’ the Marquis joined in. ‘The decision to take refuge in the forest was a master stroke. Did you know that the French horses would react like that, your majesty?’
‘That was the question the officers all asked me when I put my plan to them at five this morning,’ Jason replied.
‘What was your answer?’ the Marquis probed.
‘I said I was not sure, but that if I were a horse, I would not risk certain injury by charging into a completely blocked forest.’ The officers around Jason burst into laughter. ‘I thought that the horses require gaps into which they could charge. At the very least, they surely have a reasonable expectation that such a gap is likely to open during the charge as they collide with the enemy. The officers were sceptical about the idea at first but it grew on them. Of course we could only utilise the plan when we realised that the fores
t was indeed as dense as the scouts had reported.’
‘What amazed me,’ the Commander said, ‘was that the French cavalrymen did not switch to using their muskets.’
‘They are trained to charge at infantry and other cavalry with their cutlasses and they are accustomed to causing chaos in that manner. Normally they fight alongside infantry and artillery. They were probably not all that well trained to fire muskets from horseback or to even load their muskets under fire or in the confusion of a failed charge,’ Jason replied.
‘Even if they had resorted to using muskets, your majesty, they would still have been sitting ducks in the open whilst many your dismounted men were using the forest for cover,’ the Commander observed.
Jason nodded before he ordered his men to assemble near where his wounded men were receiving attention.
‘Each one of us who fought here today fought bravely in the face of overwhelming enemy numbers. But I wish to single out all those who fought with the Marquis d’Artois and Commander Clemens for special mention. You attacked the much vaunted French cavalry in the open and on foot. Your bravery ensured that we prevailed. You kept your composure and continued firing whilst many of your comrades were sacrificed their lives all around you. I salute you all. I thank you all. I am proud of you all.’
Jason thereafter issued an invitation to the French royalists to join his trek to Montuga. He was hoping to attract a few of them to join the Montugan army. However, they indicated that they intended to join up with other royalist groups involved in revolts which were taking place in several towns in the South of France. Jason wished them all Godspeed.
As the Montugans made their way slowly up the Nanoux valley towards the entrance to the mountain pass, the Marquis noticed the farmhouse in the distance on his left. After requesting the leave of the king he headed left up the footpath leading to the farmhouse. When he reached it he knocked on the door. As the farmer opened the door his jaw dropped and he turned pale.
‘Are you not going to invite me in?’ the Marquis asked.
‘Of course,’ the trembling man hesitantly responded.
The farmer’s wife sat in a rocking chair in the corner of the farmhouse. She barely glanced at the Marquis. She continued, as before, to inhabit her own world. The Marquis removed his sword from its sheath. At this sound, the woman stopped rocking and she focused her attention squarely on the Marquis. The Marquis found her stare to be rather unnerving. The farmer nearly fell over as he gingerly took a step backwards.
‘I am sure you know why you are going to die now. You remember of course how you sought to deliver me and my son to a band of murderers.’
‘I am most sorry for that my lord. You have no idea. I have suffered with the knowledge of what I have done ever since that day. I beg for your forgiveness. I tried to do my duty for a new France, you see. Now it seems that the new France, in some ways, is no better than the old one. Many of our leaders have been quick to adopt the ways of the aristocracy.’ The man fell to his knees. All the while his wife maintained her intense, emotionless glare.
The Marquis returned his focus to the pathetic figure in front of him. His attempts to recall the details of their narrow escape in the Devil’s Orifice were involuntarily supplanted by images of when he himself was being led to the guillotine. The voice of the intervening prosecutor also rang out in his mind. Finally he thought of his wife and of the enduring shadow her murder had cast on his existence. As he again glanced at the farmer’s wife he decided there and then he would not add to the unbearable losses which had already cursed her life. He replaced his sword in its sheath.
‘I will not become what I despise,’ he said aloud, speaking more to himself than to the occupants of the farmhouse. As he turned to leave he noticed a half open bottle of white wine on a table near the door. He thought nothing of taking it as he departed. Rather the wine than his life, the Marquis justified it to himself. He then turned around and walked out hurriedly in order to catch up with the last of Montugan royal guards as they headed to the pass. Moments later, he discarded the empty wine bottle.