Siege of Drayglossop

Siege of Drayglossop
Part of War of the Vionnan Coalition
Date 11th May - 30th June 1851 Location Drayglossop, Saxondale
Belligerents
Vionna-Frankenlisch	Saxondale
Commanders and leaders
Viscount Lynwood	Count of Drayglossop
Strength
110,000	12,000
Casualties and losses
912 (assault), 3,104 (disease and skirmishing)	10,600 (9,000 captured)

The Siege of Drayglossop was the first major engagement of the War of the Vionnan Coalition and the opening of the Imperial offensive against Saxondale and Ballaeter. The Imperial army of Lord Lynwood besieged the city of Drayglossop, a vital citadel in eastern Saxondale. Defended by a Saxoner garrison of 12,000 regular troops and militia, the city endured a fifty-day siege before being taken by storm on 30th June 1851.

Background

Imperial Campaign

The Imperial Army's march on Drayglossop was the first stage of the Imperial offensive against Saxondale and Ballaeter. It was the initial plan of the Imperial command to strike against those two nations before they had time to mobilise their forces, with the aim of disrupting their mobilisation by defeating the assembling armies in detail. A furious disagreement between several Imperial commanders and the government in Frankenlisch led to the dismissal of the Duke of Gestoria as commander of the army and his replacement by the inexperienced but highly-favoured Lord Lynwood. Lynwood approved of the Secretary of War, Lord Featherwick,'s proposal to launch the main Imperial thrust from the Duchy of Grythshead in the south of the country, with the intention of driving north through Saxondale and into Ballaeter. The terrain of southern Saxondale is mostly flat plains and farmland, and at the time was furnished with good roads upon which the army might march comfortably. The dissenting proposal, primarily championed by the Duke of Gestoria, was to advance into Ballaeter across its northern frontier with the Duchy of Erin. This was opposed due to the heavily forested, and often very hilly, terrain in that region.

This debate amongst the Imperial command came to a head on 1st May 1851, when Lord Featherwick arrived in person at the Duke of Gestoria's headquarters in southern Cunaris to dismiss him as commander. The Duke of Gestoria argued that a strike north from Grythshead or Teutonberg would meet the formidable Saxoner armies head on and would be forced to break through the fortifications in that part of Saxondale. He suggested that, while the terrain of northern Ballaeter was not ideal for a campaign; an advance from that direction would avoid a lengthy siege or series of sieges. Lord Lynwood, then the Duke of Gestoria's chief of staff, was asked how the Imperial Army would handle such a siege and responded: "We'd batter our way through." By 5pm that day, the Duke of Gestoria was dismissed and Lord Lynwood given the command.

The Imperial forces marched south from Cunaris at dawn on 2nd March. To begin with, Lord Lynwood targeted the city of Innstein in the west of Saxondale. However, short on time to begin the campaign before the Saxoner armies could gather in force, Lynwood instead decided to attack the eastern city of Drayglossop, despite the fact that it was far better fortified, due to it being only roughly a week's march away for his army. Drayglossop was reached after an eight-day march. The vanguard of Lynwood's army was Lord Eldham's First Corps and it arrived outside Drayglossop late on 10th May. Lord Eldham sent for Lynwood's permission to make an immediate assault with scaling ladders and field guns but this was rejected. The rest of the Imperial army arrived throughout 11th May and the city was placed under a state of siege.

Siege

Arrival

The main body of the Imperial force arrived over the course of 11th May, though the complete strength of Lynwood's full army was not assembled until the 20th. For the first nine days of siege, the army's heavy guns and engineers were not present and there was little course but to encircle the city and wait. Lynwood was later criticised for keeping his entire army at Drayglossop instead of pressing the advance and leaving a smaller force to besiege the city. This was discussed at a council on 14th May but it was decided that, without having the city in Imperial control, it would be too difficult to supply a large army in Saxoner territory for long.

Drayglossop was considerably fortified. The city's main defenses were constructed in the 13th Century by King Wladslav of Brehm. Drayglossop (named on Brehmish maps as Draklosp) was the last of King Wladyslav's conquests and he built a considerable network of walls to protect the final addition to his Empire. Though aged and weakened by poor maintenance, the outer walls were a considerable obstacle and troops of the Saxoner garrison worked tirelessly to reinforce the south-facing wall with earthworks. Though Lord Lynwood was initially in favour of a quick assault with scaling ladders and overwhelming numbers, he was persuaded by Major General Trevik (Deputy Superintendent Royal Engineers) to emplace his heavy guns and open a breach.

Bombardment

Under Trevik's supervision, the Imperial battering train was manoeuvred into action. On the first day of bombardment, the barrel of an Imperial 32-pounder gun burst and badly wounded several senior artillery officers - causing an immediate setback to the bombardment. However, by 15th May the bombardment began in earnest and a breach began to be opened to the right of Drayglossop's southern gate. The main bastion of Drayglossop's southern defences, nicknamed the Beast by Imperial troops, was targeted by a battery of howitzers firing a mixture of solid shot and explosive shells. Fire from these howitzers was slow as they were prone to overheating and the firing of explosive shells was particularly dangerous as some of them had degraded in storage. Disaster was averted on 20th May when a howitzer failed during an inspection by Lord Lynwood and Major General Trevik; the shell failed to carry due to a damaged powder charge but failed to detonate and was able to be disposed of safely. Rather than risk the loss of these brand-new and extremely valuable artillery pieces, Trevik ordered his engineers to supervise every firing of the howitzers and meticulously inspect every explosive shell before firing - seriously hampering the bombardment of the Beast.

Counter-battery fire from Drayglossop's walls was weak and uncoordinated. The city had a strong garrison consisting of 4,200 regular troops and roughly 8,000 trained militia with plenty of arms and ammunition to supply them. Though formidable, Drayglossop's defences were aging and the only modern artillery available were cannon mounted in the Beast which were suppressed under constant bombardment. Smaller guns, including swivels and wall guns, lined the walls at intervals but were too small and infrequent to cause much disruption the the Imperial cannonade. In addition, there was a severe lack of experienced gunners amongst the garrison and the Count of Drayglossop's main artillery officer, Gephard von Frecken, was severely ill and bedridden.

From 25th May to 31st May, a series of night raids on the Imperial gun positions attempted to disrupt the bombardment. Detachments of twenty to two-hundred men from the Saxoner garrison sallied out to harass the Imperial piquet lines and gun batteries. These raids, though small in scale, caused a marked effect on the Imperial bombardment. Rate of fire decreased and lack of sleep caused accidents and weakness amongst the gunners. On the night of 28th May, three gun commanders were killed by skirmishers and another wounded. The raids were eventually put to an end when a vigilant sentry was able to spot the Saxoner detachment as it crept forward, a volley from the piquet guard and a blast of shrapnel from an Imperial gun wiped out the detachment of eighty men and ended the raids. Imperial forces lost nearly 100 troops in six nights of skirmishing, Saxoner causalties in these low-level engagements were 121.

By 5th June, the Imperial bombardment was at its full intensity. Howtizers engaged against the Beast fought a furious duel with the Saxoner artillery mounted on the bastion, expending the army's entire supply of explosive shells in a cannonade lasting eight hours straight on 4th June. Seriously damaged by overheating, half of these howitzers had to be sent back to Teutonberg for repairs or melting-down. Though costly in terms of equipment, this bombardment seriously damaged the Beast - destroying a large quantity of its artillery and setting fires. The barrage against the Beast continued for several more days by howitzers and heavy guns firing solid shot and, by 9th June, the Saxoners' main bastion was abandoned by the garrison due to the damage. From this point on, the Imperial bombardment was mostly uncontested.

Assault

For First Corps, the Forlorn Hope of their assaults would number 450 men, the combined Grenadier companies of the King's Own Regiment and the Duke of Gestoria's Volunteers. Quickly behind them, as the second wave would follow the First Battalions of those regiments in detail, numbering 2,250 men. The remnants of the First and Third Regiments along with the Larkinge Fusiliers Regiment would make up the third wave to force a breakthrough should the first two attacks fail to gain ground. The Second Corps had a much larger assaulting party consisting of all six regiments in three successive waves. The Third Corps, under Lieutenant General Lord Rainchester's command, had opted for a more cautious approach with the King's Rifles making their first attack slowly with accurate fire and skirmish tactics. Rainchester had planned for a forceful assault with the Duke of Grythshead's Regiment, however, should the cautious method fail.

As night fell on the 29th, the assembled battalions received an extra gin ration and each regiment had special religious services from both Christian and Andyist clerics. Army clerks were brought up to make up wills and write letters for those who required them and at 11 pm the first assault began. The Forlorn Hope split in the trenches leading the breaches and the First Regiment's grenadiers began their climb first with the Third's beginning theirs not long after. Initially, they were undetected by the outstretched Saxoner sentries but when artillery fire began in an attempt to screen the assault by Third Corps, the soldiers at the gatehouse threw burning bales of pitch-coated hay and sticks to illuminate the breach and quickly began firing on the advancing grenadiers. All of the leading officers were killed and the Forlorn Hope was repulsed with an almost 50% casualty rate. The First Battalion of the King's Own Regiment followed their grenadiers almost immediately and, led by Colonel Fletcher, managed to clamber onto the wall itself and fought a harsh melee with the defenders until they were relieved by their Second Battalion along with advanced companies of the Larkinge Fusiliers. On the right breach, Colonel Pritchard was not so successful, he was hit in the thigh by a pistol ball but continued to lead the attack until he fainted from blood loss. His second, Major Cartwright, led the remains of his battalion back to the Imperial lines where he was ordered back to the breach but reinforced by the 3rd Regiment's Second Battalion. The united force was able to fight its way into the gatehouse and opened the gates, allowing the Larkinge Fusiliers and the 3rd Brigade to storm the city.

The Earl of Lopenfort's Regiment with O'Reiley's Regiment of the left advanced with long scaling ladders against the city's north wall. Under cover of light artillery fire from the 12pdr guns of the 2nd Artillery Brigade, the attack was personally led by Harold Gallagher, the Earl of Lopenfort. At the head of his regiment, Gallagher oversaw the advance and personally hefted a ladder up to the wall. Accounts say that he was the first of his men over the wall and from his own account and the medical log of Doctor Hans Webber, a Saxoner doctor, he sustained seven sword wounds and a pistol ball to the hip during the assault. His ensigns both dead in the attack, Lord Lopenfort lifted both the Regimental standard and the King's colours and planted the Imperial flag atop a bastion to signal the success of his attack. For the assault, Lord Lopenfort received the Cross of Romulus from King Edward.

Against the right wall's breach, the King's Rifle Regiment made multiple harassing attacks until the ill-disciplined militia abandoned the section of wall entirely. The 37th Regiment under Colonel Sir Herbert Simmerson was sent forward to capture the breach. Mistakenly believing that the wall had been cleared, Simmerson advanced his forces and scaled the breach without support from skirmishers or artillery. His forces soon came under withering fire from the wall bastions and the 2nd Battalion was forced back under heavy gunfire. The First Battalion, however, managed to force its way onto the wall and began clearing out resistance. The bastions were cleared with bayonets and grenades. The attack cost the 37th Regiment 320 casualties.

Following the costly yet successful attack by the 1st, 3rd and 4th regiments, the rest of First Division's infantry quickly pushed into the town and, after clearing the barbican, swarmed towards the last holdfast of the defending garrison. The town hall of Drayglossop took the place, and still does today, of an ancient hill fort that stood on the small motte in the centre of town. Throughout history, it had become a strong stone keep and since the 14th century, the Counts of Drayglossop made it their place of rule. During the fighting on the walls, much of the garrison had been employed constructing barricades around the keep. Cleverly, Count Maximillian had pulled the militia forces back to the keep and moved his regular troops to these barricades, allowing the militia to have the benefit of high ground and good cover to make up for their imperfections as soldiers. Colonel Jonathan Barclay led his regiment of the Third Brigade, the Duke of Glynmoran's Foot, in a column of attack down Keep Road, the direct road leading from the main gate to the town keep. Under withering musket fire and cannon shot from light artillery in the keep, Barclay's regiment suffered heavy casualties and five of his companies fell back in disorder. Nonetheless, he continued the advance and his light company took to skirmishing with the Saxoner regulars. Finally reinforced by the 6th Regiment, Barclay ordered his troops to charge and, headed by the grenadier company, his regiment cleared the barricades.

The walls were now devoid of Saxoner troops as they had all been killed, captured or had fallen back to the keep. The units which had stormed the town now formed up within the walls as Lynwood consulted with Trevik and his engineers to discuss the issue of the keep. The First Division was ordered to bring up their galloper guns to blow open the gates. Five 6pdr guns were advanced through the gates and set up in cover to bombard the gate to the keep. Unknown to the Imperials, Count Maximillian and his family, guarded by the remains of his regular force, were rapidly escaping through tunnels underneath the town which ran parallel to the sewer system. Suddenly aware that their lord and commander had escaped, the keep's garrison surrendered.