Battle of Helderny

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Battle of Helderny
Part of Riverlandian Conquest of Grythshead
King Malcom's War
Date8th January 1750
Location
Helderny, Kingdom of Grythshead
Result Riverlander Victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of the Riverland
 Kingdom of Grythshead
Commanders and leaders
Earl of Tarringway Sir Eustace Salter †
Strength
35,000 22,000

The Battle of Helderny was an engagement of King Malcom's War fought in 1750. A surprise victory for the outmatched Riverlanders of the Earl of Tarringway's army, it marked the opening of the campaign that came to be known as the Riverlandian Conquest of Grythshead. The Grythsheader army of Sir Eustace Salter, the King's secretary, was outmaneuvered and defeated in detail. Despite being outnumbered 3:2, the wide expectation that the Grythsheaders, battle-hardened and entrenched on their own soil, would win was confounded and the Riverlander victory paved the way to the eventual defeat and annexation of Grythshead.

Background

Following the intense campaigning season of 1749 in Harroway and Ballaeter, the armies of the South Vionna theatre of war settled down into winter quarters in the middle of November. Many left garrisons in the lands they had occupied and returned to friendly towns to wait out the cold season in comfort. A large portion of the Grythsheader Western Army, which had been engaged in Ballaeter for most of the war, fell back on the town of Helderny in north-east Grythshead to spend the winter there. Under the organisation of Sir Eustace Salter, who replaced the unwell General Byng as commander of that army, the Grythsheaders used the cold season as an opportunity to reinforce their depleted army and prepare for a grand offensive into Ballaeter when the campaigning season began again.

Spies brought this intelligence to the Earl of Tarringway, commander of the Riverlander Army of Ballaeter, who decided to capitalise on a mild winter to disrupt the Grythsheader plans to concentrate their forces. Despite receiving no reinforcement from his Ballaetan allies and conscious of his inexperienced troops, Tarringway determined to march on Helderny and engage Salter's main force before it could be bought up to strength. Though advised against this course of action by his staff, he could not be dissuaded and crossed the River Lochen with 35,000 men and 40 guns on New Years' Day, 1750.

Well-informed by a network of spotting towers and semaphore stations, Sir Eustace Salter was aware of the Riverlander movements by 3rd January. On the 4th, Salter took a tour of Helderny's defences with his chief engineer, Colonel Tadler. The pair agreed that the aging walls, though thick, could not stand up to a determined barrage and were also vulnerable to being taken by escalade. Therefore, that same day, Salter marched out with his full array (including 28 artillery pieces) and began hasty construction of defensive earthworks about half a mile to the north of the town. Breastworks, entrenched batteries and log barriers were built over the proceeding three days and work only stopped late in the evening on 7th January as, by then, the Riverlander forces were in close proximity and the Grythsheaders risked being caught unready.

Opposing Forces

Further Information: Helderny Order of Battle

Grythsheader

The Grythsheader army at Helderny was a force of twenty-two-thousand men with twenty-eight artillery pieces (mostly 12pdr or 8pdr cannon). This represented the main body of the force known informally as the Western Army, though it was not its full number. At full strength, the Western Army should have numbered over forty-thousand but its winter quarters were spread across the region and many reinforcements had yet to arrive. Sir Eustace Salter was the army's official commander, who had taken over from Sir Alexander Byng when the latter was struck by cholera. Salter was not an experienced military man but instead the King's secretary, a skilled organiser. He was attended by a staff of experienced officers who kept him well advised. Though he lamented the absence of his reinforcements, Salter had the strongest portion of the army available to him at Helderny including fresh guns, strong cavalry, and veteran infantry.

Salter's Grythsheader army was organised into four infantry divisions and three cavalry brigades. Of the infantry, the 1st Division (3,800) was led by Seyward Tillett, the 2nd Division (3,900) by Osgood Stanley, the 3rd Division (4,400) by Lord Lynchfield and the Light Division (3,600) by Laurence Codrington. The cavalry was led collectively by Sir Randall Fitton and individually by Andrew Able of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade (900), Geoffrey Crispe of the Royal Brigade of Dragoons (1,400) and Evelyn Whytton leading a brigade of light cavalry (1,000). This left Salter with 3,300 cavalry and 15,700 infantry, the remainder (roughly 3,000 men) were gunners, engineers, volunteers, or those employed on the staff or supply train.

Grythsheader infantry

A detailed breakdown is as follows:
Commander-in-Chief: Royal Secretary Sir Eustace Salter (k)

  • Artillery - 24 guns
    • 1st Battery - 6 guns (18pdr)
    • 2nd Battery - 8 guns (12pdr)
    • 3rd Battery - 8 guns (8pdr)
    • 4th Battery - 4 guns (12pdr)

Riverlander

Outnumbering the Grythsheaders, the Riverlander Army of Ballaeter totalled thirty-five-thousand men with forty pieces of artillery. It came under the command of the Earl of Tarringway, a young general who had yet to see action during King Malcom's War. The Army of Ballaeter was a new army made mostly from fresh volunteers and most observers expected it, however strong in numbers, to wilt before the experienced veterans of the Grythsheader army. An advantage to the inexperience of this new army quickly became apparent, however: all of its kit and armament was fresh, mostly of recent manufacture if not taken from stocks, and a six-week training regimen had produced a force of men well-versed in drill and use of weaponry. The unit cohesion of the new regiments was high from collective training and discipline was excellent.

The Earl of Tarringway, who had lost two brothers in the war already, was evidently proud of his new command. He wrote to his wife on 21st December 1749, two days after having taken command: "Never before has such an impeccable force of fighting men been raised from our fields and cities." Most observers, however, took a more pessimistic view of the new troops. The visiting Count Roskoy wrote of the flamboyantly-dressed Riverlander heavy cavalry: "In forty years of war and struggle, I have never seen such a useless band of peacocks. Will all their finery turn away a cannonball?"

Heavy cavalry of the Riverlander Brigade of Life Guards

Seven infantry divisions made up a significant portion of the Army of Ballaeter and these were augmented by ad-hoc brigades formed from the grenadier and light companies which were detached from their parent battalions. Four brigades of cavalry came under the supervision of General Sarah Fitz-York and there were forty guns. The infantry divisions were Alexander Dunham's 1st (4,200), Harold Audley's 2nd (4,200), Sir Roger Parker's 3rd (3,600), Lady Euphemia Sparrow's 4th (3,600), Sewell Cotton's 5th (3,000), Sir Percival Kent's 6th (3,000), Lord Bedingfeld's 7th (3,600), and Nicholas Yden's 8th (3,600). Also the Grenadier Brigade (800) was led by Colonel Higden and the Light Brigade (800) by Baronetess Estone. The cavalry were the Brigade of Life Guards (700) commanded by Lord Chernocke, Dennis Beresford's 1st Cavalry Brigade (900), Robert Pen's 2nd Cavalry Brigade (750), and Benedict Culpeper's brigade of lancers (500). This created a total of 2,850 cavalry and 30,400 infantry.

Commander-in-Chief: General Lord Michael Fowler, 5th Earl of Tarringway

  • Artillery - 32 guns
    • 1st Field Battery - 8 guns (12pdr)
    • 2nd Field Battery - 8 guns (12pdr)
    • 1st Siege Battery - 6 guns (24pdr)
    • 2nd Siege Battery - 6 guns (6pdr howtizer)
    • Mortar Battery - 4 guns (12pdr mortars)

Battle

Deployments

The day opened with a furious bombardment. Under the cover of the cavalry brigades of Colonels Beresford and Pen, and the Light Brigade under Major Estone, the 12pdr and 24pdr guns of the Riverlander artillery deployed atop a low ridge across from the Grythsheader positions. The cannonade which opened the battle began at 10:30 and pounded the positions of the Grythsheader army with round shot while the Riverlander infantry deployed. The Earl of Tarringway kept a significant portion of his infantry - the 6th, 7th and 8th divisions - in reserve, hidden behind the ridge. Between that ridge, known as the Great Head, and the Grythsheader positions, was mostly farmland cut with fences, low stone walls, drainage ditches, and dirt roads. The distance was about a mile.

The hardness of the cold ground was both an advantage and a disadvantage to the Grythsheaders; it reduced the effect of the Riverlander guns, whose shot thudded harmlessly into the frosty soil which was resistant, this did make the digging of earthworks much more difficult, however, and the Grythsheader entrenchments were not as strong as they could have been. While the infantry were filing into their positions, the Grythsheader artillery began its reply at 11am. Twenty-four cannon of various calibers were spread out in four batteries protected by stone-filled gabions. Sir Eustace Salter spread three batteries throughout his infantry line and placed the fourth, armed with heavy 18-pounder long guns, on the highest ground available to him - a wide knoll known by locals as The Thumb. With the exception of the Royal Brigade of Dragoons, which was integrated into the infantry line with its horses nearby, the cavalry were kept behind the lines; the heavy cavalry on the left flank, the light cavalry on the right flank - closest to the river.

Though the day was cold, the weather was clear and visibility was perfect for the set-piece battle. Atop the Great Head, the Earl of Tarringway planted the Royal Standard and had a sketches made of the battlefield by his engineers. The first causalty of the battle took place at 11:15 when engineer Major Phillip Lemotte was killed by Grythsheader skirmishers as he surveyed the ground between the armies. Well assured that the ground was hard and that the weather would remain clear, the Earl of Tarringway ignored the advice of his staff to march around the Grythsheader positions and outflank Helderny. He ordered the attack to begin at 11:30.

Attack

Under the direction of General Alexander Dunham, the attack was to begin on the left flank, where Dunham's own 1st Division was positioned. This division would hug the bank of the River Lochen and was responsible for keeping the Grythsheader light cavalry from action and outflanking the enemy right flank. On the right of Dunham's division was Sir Roger Parker's 3rd Division which would join the attack and was responsible for storming the Grythsheader defences closest to the river. Directly facing Dunham and Parker's divisions was the strong positions of Lord Lynchfield's 3rd Division. 4,400 men of Lynchfield's division occupied a network of five earthwork redoubts and were covered by a strong battery of eight-pounder guns. Sir Eustace Salter's own headquarters was located in a temporary structure amongst Lynchfield's defences. Tarringway was criticised for begining his battle by attacking the strongest point of Salter's defences but, in his official report, the Earl argued that by seizing Lynchfield's strong right flank first he would deal a heavy opening blow and prevent Salter from withdrawing across the Lochen, albeit taking a heavy risk in the process.

As Dunham and Parker's division stepped off the begin the attack, Grythsheader skirmishers of Codrington's Light Division moved from the center of the line to oppose the advance. Taking up positions in the broken farmland, behind walls and in ditches, the skirmishers kept up a harassing fire until they were themselves engaged by the Baronetess Estone's Light Division. The skirmishers of both armies exchanged fire at distance and, behind cover, inflicted few casualties on each other. A howitzer of the Riverlander 2nd Siege Battery was brought up to lob shells over cover, forcing the Grythsheaders to give ground, albeit steadily. Backed up by Robert Pen's 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the attack started to gain traction, despite the withering fire of Grythsheader batteries. Fire was returned by the horse artillery of Pen's brigade and guns of the Riverlander field batteries. With a fierce cannonade, Tarringway's gunners succeeded in dismounting several Grythsheader guns, though Salter's engineers worked quickly to re-seat them.

It was not until noon that the Riverlander attack came into musket range of the Grythsheader right flank. From their earthworks, the defenders fired as quick as they could reload. Advancing in lines of four ranks deep, the battalions of Parker's division fired in volleys as they approached. Dunham's division remained in battalion columns as they carried on the advance to outflank Lynchfield's division. The Grythsheader light cavalry under Evelyn Whytton was forced back, unwilling to charge the dense formations of Dunham's infantry. With no support from infantry or artillery, Whytton's force of 1000 troopers could not risk a charge, nor make a determined stand. Under fire from the flanks of the earthworks, Dunham's division manouvered into line formation to join Parker's attack.

With much of the Riverlander army concealed behind the Great Head, Dunham's attack of two divisions and a cavalry brigade looked to be made up of a significant portion of Tarringway's force.

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