Sharpe's Eagle - Battle of the Bridge
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- Simmerson orders a fool's mission, according to Major Lennox that costed him ten men, two sergeants and a major. Sharpe and the Chosen men tried to save the day but in the end, despite the desperate fight, lost the King's Colours of the South Essex.
Nice movie. I recently wrote a book on cavalry training in the 18th century, regular cavalry weapons, military fencing, and combat tactics: ruclips.net/video/kndEF1IE_gI/видео.html
"You've lost the Colours, sir. The King's own Colours, touched by his own hand. Take my advice, and a pistol, and go behind that tent, and blow out what's left of your brains."
Love that
Thats not my style, sir!
@@F40PH-2CAT I love how you necro this post. And I will to just cause that’s such a good joke.
@@F40PH-2CAT Major Lenox must answer
@@reillyhernandez2645 But he has a cousin at horse guards, and friends at court!!
There was a report at Horseguards which cleared Simmerson sir!
I never realized how hardcore Capture the Flag was back in the day
Puts it into perspective xD
George Custer's brother, Tom, won the Medal of Honor twice for, among other things, capturing the Confederate colors on two separate occasions during the Civil War.
@@sgtskysyndrome So that's why George charged 200 men into the middle of a better armed 2000 strong enemy. Because he thought they had a flag to capture. It all makes sense now.
@@cornpop3159 First off, George had more than 200 men.
Second, many historians believe that, while the 7th had some indicators of how large the village was, Custer did not know how large the village was until he was in the midst of the attack. The accounts of Major Reno and others seem to bear this out. Reno charged only perhaps to the riverbed and halted his advance based on what he saw and how frightening it was.
Third, Custer followed the standard Army doctrine of the time. Consolidate for the defense, divide for the attack. This was a stratagem that had yielded success numerous times before.
Fourth, to say that the enemies were better armed is just foolish. Many of them were using bows and arrows. The firearms they had were varied and supplied to them by traders and perhaps the Army itself. The disparity of firepower is often overstated.
Finally, the entire comment is a non-sequitur. What does the Battle of Little Bighorn have anything to do with Tom Custer's Medal of Honor awards from the Civil War?
Well,watched it,the cavalry units should equipped with light and hard armor iron or steel plate for protection of bodies with single shot of multiple barrels flint lock rifles,it can fire with an angle of 45'C of oblique angle of shooting mass other army or opponent cavalry units.In fact 18th French Napoleon elicit cavalry units all equipped with long spear,long blade ,multiple barrels of single shot flintlock pistol,and therefore when retreating from Russia,elicit cavalry units one unit can deal with 50 of army units or 5-10 unit of opponent cavalry units due to each elicit cavalry units all well equipped with light weight body armor with plate or steel at all.Well up to 19th to WW1,cavalry units when charging should equipped 10 rounds of lever moving Winchester rifles,rather than only equipped with long blade,definitely become meat grinder of army with long range rifles as Dryes,Chasspot,Martin Henery.The army units at that time,equipped with single shoot flint lock musket or lee Enfird-Sinder rifles,not suitable for cavalry units,but army better equipped with 4-6 wheels horses wagons,army musket or rifle team can be installed on them and fast moving with full direction with all angles of speed firing and a certain distance,also equipped with primitive catapult,which can fire short,middle and long range primitive pottery black power dynamite and caused huge fire and flare when charging with cavalry units ,it can be offense and defense purpose.very effective at that time,no advance high technology involved.
Sending your company to chase a small french patrol but instead you get attacked by cavalry and destroy the bridge cutting off a rescue party..... that's called being a Simmerson.
Could we call it...Simmering?
@@Shadowkey392 I like that we should use that. Whenever you do something that portrays to Sir Henry you call it Simmering.
It's not soldiering that's for sure
And somehow he tried to weasel a promotion out this debacle. Twas' Definitely a Simmering.
Filth!!
NOTE: They are playing the "Rogue's March" when the British patrol moves forward, a testimony to Simmerson's orders. Normally only played when a disgraced soldier is punished or drummed out of the army.
They play it quite a lot in the series
Poor old soldier, poor old soldier, if i ever Enlist for a soldier again, the devil shall be my seargeant
it's such a cheerful and upbeat tune though, lol.
Well,watched it,the cavalry units should equipped with light and hard armor iron or steel plate for protection of bodies with single shot of multiple barrels flint lock rifles,it can fire with an angle of 45'C of oblique angle of shooting mass other army or opponent cavalry units.In fact 18th French Napoleon elicit cavalry units all equipped with long spear,long blade ,multiple barrels of single shot flintlock pistol,and therefore when retreating from Russia,elicit cavalry units one unit can deal with 50 of army units or 5-10 unit of opponent cavalry units due to each elicit cavalry units all well equipped with light weight body armor with plate or steel at all.Well up to 19th to WW1,cavalry units when charging should equipped 10 rounds of lever moving Winchester rifles,rather than only equipped with long blade,definitely become meat grinder of army with long range rifles as Dryes,Chasspot,Martin Henery.The army units at that time,equipped with single shoot flint lock musket or lee Enfird-Sinder rifles,not suitable for cavalry units,but armythem equipped with 4-6 wheels horses wagons,army can be installed on them and fast moving with full direction with all angles of speed firing and a certain distance,also equipped with primitive catapult,which can fire short,middle and long range primitive pottery black power dynamite and caused huge fire and flare when charging with cavalry units ,it can be offense and defense purpose.very effective at that time,no advance high technology involved.
Ight lad what about the Queens rangers they are a whole lot Meaner than u think the drummer is the person who make the soldiers fallin and fallout or to Follow the beaten Enemy...the british Major or the British 45 to the 67 th dragoon calavry are to scare the enemy not to take there flag
Up until this battle Major Hogan had to remain respectful on account of Simmerson's rank and favoritism back home, but at 7:25 he could dispense with being polite and told him what he really thought of his leadership.
Well,watched it,the cavalry units should equipped with light and hard armor iron or steel plate for protection of bodies with single shot of multiple barrels flint lock rifles,it can fire with an angle of 45'C of oblique angle of shooting mass other army or opponent cavalry units.In fact 18th French Napoleon elicit cavalry units all equipped with long spear,long blade ,multiple barrels of single shot flintlock pistol,and therefore when retreating from Russia,elicit cavalry units one unit can deal with 50 of army units or 5-10 unit of opponent cavalry units due to each elicit cavalry units all well equipped with light weight body armor with plate or steel at all.Well up to 19th single shoot as Lee Enfried-Sinders,Chasspot Dryes to WW1,Lee Enfried 5 rounds,Mauser 1897,cavalry units when charging should well equipped 10 rounds of lever action,Winchester rifles,rather than only equipped with long blade,definitely become meat grinder of opponent's army with long range rifles as Dryes,Chasspot,Martin Henery.The army units at that time,equipped with single shoot flint lock musket or lee Enfird-Sinder rifles,not suitable for cavalry units,but riflemen better equipped with 4-6 wheels horses wagons,army musket or rifle teams can be installed on 4-6 wheels horse wagon and fast moving with full direction with all angles of speed firing and a certain distance,also equipped with primitive catapult,which can fire short,middle and long range primitive pottery black power dynamite and caused huge fire and flare when charging with cavalry units ,it can be offense and defense purpose.very effective at that time,no advance high technology involved.😃😄😁
So are you pointing out what they are using, where the show got it wrong or just proving that you can type out this stuff?
@@GhostRider-on6bz The Aspergers was strong with that one.
not to be ThAt gUy but in the book it's a solid stone roman bridge that takes Hogan half a day to pickaxe a blasting hole. BBC budget gotta soldier though
itv mate! Still a valid and interesting point.
Does Hogan do the digging himself?
There’s a lot of differences between the books and the films...Theresa Moreno doesn’t feature in the books until Sharpe’s Gold but is a critical figure in the first film, Sharpe’s Rifles!!
Yep. Wasn't a BBC show though.
It was ITV
I love the noticable air of 'the fuck are they doing?' coming off the rifles when the South Essex march past. Everyone bar Simmerson knew this wasn't going to end well.
It is even more riddiculous in the book. The Spanish (not shown here) go across the bridge to show off, and the British follow out of pride. Then they try to attack the French horsemen on foot (which is impossible, since horses are faster), but the French just wait and refuse to attack, laughing at the idiots. Simmerson tries to order Sharpe to skirmish against the Horses (suicide), but Hogan refuses to give Sharpe the order. When the French decide to leave, the Spanish shoot and kill two riders, and the riders destroy the Spanish square in a single attack, and the British soon after. 400 riders rout 1600 footmen in less than 10 minutes.
@@95DarkFire I don't believe that IRL a cavalry squadron can rout an infantry square 4 times their size. Except a column that isn't even halfway thru forming square yet.
@@ClorindeASMRWhen Well, the Spanish were terrible soldiers, they got scared and ran away before the horses got there.
Then they ran into the British square and broke it, and the horses followed. Then the British ran as well.
@@95DarkFire how many more riders got taken out then those 2 before the charge and one can i think skirmish cav though you would need to really time it right or so to make it work. idk.
@@95DarkFire so that's how it happened. how close were they out right to even get a squadron to lose two members like that to a spanish square?
"...Blow out what's left of yer own brains" I've been searching for moment he said something like that.
07:25
The fact that Wellington somehow knew about the eagle means that Denny didn't keep his mouth shut
Half the problem back then was if you had a spy in an officers bar you'd know everything you needed to know about your enemy.
I think it was Denny.
I think that Leroy told Hogan. Hogan would have asked about Lennox's final words.
@@phane00 Leroy told Denny to shut his mouth though, saying he didn't hear anything about the promise of an eagle.
@@Jack-uy7ie Wellington would have heard it from Hogan and it could only have come from Denny or Leroy. Given how much Denny seems to worship Sharpe from that moment on, I don't think he discussed it with other officers. I think Leroy was asked by Hogan about Lennox's last words, especially seeing as Hogan and Wellington greated respected Lennox.
That bridge... built on the tightest of budgets, all freshly cut wood, and built just stoutly enough to stand up long enough to be blown up for a TV program... and I'm not sure it was built over running water, it appears to straddle the edge of a body of standing water :) Still, I love the Sharpe series!
The bridge is still stronger than Simmerson`s spine and honor.
That always drove me nuts about this scene, seeing the edge of the lake in the background... I kept seeing "Achoo" hopping from one side of the river to the other.
@@Murchad99 They had a pretty tight budget for the series so the special effects and sets weren't hollywood level, but the script and acting makes up for it IMO
I just wish this show had the budged it would have needed to live up to the books.
True. But it’s a testament to its caliber that it it is still popular today. On a limited budget it captured the spirit of the books and if nothing else provided some damn fine entertainment and drama.
In the book, South Essex lost 242 men and nearly lost their regimental colors as well but they turned it around by beating the French and captured a Field gun.
When special effects were practical not CGI. That was some shockwave that hit the camera.
An episode of 'Sharpe' in which the British are (temporarily) defeated, I didnt think it possible.
"Why, I've killed men in Blue coats, Green Coats, Red Coats and even White Coats."
@Giovanni Sullivan-Massa Sir, the Dutch.
*english
yes, its very biased
@@dragonsword7370 the French wore all of those colors except for maybe the red coats
Major Lennox answered with his life!
@Biochemistry Forever You disgraced us sir! You shame us sir! You will answer!
@@jonathanjappe7 The South Essex is stood down in name; if I wipe the name, I may wipe the shame. The Light Company put up a fight, so I shall let it stand under the command of a new Captain.
@@andrewames247 To be commanded by the newly gazzeted captain Gibbons?
To be commanded by the newly gazzeted captain Sharpe sir.
@@thechosenone1533 I have a cousin at Horse Guards and friends at court.
A man who loses the King's colors loses the King's friendship sir Henry. Good morning
I see a dangerous lack of soldiering in this scene.
What about from captain leroy covering sharpe
@@justanobadi6655 Now that is real soldiering.
I like the French troops with the cool grocery bags for headgear
Canvas bags used to protect the insignia from weather, dirt, dust and so on. Common practice.
Ist for the heat
@@MIMALECKIPL most moron can’t think that
@@MIMALECKIPL also to not be too shiny in the sun and so reveal their sneaky position
Cashier: Paper, or plastic, sir?
French Cavalry: Canvas.
Major Lennox : heroic
Captain Leroy : courageous
Mr Denny : brave
Simmerson: MAD
SHOOT SIMMERSON
Sharpe is a killing officer.
Simmerson is a murdering officer.
@@santoslittlehelper06 that is true
Sharpe: loyal
Spoiler alert: Denny didn't listen.
And yet Leroy has to blame Sharpe why? Cuz the kid looked up to him? Sharpe never told Denny to follow him, kid made that decision on his own to jump headlong into the fray with The Chosen Men
I like how the camera started shaking because of the bridge march
5:57 God help the French. That look on his face. I think he’d cut his way to Boney himself to get that Eagle.
Always puts me in mind of "carry on men, I'm right behind you."
"About 30 miles behind you."
ruclips.net/video/ejc1wwRGjFk/видео.html
Trump said the same thing to his Capital Trumpsteteers.
@@grandpapete417 it's time to let go, mate
@@holdmybleach2651let go of what?
Looking at how rickety that bridge looks I'd have half a mind to weaken it so it collapses once a column is fully on it.
Makes me laugh when these non riding actors have to pretend they can. It must be very uncomfortable for them.
I cringe. It Can be really dangerous. Roy Kinnear died during filming of Four Musketeers in 1988 after getting thrown from a horse. The fall didn't directly kill him, but he shattered his pelvis and wound up suffering a heart attack while in the hospital in Spain
Poor Major Lennox, somebody smashed a jar of grape jelly against the side of his head…
2:10 The group on Holdfast Nations at War that tries to play properly
I see why French lost. They always went forward taking fight to the enemy mounting to enormous losses.
Hello, that were polish cavalary, volunteers, which served in the imperial french army. Look at the yellow colors. This movie is very close by the right uniforms, respekt !
Back then, that was standard doctrine, and it worked. Firearms of that period were not the long range, multiple rounds in seconds weapons of today, so conducting frontal attacks was not the suicidal mission of later years.
Cavalry used here for skirmishing against an easy target. That's what they're for, swooping in on an exposed objective and decisively securing it. Simmerson sends his colour guard across a narrow bridge against four rifles, clearly bait. He should know that the Frogs won't send four dudes up within viewing distance of his person without some fishy intent. You can't cite this as evidence of why they lost when this encounter was a clear victory.
Pride is a weakness.
Line beats column, when the line is comprised of professional British soldiers who can platoon fire with steadfast discipline, The column doesn't stand much chance of breaking through.
Saw it time and time again in the peninsular.
Thank God they didn't plant an atomic bomb for a bridge of toothpicks
To give them Credit: in the Books it is actually a roman build stone bridge.
My childhood memoirs with Allistair Cooke in Master Piece Theater, Sunday night in PBS.
Ah you should have checked out tmnt, transformers or thundercats
@@RobertWilson-no7iu I recall TMNT, Dennis The Menace Animated Series and Transformers.
Seems like an axe would've been enough to destroy this bridge.
Damn it Simmerson! You had one job!
Simmons proves a bad officer will do more damage than good.
Just as an idea of how boneheaded Simmerson's decision here was, he didn't even screen his force with light infantry. That column could have been sniped to bits while it was forming up. Some scouts could also have spotted the French ambush.
After reading the book, this scene seems ridiculous. The original bridge was a 2000-year-old roman bridge which was build so well that the Engineers had trouble breaking it.
This wooden bridge could be destroyed with a single barrel of explosives.
This show had very low budget for them to build and break a stone bridge would cost too much
This is the first episode of an already troubled production. Paul McGann had already shot most of the scenes of Sharpe when he broke his leg and Sean Bean had to step in. Seriously? It's 1994 ish and a private venture by a small production company. This is what could be afforded and in the 90s it was very popular.
whoa, the amount of explosives mounted to that little tiny wooden bridge.... XDXD
Aye, but i guess they also wanted to blow the poles the bridge was standing on so that they couldnt just fix it
Why was the bridge necessary? Plenty of solid ground right behind it!
Where the fuck can I find the sound tracks to the battle scenes???? They’re great tbh
There was a CD titled The Music of Sharpe. Featured the music from the show, showcased the Light Division Band and Bugles as well as the singing of old folk songs by John Tams who played Rifleman Daniel Hagman in the show. Gutted that my copy was scratched to buggery. Might be on YT music.
damn they really took out that bridge 😳
You could probably build another bridge entirely just by breaking down the powder kegs
Polish cavalry
I don't know, they look pretty dirty to me
On first glance I was like "What's the kletchian foreign legion doing here?!"
Judging by the caps and uniforms of the cavalry, they were the Cavaliers of Napoleon's Guard (Poles)
Of course, cavalrymen wear the Polish " cornet" on their heads .
when the Color Guard is half your redcoat extras...
I know its probably for the audience's benefit, but shouldn't the picket be, you know, on the top of the hill so as to provide a bit of warning before they're on top of you?
Possibly, but putting him that far away makes it possible for the French to ambush him without anyone noticing. Where he is, he can see anything coming, has a retreat if necessary, and is close enough that if anyone shoots him, they *will* notice.
Setting explosives under a bridge would be an engineer's job not a rifle squad.
there are no engineers at that time, skirmishers do all the grunt work. Digging, carrying and yes setting up charges.
@@TentaclePentacle You should write the producers of the show and the author of the Sharp series of books, Bernard Cornwell, they would differ with you. In the book, there was a team of engineers setting the charges. In the TV show the officer in civilian dress is an engineer. And yes the British army in fact did have engineers who blew up things and planned battlements.
@@jamespettigrew7026 what I mean is there are no engineer detachments. Combat engineers is not a thing back then.
@@jamespettigrew7026 One word: Budget
@@TentaclePentacle Well, sorta. There were Engineers, but they were all officers on both sides.
Did anyone else spot Daniel Craig at 1:04?
Didn't know this book series were made into movies also
A tv series actually 😁
And the author liked Sean's performance so much his later Sharpe novels portrayed him as closer to what Sean Bean looked like (downplaying his original black hair and shifting his origin to Yorkshire to fit Sean's accent).
jesus, how much powder do they need to blow up 1 sh***y little bridge made of twigs.
An amateur playing with toy soldiers gets real men killed.
Simmerson lost the Kings colours, coward.
Anyone else notice Daniel Craig at 1.09 the right hand soldier on foot front of the officer on horse. Or am I seeing things ?
You are not seeing things.
That’s Bond; James Bond.
Don't you mean Berry, lt Berry
If you look closely, the bridge is actually along the far edge of the lake and not across the water lol
You can also see some of the barrels of "explosive" that miraculously seem to escape the explosion itself :p
In the book it was a large stone bridge, here it looks like a couple axes could take it down.
My first thought as well. Hogan comments that it's Roman and extremely well-made.
I'm puzzled by that bridge... it doesn't appear to be necessary, it look like you could easily ride around it...
Agreed and how many kegs of powder was used... but mission accomplished.
man thats alot of black powder
Only peasant tax money.
Losing the kings colours, now that's the absolute polar opposite of soldiering
Simmerson, a slipshot gentleman and piss poor excuse for a soldier
Thats seriously not the uniform of french cavalry
It looks about consistent with Vistula lancers, especially with the czapkas, but yeah sharpe uniforms are trash
the elegance of the advice to blow ".. what is left"
Good show, but I kind of wish someone would go back and CGI more troops into the background so that the armies and units actually looked the right size.
these are meant to be big battles, there were a lot of skirmishes especially in Spain.
Dude an entire company is featured here. Each company had at least 100 to 120 men
@@lcsiam07 I don't think it's meant to be an entire company.
You mean do a George Lucas?
@@nickdouglas736 Skirmishes in the Napoleonic Era still had a couple hundred guys on both sides minimum. Hell, there were battles with a couple thousand people, on both sides, that were skirmishes.
Gibbons bah. The only one you could give commendations to would be the Light Company and Leroy.
Polish cavalry, the best Napoelon'as allied with Bayern
3:21 does anyone else notice that there bayonet belts are missing the sheaths
"Watch the flank, the flank, French calvary, chosen men, destroy the bridge, destroy the bridge, god damn"
Simmerson was an idiot, but of all the villains in the series, I was glad to see him get somewhat redeemed in the end.
Omg... Answered with his life... Omg...
4:50
British soldier gives the flag to the horseman
To destroy that bridge you just need a couple of men with axes. What a waste of good powder. :(
This is the definition of overdone. A few axes at work would destroy that bridge in ten minutes let alone THREE ENTIRE BARRELS OF BLACK POWDER FOR EACH of the support beams! Did they want to destroy or atomize that bridge? XD
In the books the bridge was a Roman stone bridge
It's one of those unfortunate consequences of having a low budget. In the novel, the bridge was a 2000-year-old Roman stone bridge that Hogan's engineers had a lot of trouble with rigging for demolition. Here, I think most of the budget went towards the explosion!
4:53 Honestly the french should probably saber him o shoot him with a pistol instead just punch him with the horse literally in front of him
Such a crappy looking bridge, more effort to blow it than just tear it apart.
Probably one of Simmerson's biggest fuck ups.
Someone help me out here, who exactly is Major Hogan and where is he from? Scotland? Ireland? Wales?
I think he's Scottish, having previously been with 78th Highlanders.
Hogan is an Irish engineer and liason. Makes a lot of cracks with Harper in the first two movies as well as the books. "Where would Britannia be without the Irish?"
I didn't realize members of the 95th rifles were trained in demolition of bridges.
It's called soldiering.
they probably just did whatever the demolition's expert said.
In the book it’s explained that sharpes small unit is attached to Hogan as he needs protection as he blows up bridges etc. He explains the theory to the men and they become quite proficient.
Poor leadership will destroy a command quicker that the enemy can
Polish cavalry attack. These are the lancers in the service of Napoleon.
In the book its 1500 that cross over not ten, which is why it is such a disaster.
No wonder that Lennox's company was doomed - they were flying the colours upside down!!!!! (broad diagonal white strip towards the top nearest the staff) Schoolboy error!
Bad show that someone actually printed the regimental badge upside down - someone's head should have rolled for that
That's what I thought originally. But if you look closely it is the flag itself that has the red diagonals incorrect. If you flew that flag the other way around it would look the same.
@4:15 Sgt. Grant Before volunteering in Airborne. 😅
0:26 I like that you can see that Sharpes uniforms colour is brighter than the others, generally the officers wore uniforms that had brighter colours than the enlisted men, as to mark them out as an officer.
Also they kinda took better care of them more often than not
I have always been wondering during this series how you can tell which rank Sharpe is? I know he gets promoted to luitenant-colonel at the end but the uniform always seems the same to me.
@@deanderekant1 all regular ARMY wpre the same red ... rifles wore green ... sharp being a ladder ranked officer just had no money for a taylor :)
@@deanderekant1 That's because, throughout his entire career, Sharpe never once changed his jacket. He believed the jacket was a good luck charm. Anyway, the part that should have displayed his ensignia of rank was torn off. In the books, characters often mistake Sharpe for a common soldier because of it, and amusing hijinks ensue.
@@Former_Halo_Fan Remember Sharpe drilled the tactic of shooting officers and NCO's first into his men. My guess part of this was insurance just in case someone on the other side had the same idea
Simmerson: *loses kings colours
Hogan: lol KYS
Despite what some would say Captain Leroy was a good man. Instead of waiting (Hiding back) he raced into combat to help.
not watching your mates flank? Thats sharpering
Sharpe did as he did and to hell eith the repercusdi9ns.
Andy McNabb has found a time machine
I think you could probably blow that bridge with a couple of M80's
Leroy could have flicked his cigar on it.
When will someone point out that the English Right TURN, it is the US who Right FACE. In this case the correct order is "Move to the right in single file, right turn."
I panic and run away thats my style sir
Why do they need all that powder to destroy such a flimsy wooden bridge? It's only held together with bogies, toothpaste & BBC prop dept. dreams.
Ahero is a hero and a coward isva coward.
Right face= American military
Right turn= British
There is actually no reason why they would carry the flag into this battle. A detachment would not need it.
4:35, props to whoever decided the fatal slash to Lennox needed a high-pitched electric guitar rip
The name's Berry, John Berry.
At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, why did Leroy not want anyone to know about eagle?
High risk, high reward. If they fail, they'll be forever humiliated because Sharpe couldn't keep his promise.
He didn’t want to get more men killed going after an unnecessary objective.
Plausible deniability. Later when simmerson is demoted, and sharpe promoted to captain the regent (?) Asks sharpe if the rumors of him promising lenox he would capture the eagle were true.
Sharpe says "no one heard me promise him sir" and he said "good enough" and made him captain. Essentially, They probably all agreed that he should go for it. But if he failed they would deny that the eagle was the target to avoid shaming the south essex further.
(This is all my interpretation, so take is as opinion, not fact.)
@@Firan25 The man who promoted Sharpe was Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. He was basically the Eisenhower of the Napoleonic Wars.
He was also the one to beat Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo, sealing Napoleon's ultimate defeat.
Because capturing a standard was nigh suicide. They were heavily guarded, and always by the elite of a formation. Eagles were guarded by Grenadier Sapeurs pulled from the Old Guard (the giant bearded madlads with the axes). Units would fight to the death over them, as they represented the unit, a rallying point, and was part of their esprit de corps. Going into battle with the express purpose of capturing one would be considered egregiously and dangerously reckless. It's why Wellington point blank inquires about it. It also emphasizes the sheer depth of Simmerson's negligence and foolishness in losing the colors. It was a huge deal. The only thing that kinda saves Simmerson here was this was pre-Talavera and Wellesley's position as head of the army was still kind of precarious.
The limited actors due to budget make the battle scenes kind of hilarious.
Those barrels are empty.
What was Sharpe looking at that was more interesting when the call of French cavalry was made lol.
The colours were upside down at 2.15
7:32 tres sauvage
At 2.13 there marched forward a British regiment - with the flag upside down and not a soldier or officer noticed !
An upside-down flag is a traditional sign of being in distress, and I can't imagine any officer there more distressed about the situation than Major Lennox.