>>64395740
>stranded
"Boiled shit"
POB's writing has a magnificently sly and dry sense of humour
>>64395770
I wouldn't mind a French Sharpe equivalent. He ought to finish up as an assistant Marshal or an extra Marshal at the least, that'd be pretty cool
>>64395777
>Instead of Sharpe could call it, Soup.
kek
I'm reminded of the FFL captain from Beau Geste
>>64395786
I never played Total War
>Tell me more
They are elite light troops who were sent ahead of the battalion formed in line or square to snipe at the enemy in loose or no formation. Basically they fought like our fire teams today. Skirmishers could be run down by cavalry or wiped out by massed musketry volleys (especially if they were green), so they could not replace properly-formed infantry battalions (if threatened, they had to quickly rejoin the battalion). That said, when combined with cavalry and artillery, or in rough ground, they could steadily attrit enemy battalions to death by careful sniping. Amongst others, Frederick the Great made skirmishers an essential part of European tactics, creating a Light Company as standard in every battalion.
How did Napoleon innovate upon this? He often assigned additional companies or even entire battalions to act as skirmishers, so his skirmishers often defeated the enemy’s skirmishers by sheer weight. Winning that phase of the battle gained him an advantage; they could snipe and pin down the enemy while the main body of French infantry advanced, formed line, volleyed and charged.
These and other innovations helped defeat the Spanish, Austrian, German and Russian armies in close combat, up until 1814.
Wellington not only adopted this system, he improved on it. He used the British Rifle Corps who had superior training and weapons (Napoleon’s skirmishers used muskets, not rifles) as skirmishers, and assigned them permanently rather than ad hoc as Napoleon did.
The Portuguese followed his method, and during Napoleon’s 1st exile, the Prussians did as well.
