Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Fort "Mulgrave" Falls!
On December 18, 1793, troops of the French Revolution succeed in conquering the dominant fortress of the war port of Toulon - and forcing the British, who have been occupying Toulon since September 18, to withdraw!
The inhabitants of Toulon (at least the rich and previously powerful who had something to lose due to the revolution) had turned away from the leadership in Paris - asked the British for help and handed over the city and port to them.
The British had gladly accepted the present!
14,000 French soldiers have been besieging Toulon for a quarter of a year, but their repeated assaults are always repulsed by the British - and the revolutionary soldiers suffer heavy losses in the process!
This is primarily due to the completely incompetent commanders who are sent from Paris:
The first, "General", Jean Baptiste François Carteaux ...
... is a trained painter and was under the Ancien Régime at the court of Louis XVI. active as a painter. When he was relieved a little later due to obvious incompetence, the welfare committee in Paris appoints an even more incompetent commander:
It is "General" François Amédée Doppet, a dentist by profession whose most outstanding characteristic is that he will immediately pass out when he sees blood ...:
Once "General" Doppet called on to retreat during an assault, when his adjutant fell next to him and his blood splattered on Doppet's uniform, which promptly went sick!
When Doppet is also sent into the desert, Paris appoints General Jacques François Dugommier ...:
Although he is not a "political" general like his predecessors, he is a former lieutenant colonel in the former royal French army, but that is precisely why the almighty welfare committee in Paris does not trust him!
Dugommier had resigned from the army of the Ancien Régime, but proudly refused the seat offered to him in the convent - highly suspicious!
On the other hand: the man has absolutely nothing to prove counter-revolutionary - and because the Wohlfarts Committee doesn't really know what to do with Dugommier, he is now being sent to Toulon.
If he wins, it's good for the revolution, if he fails, that's good too - guillotine! To be on the safe side, he is assigned a political commissioner.
As soon as Dugommier is on site, he is already attracting young, ambitious officers!
A young artillery major reports to him - the man's name is Napoleone Buonaparte and has been promoted by Carteaux to major and deputy chief of the siege artillery, which he de facto commands, since the actual chief is wounded in the military hospital.
Buonaparte carries Dugommier and his political war commissioner Christophe Saliceti ...
... proposes a plan that he has drawn up himself:
If the French take the fortress on Mont Saint Claire, which the British put on their maps as "Fort Mulgrave" ...
... they would have the key of Toulon in their hands, because from there the entire port of the city is in the range of the artillery - and the British have to pull out of Toulon if they don't want to risk their precious ships...:
**contunued next post**
On December 18, 1793, troops of the French Revolution succeed in conquering the dominant fortress of the war port of Toulon - and forcing the British, who have been occupying Toulon since September 18, to withdraw!
The inhabitants of Toulon (at least the rich and previously powerful who had something to lose due to the revolution) had turned away from the leadership in Paris - asked the British for help and handed over the city and port to them.
The British had gladly accepted the present!
14,000 French soldiers have been besieging Toulon for a quarter of a year, but their repeated assaults are always repulsed by the British - and the revolutionary soldiers suffer heavy losses in the process!
This is primarily due to the completely incompetent commanders who are sent from Paris:
The first, "General", Jean Baptiste François Carteaux ...
... is a trained painter and was under the Ancien Régime at the court of Louis XVI. active as a painter. When he was relieved a little later due to obvious incompetence, the welfare committee in Paris appoints an even more incompetent commander:
It is "General" François Amédée Doppet, a dentist by profession whose most outstanding characteristic is that he will immediately pass out when he sees blood ...:
Once "General" Doppet called on to retreat during an assault, when his adjutant fell next to him and his blood splattered on Doppet's uniform, which promptly went sick!
When Doppet is also sent into the desert, Paris appoints General Jacques François Dugommier ...:
Although he is not a "political" general like his predecessors, he is a former lieutenant colonel in the former royal French army, but that is precisely why the almighty welfare committee in Paris does not trust him!
Dugommier had resigned from the army of the Ancien Régime, but proudly refused the seat offered to him in the convent - highly suspicious!
On the other hand: the man has absolutely nothing to prove counter-revolutionary - and because the Wohlfarts Committee doesn't really know what to do with Dugommier, he is now being sent to Toulon.
If he wins, it's good for the revolution, if he fails, that's good too - guillotine! To be on the safe side, he is assigned a political commissioner.
As soon as Dugommier is on site, he is already attracting young, ambitious officers!
A young artillery major reports to him - the man's name is Napoleone Buonaparte and has been promoted by Carteaux to major and deputy chief of the siege artillery, which he de facto commands, since the actual chief is wounded in the military hospital.
Buonaparte carries Dugommier and his political war commissioner Christophe Saliceti ...
... proposes a plan that he has drawn up himself:
If the French take the fortress on Mont Saint Claire, which the British put on their maps as "Fort Mulgrave" ...
... they would have the key of Toulon in their hands, because from there the entire port of the city is in the range of the artillery - and the British have to pull out of Toulon if they don't want to risk their precious ships...:
**contunued next post**
