Battle of Cannae

“ Hannibal chose his fighting ground whenever possible with a view to using their full power, first to defeat the hostile cavalry, then to ride down the shaken infantry masses, and finally to pursue au fond. At Cannae, the greatest disaster ever suffered by the Romans, the decisive blow and the slaughter were the work of Hannibal’s line cavalry, the relentless pursuit that of his light horse. But a professional long-service army has always the greatest difficulty in making good its losses, and in the present case it was wholly unable to do so. ”

“ Lentulus escaped on horseback in the rush. Then there was flight in all directions; 7000 men escaped to the smaller camp, 10,000 to the larger, and about 2000 to the village of Cannae. These latter were at once surrounded by Carthalo and his cavalry, as the village was quite unfortified. The other consul, who either by accident or design had not joined any of these bodies of fugitives, escaped with about fifty cavalry to Venusia; 45,500 infantry, 2700 cavalry - almost an equal proportion of Romans and allies - are said to have been killed. ”

“ The legions which had fought at Cannae were the fifth and sixth. After declaring that he would take these with him into Africa, he inspected them man by man; and leaving those whom he considered unfit for service, he substituted for them those whom he had brought from Sicily, filling up those legions so that each might contain six thousand two hundred infantry and three hundred horse. The horse and foot of the allies, of the Latin confederacy, he also chose out of the army of Cannae.
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There is a wide difference among historians as to the number of men transported into Africa. ”

“ Ten thousand horse and twenty thousand war-camels poured in upon that defenceless rear, and, even as Kanana had declared, in just one hour there were thirty thousand Arabs wielding their savage swords in the army of Heraclius.
Another hour went by. The battle cry of Kahled ceased. The shout of victory rang from the throats of the Mussulmans. Manuel and all his officers were slain. The magnificent army of Heraclius was literally obliterated.
Treasure without limit glutted the conquered camp. Arabia was saved. ”

“ I only wish that the facts which I am about to allege could be brought before the army at Canusium, which is best able to testify to each man's courage or cowardice, or at least that we had before us P. Sempronius Tuditanus, for if these men had followed him they would at this moment be in the Roman camp, not prisoners in the hands of the foe.
"The enemy had nearly all returned to their camp, tired out with fighting, to make merry over their victory, and these men had the night clear for a sortie. ”

“ On the 19th of July, as the first rays of morning light glanced upon the hostile armies, the French were discovered in order of battle, and a sudden burst of artillery from the batteries of the allies sent forward a shower of balls, which, rending the ranks of the enemy, formed a prelude to the sanguinary conflict which followed. For some time the fighting was limited to the infantry [19] and artillery, and the Fourth Horse were spectators of the fray; yet a cannon shot or two occasionally plunging into the ranks, laid several troopers and their horses dead on the plain. ”

“ You, my soldiers, under the conduct and auspices of my father were the first to retrieve the defeat of Cannae by barring the way to Hasdrubal when he was marching to the Alps and Italy. Had he joined forces with his brother the name of Rome would have perished; this success of yours held us up under those defeats. ”

“ While the allied army was forming for battle, the Inniskilling dragoons and other cavalry covered the operation, and were exposed to the enemy's cannon. The French household troops, headed by the princes of the blood, became impatient of inactivity, and quitting their advantageous position, galloped forward to commence the action. The British cavalry advanced to meet their antagonists, and were repulsed; but a volley [41] from the British infantry destroyed several French squadrons, and the English troopers returning to the charge, drove back their opponents. ”

“ The British, though invested by a force of more than ten times their own numbers, resolved on a vigorous defence; but unfortunately they had no artillery, very little ammunition, and the wall round the village was in a ruinous condition. The enemy forced the gates, battered down part of the wall with their cannon, and assaulted the place by storm, but were repulsed with severe loss. A second assault was given, and the British troops, having spent all their ammunition, defended themselves a short time with stones and other missiles; but were eventually forced to surrender prisoners of war. ”

“ Cannæ. A town of Naples, province of Terra di Bari. It is celebrated for the great victory gained there by Hannibal over the Romans, in the summer of 216 B.C. The loss of the Romans is stated by Livy at 45,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry.
Cannon. A military engine of which the general form is that of a hollow cylinder closed at one end, and variously mounted, used for throwing balls and other instruments of death by force of gunpowder. Cannons are made of iron, brass, bronze, and sometimes of steel rods welded together, and are of different sizes. ”

“ When it turned out to be simply a human device they were still more alarmed at what they suspected was an ambuscade, and they took to flight. Now they fell in with some of Hannibal's light infantry, but both sides shrank from a fight in the darkness and remained inactive till daylight. In the meantime Hannibal had marched the whole of his army through the pass, and after surprising and scattering some Roman troops in the pass itself, fixed his camp in the district of Allifae. ”

“ Cannon appear to have been first used in sieges as mortars, to destroy hoardings by throwing round stones and barrels of burning composition. Early in the 15th century we find cannon throwing metal balls, not only against hoarding and battlements, but also to breach the bases of the walls. It was only possible to work the guns very slowly, and archers or crossbowmen were needed in support of them, to drive the defenders from the crenellations or loopholes of the battlements. At that period the artillery was used in place of the medieval siege engines and in much the same manner. ”

“ Though the cannon of the fortress thundered in front, the French soldiers poured down their volleys of musketry, and hand-grenades, shells, and large stones, flew in showers through the darkened air; yet onward went the Royal Scots, and assailed the breach with a degree of valour and intrepidity which rivalled the gallant exploits of their predecessors under the great Gustavus Adolphus. But the defences round the breach had not been destroyed, and success was found to be impossible; the storming party was consequently ordered to retire. ”

“ The remainder of the poor beasts, more than 2,000 in number, were shot or stabbed and flung into the sea. Only enough were left to draw nine guns, which the general intended to use if he was forced to give battle before the embarkation was finished. The rest of the cannon, over fifty in number, were safely got on board the fleet. The personnel of the cavalry and artillery went on shipboard very little reduced by their casualties in the retreat. ”

“ For two hours, from one to three, there was a terrific cannonade, and the batteries on both sides suffered severely. In both the Union and Confederate lines caissons were blown up by the fire, riderless horses dashed hither and thither, the dead lay in heaps, and throngs of wounded streamed to the rear. Every man lay down and sought what cover he could. It was evident that the Confederate cannonade was but a prelude to a great infantry attack, and at three o'clock Hunt, the Union chief of artillery, ordered the fire to stop, that the guns might cool to be ready for the coming assault. ”

“ Company E thereupon moved to the main ridge and helped mop up the area.80
At 0700 the 3d Battalion, 17th Infantry, moved out, reaching the source of the Palanas River at 1400. An enemy force of about fifty men was observed in a natural bowl to its immediate front. The battalion placed long-range rifle and machine gun fire on the group as two platoons from Company K attacked from the flank. They destroyed the entire Japanese force without any casualties to the American troops. The 3d Battalion then crossed the Palanas River and went into night perimeter at Kang Cainto. ”

“ The river having fallen considerably during the night, the soldiers passed the stream on the following day, under cover of the fire of the guns, and assaulting the breast-works of the main body of Canojee’s legions, carried them at the point of the bayonet, and pursued the routed enemy two miles with great slaughter. A body of Arabs disdaining to seek their safety in flight, fought with great desperation until overpowered. ”

“ More than twenty thousand loyalists, men, women, and children, of the highest rank, crowded the beach and the quays, in a state of indescribable consternation, imploring rescue from the infuriate army of the republicans howling like wolves around the walls of the city, eager to get at their prey. In increase of the horror of the scene, a most furious cannonade was in progress all the time from every ship and every battery. Cannon balls tore their way through family groups. ”

“ Canning witnessed the surrender of the Dutch colony at Surinam, to the naval and military forces under Lord Hugh Seymour and Lieutenant-General Trigge [2] ; and six days subsequent to that event, he assisted at the capture of the French frigate Republicain, mounting 34 guns, with a complement of 250 men, some of whom, however, were absent in prizes. In the short but close action which took place on this occasion (after an anxious chase of more than fifty hours) , the enemy’s ship was reduced to a mere wreck, and sustained a loss of nine men killed and twelve wounded. ”

“ On the 7th of May the French and Spaniards, commanded by the Marquis de Bay, marched in the direction of Campo Mayor, when the Portuguese generals, contrary to the advice of the Earl of Galway, resolved to pass the Caya and attack the enemy. The Portuguese cavalry and artillery took the lead, and, having passed the river and gained the opposite heights, opened a sharp cannonade; but upon the advance of their adversaries to charge, these squadrons faced about and galloped out of the field, leaving their cannon behind. The British division, arriving at the moment, repulsed the enemy ”

“ I was dismayed and grieved by this terrible catastrophe, which the French hailed with shouts of rapture and triumph: they redoubled their battering, with such effect on the shattered walls, that every time a ball struck, other masses gave way, burying soldiers and cannon beneath them. By sunset every gun was entombed under the prostrate walls, and we had only musketry to trust to, in case of an assault; which I had no doubt would be attempted that very night, as the breach was quite practicable, and the continual cannonade prevented us from repairing it by fascines or any other contrivance. ”

“ But before we could get ourselves quite disentangled from the wood, the troops on the Barrosa Hill were seen returning from it, while the enemy's left wing was [31] rapidly ascending. At the same time his right wing stood on the plain, on the edge of the wood, within cannon-shot. A retreat in the face of such an enemy, already within reach of the easy communication by the sea-beach, must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving on the narrow ridge of Bermesa nearly at the same time. ”

“ The King's Own, and Highlanders, afterwards advanced against another fortified post at Petit Bourg; the enemy kept about two hundred yards in front, and setting fire to the sugar canes, obliged the troops occasionally to leave the road to avoid accidents to their ammunition. Arriving at the river Lezard, the enemy was found strongly entrenched behind the ford; but the troops having procured two canoes, a body of men passed the river in the night, and advanced at daybreak to attack the enemy in flank, while the remainder prepared to attack the front, and the enemy instantly fled in dismay. ”

“ The first, which was similar to that employed by the Americans, utilized a base of fire from supporting weapons, followed by infantry fire and movement. This type of attack was not usually accompanied by artillery or mortar support. The other method consisted of a localized charge in which the Japanese by sheer force of numbers tried to crack the American lines. The heavy weapons fire of the Americans was nearly always able to break up both types of attack. Enemy forces, generally in small numbers, tried repeatedly to infiltrate through the American lines. ”

“ They could see in it nothing but cowardly desertion. They said:
"He was afraid that we should be conquered, and instead of standing by us to fight for Arabia, he ran to the enemy to hide himself;" and in their anger they betrayed him. They reported to the Greeks that he was a Bedouin, of the army of Kahled, not a Syrian servant of Jababal.
Kanana was quickly seized, bound and dragged into the presence of the prince. ”