tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post8686017004592331567..comments2024-03-28T11:28:58.010-07:00Comments on JJ's Wargames: By Fire and Bayonet, Grey's West Indies Campaign of 1794 - Steve Browncarojonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826580638291659193noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-82026024864097804522020-02-19T01:56:10.534-08:002020-02-19T01:56:10.534-08:00Thanks for your comments chaps.
I remember readi...Thanks for your comments chaps. <br /><br />I remember reading about the Sergeant getting promoted on the Corunna retreat during my tour last year, but I seem to remember his case was slightly exceptional in that the rearguard he assembled was composed of stragglers including himself who had fallen behind the main column, often to stop and looy and simply get blind drunk. <br /><br />By the final stages of the march Moore in his frustration ordered no efforts to be made to rescue such people and indeed was warning them that they could face hanging if found by the provosts.<br /><br />The fact that he managed to organise a rearguard in the circumstances probably saved him from punishment and the commission to the West Indies probably reflected that to.carojonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11826580638291659193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-91902230697483690242020-02-18T04:27:26.830-08:002020-02-18T04:27:26.830-08:00Sugar back then was analogous to oil today, a stra...Sugar back then was analogous to oil today, a strategic resource and fount of wealth.<br /><br />The sergeant who organized stragglers into a square during Moore's 1808 retreat was rewarded with a commission - in a West Indian regiment. I always wondered if he survived his first year on that post.vtsaogameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13104194914166417310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-4835629051990186362020-02-16T03:46:17.961-08:002020-02-16T03:46:17.961-08:00Good review thank you. Yes, sugar was a real gener...Good review thank you. Yes, sugar was a real generator of massive profits in the period. I don't think that many people are aware of that today.uiduach OBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15343510770280547569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-7952978643598192162020-02-15T05:42:15.822-08:002020-02-15T05:42:15.822-08:00True enough. Also if Austria, Prussia and Russia ...True enough. Also if Austria, Prussia and Russia weren’t busy carving up Poland...Peter Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14118894381672707297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-88549577162634617272020-02-14T15:01:35.771-08:002020-02-14T15:01:35.771-08:00Hi Peter,
Yes the death toll among the troops sent...Hi Peter,<br />Yes the death toll among the troops sent out to the West Indies is truly staggering, with Brown estimating total British losses in the period 1793 to 1798 in the order of 50,000 men of which 40,500 were dead, the rest including deserters and those left so badly affected as to be invalids.<br /><br />But then in a period of history when life was relatively cheap the death toll is put into perspective when you consider that those in power with a vested interest in the profits made from the sugar trade saw customs duty paid on brown sugar rise by 50% in the same period and accounted for 97% of the exports from the Leeward Islands.<br /><br />The modern equivalent to this kind of business would be oil exports and we only have to consider how readily super powers in modern times have been only too willing to insert their military resources when that business has been threatened. <br /><br />When looked at it from that perspective, Revolutionary France teetering on bankruptcy and political anarchy, probably seemed less of a priority, especially as it faced the combined professional armies of Prussia, Austria and Great Britain and looked likely to be contained within its own borders until it wasn't.carojonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11826580638291659193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2591229843590982581.post-57238971007914567432020-02-14T09:49:35.270-08:002020-02-14T09:49:35.270-08:00It’s a title that has appealed to me, lots of room...It’s a title that has appealed to me, lots of room for fun wargames scenarios and campaigns, including combined ops as you noted. It’s a sad commentary on Britain’s policies that they sent so many to die in the Caribbean capturing sugar islands instead of dealing with the bigger problem in Flanders.Peter Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14118894381672707297noreply@blogger.com