A History of Infantry: From the Earliest Times to the Present

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B. Quaritch, 1861 - Infantry - 142 pages

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Page 105 - French squadrons strew the ground Bomb-shell and grape and round-shot tore, still on they marched and fired — Fast from each volley grenadier and voltigeur retired. " Push on, my household cavalry ! " King Louis madly cried ; To death they rush, but rude their shock — not unavenged they died.
Page 53 - Trust not for freedom to the Franks — They have a king who buys and sells; In native swords and native ranks The only hope of courage dwells: But Turkish force and Latin fraud Would break your shield, however broad.
Page 20 - Franks," says the emperor Constantino, " are bold and valiant to the verge of temerity, and their dauntless spirit is supported by the contempt of danger and death. In the field, and in close onset, they press to the front, and rush headlong against the enemy, without deigning to compute either his numbers or their own. Their...
Page 58 - He, too, of battle-martyrs chief! Who, to recall his daunted peers, For victory shaped an open space, By gathering with a wide embrace, Into his single heart, a sheaf Of fatal Austrian spears.
Page 40 - are good vassals, valiant on foot and on horseback; good knights are they on horseback and well used to battle; all is lost if they once penetrate our ranks. They have brought long lances and swords, but you have pointed lances and keen-edged bills; and I do not expect that their arms can stand against yours. Cleave whenever you can; it will be ill done if you spare aught.
Page 140 - ... and shake off this remnant of the ancient combats of knights ; and that military tactics will eventually set aside that part of their system which the cavalry mode of combat has hitherto imposed ; for, owing to the increased efficiency of the weapon to be used, combats, although carried on from a distance, will become more murderous, and will therefore be more quickly decided.
Page 97 - Maxwell, who commanded it, ordered his men to screw their bayonets into their muzzles to receive them ; but to his great surprise, when they came within a proper distance, the French threw in a heavy fire, which for a moment staggered his people, who by no means expected such a greeting, not conscious how it was possible to fire with fixed bayonets.
Page 140 - ... those purposes which are incontestably necessary and may be accomplished by them ; for the real object would be lost sight of if the love for cavalry, in preference to infantry service, were infused into such a corps. It is a different thing to form a horseman who is fit for cavalry service, or to train a soldier, to whom the horse is nothing more than the means of transport. " The numerous improvements in fire-arms lead us to conclude that the art of war, which since the discovery of powder...

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