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Reply To: Bendooragh near Coleraine – first ‘Highland Charge’?

December 15, 2023 at 9:22 am #1853600

fogh

7155xp

Hi Wolfie, ? you may be right about the Caledonians, but perhaps not far North enough, and not the sort of charge I was thinking of!

The approach of marching to close range, firing a salvee with all ranks, and then falling on with cold steel, could well have come to the British Isles via veterans returning after fighting with Gustav Adolph who seems to have formalised the approach in his army in the 1620s. It also makes a lot of logical sense when you have less powder than your enemy and need to rely on a quick result.

I don’t know much about the later Swedish Charles, but their aggressive volley and charge tactic must surely stretch back to their illustrious ancestor Gustav Adolph?