Flashman and the Cobra by Robert Brightwell

Author:Robert Brightwell [Brightwell, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Napoleonic
ISBN: 9781782990055
Google: mqZJlgEACAAJ
Amazon: B00A969V1O
Goodreads: 16159948
Publisher: Amazon
Published: 2012-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

There was mounting excitement as the army gradually pulled itself together in a single place. Even I had a feeling of apprehension as we saw other dust clouds on the horizon moving in the same direction. There was a strong sense that the shadow war with Mahratta cavalry and the British evading each other was coming to an end and that a proper battle was coming.

We were among the last units to gather, and as I crested that final hill before Assaye I remember my jaw dropping in astonishment for the army was far bigger than I had imagined. The camp stretched fully two miles from left to right and including the camp followers there must have been close to one hundred thousand men in that valley. They had set up camp in the fork of two rivers with the cavalry off to the right, where the fork widened to give more grazing, and the infantry to the left, where the rivers joined. On the opposite side of the valley was an undulating plain leading to some more steep hills in the distance.

To beat this massive army the British had a force of less than twenty thousand. The idea that they had split to trap the Mahratta seemed ridiculous. It was a bit like two mice stalking a cat. The Mahratta had gathered because they had the British where they wanted them. They knew Stevenson with his half of the force was isolated on the other side of the distant hills and that soon Wellesley’s column would be spread out before them on its way to attack the mythical Mahratta forces at Borkardan. The real Mahratta forces, and in particular the forty thousand cavalry, planned to sweep in the next day to make a surprise attack on Wellesley’s column. You did not have to be a general to know that forty thousand cavalry would destroy an army of less than ten thousand strung out marching along a road. Particularly with another thirty thousand infantry, much of it well trained, in support. That would just leave Stevenson’s column to deal with, and if that ‘mouse’ had any sense, it would run south as fast as it could go.

We marched through the ford at the village of Assaye, crossing the northern river called the Juah to join the rest of the camp between that river and the Kaitna half a mile or so further south. The recent rains meant that the rivers were already fast flowing and around chest height for a marching man. Apart from at the fords the banks were quite steep. Climbing the further bank of the Juah, we found that nearest space to have room for our battalions was near the fork of the rivers and so we made camp there. This was upwind of the rest of the camp as already the fields had a strong smell of where thousands of men have been living and defecating for several days. It was colourful, though, with tents

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