Napoleon's 1805 planned invasion of England. The TRUE story.

[Berthier]

In early 1805 La Grande Armee was positioned in the camp of Boulogne after training for nearly a year it was perhaps the finest fighting force in Europe at the time and possibly for the entire period of the Napoleonic Wars



The army, honed to a razor's edge of sharpness, awaited the order to embark on ships and set sail across La Manche and finally put and end to Perfidious Albion. The fleet such as it was awaited

but the Generals were deeply worried


The whole "scale" of the fleet seemed wrong.



Napoleon mocked his generals, "you have no vision, no courage to take an irrevocable step. You are nothing without me."

"Fools, look again can't you see it is simply a matter of perspective?"



Meanwhile, Napoleon's Chief of Staff, Berthier, was also concerned having served with the French in America during the American Revolution he more than anyone understood the perils of transporting an army across the seas without naval supremacy. Unwilling to directly challenge Napoleon's authority he resorted to subterfuge to save the French Army. Writing a secret letter

To The Emperor Francis of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor etc etc and General Mack Quartermaster General to the Army of Germany

I can no longer remain silent whilst the usurper destroys our nation and leads us to oblivion. I was born an aristocrat and remain one and would have you know there is much dissent in The Army of England. The Marshals argue continually over who is the first amongst them, the Generals are afraid to go to sea the soldier's morale falls with each passing day. There will never be a better time to march against him and restore the rightful rulers to France. Tarry not, move against him now, move to Ulm and take up the central position he cannot stand against you. His army is hundreds of miles away and no-one will support him.

The Austrian's could not believe their luck and quickly marched against Napoleon, forcing him to abandon the invasion of England. Ulm and then Austerlitz would follow, glory to France for ever!

And that is the TRUE story of the invasion of England and how Berthier saved La Grande Armee...believe it or not :rolleyes::rolleyes:;);)

[Gunner]

Yes, he saved them for the Russians.:D

Sorry Daniel, couldn't pass that up.

[Bligh]

Well I enjoy a good yarn in the best possible way that an old sea dog can embroider the story.
Well done young sprog.
Rob.

[Old Salt]

An intersting story

[Comte de Brueys]

Strange story. Heard it the first time.:confused:

Two things canncelled the invasion of England:

Trafalgar and the the declaration of War from Austria and Russia.

[Comte de Brueys]

...by the way: Nice French Army!

[Berthier]

Hey Sven

yeah the french army is actually 1809, it's Davout III corps and 2 Heavy cavalry Divisions all based for Napoleon's Battles which I played years ago.

The story of 1805 above is of course tongue in cheek...it was placed in the wardroom rather than the historical section because of this.

Regarding the abandonment of the invasion of England there is some evidence Napoleon had already made up his mind to give up as he was aware of the Austrian move against him. The final battle of Trafalgar could have been avoided probably but Adm Villeneuve was desperate to save his honour before being replaced by Adm Rosily.

Once committed to taking on the Austrians, napoleon would be tied down by them, the Prussians and the Russians till the Treaty of Tilsit 1808. Even then, with the invasion of Spain and the loss of the use of their ships, a potential invasion of England may not have been possible till 1810-11 even if Trafalgar had never occurred.

[Tommy Z]

Nice Minis...I'm getting naval history lessons every day now!

[Comte de Brueys]

...yeah the french army is actually 1809, it's Davout III corps and 2 Heavy cavalry Divisions all based for Napoleon's Battles which I played years ago.

You choosed one of the best french formations. Davout fought a glorious battle at Auerstedt.

[The Cowman]

LMAO! Very nicely done!!! :)

[Capt P]

Awesome army Daniel.

[Berthier]

Thanks Bob, I would like to say I painted it myself, but back then I simply paid a very very good painter to do them for me. Cost a small fortune, but was spread out over a year. The figures are AB which have the highest detail and can be tricky to paint. I chose Davout III corps because of it's magnificient battle record and the Davout's superb command history throughout the period. Along with Suchet he is the Marshal I most admire.

The cavalry are "The Big Brothers", a few Curiassier regiments some hussars and a cheval chasseur unit plus attached artillery.

[Naharaht]

I had not heard that story before, Daniel. Thank you for sharing it. Sadly, I am having problems seeing the photographs of your army. All I can see are many coloured pixels.

[Killick]

I had not heard that story before, Daniel. Thank you for sharing it. Sadly, I am having problems seeing the photographs of your army. All I can see are many coloured pixels.

Same here!

[Diamondback]

Probably residue from the old hack where some Their Continued Existence Cruelly Deprives Deserving Transplant Patients Of Viable Donor Organs sort buggered the site over royal.

[Berthier]

I had not heard that story before, Daniel. Thank you for sharing it. Sadly, I am having problems seeing the photographs of your army. All I can see are many coloured pixels.

As suggested the photos were lost in a major site disaster/hack some years ago. Just in case any of you are wondering this entire submission was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek and has no passing acquaintance with history!

[Berthier]

I'm in Prague at the moment and am traveling to Spain next week and hope to get to the maritime museum in Madrid (of all places so far from the sea) will try and post pictures of that. When I get back home will search archives to see if I have any of the original images from this post still.

[Bligh]

That will be great Daniel. What a pity you were not able to visit England in two weeks time for Doncaster.

I came across a rider to this story a week or so ago that suggested two other influencing factors in Napoleon's decision. Whilst inspecting the invasion barges, he insisted upon a demonstration despite the weather being too bad for safe embarkation of troops. Consequently many barges sank with great loss of life. When added to the debacle of the attempted invasion of Ireland, this tipped the scales, and he decided to use the Army for his other grand scheme. Trafalgar just convinced him that he was correct. He never understood ships!
Rob.

[Berthier]

That is correct Rob, the practices with the barges was a disaster and his naval commanders told him not to order it but that was Napoleon. Not dissimilar to the disaster in WW2 on the southern coast of Britain where training for a beach landing also ended badly and the events were hushed up for decades.

Anyway, Napoleons decision to not invade had been made before Trafalgar as he was accepting the surrender of the Sustrian General Mack just days before Trafalgar. You could argue Trafalgar stopped all thought of ever invading Britain but it is hard to know. French ship building continued strongly up until the disasters of 1812, but between 1805-12 Napoleon was fighting almost continuously on the continent 1806 Prussia, 1807 Russia on Poland, 1808-14 in Spain and Portugal, 1809 back against Austria. The only "window of opportunity" was probably 1810-11 when he married Marie-Louise and shut down the Austrian threat for a few years, but even then Russia had ceased to cooperate with Continental blockade and was actively working against him.