Castle Aching

[Edwardian]

Excellent Martin, thank you.

 

And now, a Nyasaland Sikh!

[RedGemAlchemist]

And now I'm lost again. Fantastic

[webbcompound]

And of course the West India Regiment which wore this uniform till the 1920s

[Nearholmer]

OK, I’ve seen this term “light infantry”, but I have no idea what it means.

 

Does it imply not forming into close-order blocks, and not moving as “musket blocks”?

 

My knowledge of things military is pretty much limited to c1630-1670 and WW2 desert AFVs (I had to build a The Airfix kits for Rommel’s army, when I was happier building Pugs, mineral wagons etc, because my bro’s forces needed some opposition!).

[Edwardian]

OK, I’ve seen this term “light infantry”, but I have no idea what it means.

 

Does it imply not forming into close-order blocks, and not moving as “musket blocks”?

 

My knowledge of things military is pretty much limited to c1630-1670 and WW2 desert AFVs (I had to build a The Airfix kits for Rommel’s army, when I was happier building Pugs, mineral wagons etc, because my bro’s forces needed some opposition!).

 

For the British army, the concept is really a result of fighting in the North American wilderness in the Eighteenth Century. 

 

Troops simplified their long red coats and cropped the tails, and learned to fight in in a loose formation, based on pairs, using cover etc. 

 

All Napoleonic infantry battalions fielded light companies, trained in this way for skirmishing. The British retained red coats, even for its light infantry.  Being able to see someone and being able to hit them were two rather different things in the early Nineteenth Century.

 

Both the British and French armies had whole "light infantry" regiments, but that is a flawed concept; fire power relied on densely ranked infantry employing volley fire, so however effective a screen of skirmishers may be in its role of shielding your main body and annoying the enemy, it could bot deliver decisive destructive force, and was very vulnerable to cavalry. Thus, Light Infantry regiments tended to fight just like any other infantry, including the use of companies for skirmishing.

 

Continental armies gave their light troops various romantic names associated with hunting - the light infantry role was understood as not dissimilar to that of the hunter - chasseur, voltigeur, jäger etc.  

 

While most light companies used the same woefully inaccurate smooth-bore musket as the line infantry, German light troops often used rifles, which were generally considered to have been slower to load but more accurate.  The British adopted this for certain special units, and its riflemen were clothed in green .  One battalion of the 60th Foot became rifles and, of course, there was the famous 95th Regiment. In the Peninsular War, green-clad allied Brunswick jäger companies were also armed with rifles. 

 

Wellington distributed companies of these battalions between his infantry brigades, no doubt with the thought of bolstering the skirmishing capability. Later in the Peninsular, the famous Light Division took shape. This comprised the Rifles and various red-coated, musket-armed Light Infantry battalions. This perhaps marks the transition of the light troops from their original specific role to that of an elite infantry formation.  We see something similar with the British and German parachute regiments during the course of WW2.  

 

Light Infantry saw themselves as the elite of the infantry and adopted something of the light cavalry style. In British line regiments, Light Company officers wore curved light cavalry sabres in place of the straight swords worn by battalion and grenadier company officers.  In British Light Infantry regiments the officers also sometimes adopted the hussar fur-lined pelisse jacket, as did officers of the 95th.  

[St Enodoc]

Excellent Martin, thank you.

 

And now, a Nyasaland Sikh!

His turban seems to be S scale...

[corneliuslundie]

"Duke of Devonshire?

Widely involved in mining operations (mainly lead) across the UK."

I don't know. The place to find out is the romantically named Bog Visitor Centre in the village of - wait for it - Bog - near the Stiperstones. Well worth a visit even if you are not researching local dukes.

Jonathan

PS Statutory railway connection for the thread - the Snailbeach District Railways as modelled by fellow club member Trevor Hughes. https://www.facebook.com/NewtownMRS/

[ianathompson]

Am I right in reading that cafe sign in Esperanto? (Still have not found the quote button.)

 

Yes you are correct. Thalnian is a derivative of Esperanto.

 

All the railways consignment notes are written out in Thalnian.

 

As the layout's website points out I have also invented Marrongacan, a locally spoken language which is used as well.

 

This is probably beginning to drift too far from this thread's main interest.

 

For any one interested the justification for this can be found at https://myafk.net/3-setting-of-the-afk

 

Ian T

[Martin S-C]

His turban seems to be S scale...

It is indeed a magnificent construction - a turban to end all turbans.

 

Reminds me somewhat of a Napoleonic Austrian grenadier cap:

 

[Edwardian]

As an interesting aside, and pertinent to the Castle Aching period, we have the Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI).

 

The marines became a Royal regiment in 1802, thus replacing white facings with blue.  In the 1850s the Royal Marines were re-organised into the RMLI and the Royal Marine Artillery.

 

So, from 1855, the infantry component of the RM was designated light infantry.  Apparently this was part of the development of Naval Brigades, where sailors would be equipped for fighting on land.  A notable use of Naval Brigades was in the Zulu War.

 

Anyway, the idea was that the Marines would provide the light infantry function of the Naval Brigade, landing ahead of the main force and skirmishing. 

 

I believe the corps only reverted to being plain "Royal Marines" in 1923, so RMLI is the correct pre-Grouping designation! 

 

Here are some helping to make Crete British in 1897 (complete with Cretan children dressed like zouaves!) .

 

 

[Hroth]

Ahhhhh.....

 

A police action?

 

Hehehehe....

[runs as required]

And, having spent most of my daughter’s karate class reading about zouaves, I still can’t work it what, apart from pantomime trousers, set them apart from not-zouaves.

I am more interested in the non military reflexiive question:

Why was Nearholmer reading up about zouaves in his daughter’s karate class ?

 

I had to google the word and found this

2. women's trousers with wide tops, tapering to a narrow ankle.

 

This definition looked far more relevant to girls looking forward to going on from karate to an escapist bit of retail therapy together - it seems to me a fashion that could seem so 'far out' that it is the very latest

- or ....vice versa

dh

[Edwardian]

I am more interested in the non military reflexiive question:

Why was Nearholmer reading up about zouaves in his daughter’s karate class ?

 

I had to google the word and found this

2. women's trousers with wide tops, tapering to a narrow ankle.

 

This definition looked far more relevant to girls looking forward to going on from karate to an escapist bit of retail therapy together - it seems to me a fashion that could seem so 'far out' that it is the very latest

- or ....vice versa

dh

 

Well, if you want to tell these fellas they're wearing women's trousers, be my guest ...

[Edwardian]

Reported elsewhere on the site, it is good to see the triumph of rail over road in the form of a Y14 resplendent in ultramarine. 

 

The three occupants of the somewhat deflated Merc were reported unhurt. 

 

You'd think at least one of them might have noticed the sirens or the flashing lights. 

 

Runners up for a Darwin Award, I'd say.  

[Nearholmer]

Why was Nearholmer reading up....

 

Because, however astonished you are that your nearly 7yo daughter has decided to ‘dump’ gymnastics in favour of a highly disciplined and physically demanding martial art, watching the same highly disciplined and physically demanding set of exercises for the umpteenth week in a row begins to pall.

 

What is spooky about this is that my bro’s now 21yo daughter made exactly the same choice, at the same age, but they haven’t met since mine was about a year old. There must be a genetic predisposition towards it.

[Donw]

Well, if you want to tell these fellas they're wearing women's trousers, be my guest ...

 

Ah but we outdid them by sending out soldiers wearing skirts ( well they look like skirts although I know they are Kilts )

 

Don

[Edwardian]

Ah but we outdid them by sending out soldiers wearing skirts ( well they look like skirts although I know they are Kilts )

 

Don

 

Ah, back to the Devils in Skirts!

PS: Good news, though I am actually too much of a brittle, beaten down, exhausted, defeated and depressed nervous wreck to experience either pleasure or relief, but today we exchanged contracts on the house.

 

I'll let you know once the Fat Lady's sung.

[Andy Hayter]

Where is the fngers crossed tab?

[Nearholmer]

It will definitely be a day for kilt-flourishing, and all other forms of traditional jubilation when it finally happens.

[Caley Jim]

We'll have to have a virtual night in The Dodo that day!!

 

Jim

[Skinnylinny]

"Ye ken why it's called a kilt, aye? 'Cause I kilt the last man wha called it a skirt!"

 

On which note, retiring safely back into the shadows...

[laurenceb]

Fingers crossed James!

[Northroader]

Ah, back to the Devils in Skirts!PS: Good news, though I am actually too much of a brittle, beaten down, exhausted, defeated and depressed nervous wreck to experience either pleasure or relief, but today we exchanged contracts on the house.

 

I'll let you know once the Fat Lady's sung.

Hope it does go through OK, but this is the one with the straw roof, and not the one with the ply windows you moving from, cos I’m having trouble following the plot????

[Edwardian]

Hope it does go through OK, but this is the one with the straw roof, and not the one with the ply windows you moving from, cos I’m having trouble following the plot????

 

Reed

[Northroader]

I have this strange deja vu feeling creeping over me.