Which battle was the British red square pierced ? was it in Egypt/Sudan?

Question

I know it was broken by horsemen, did they get out ? who won the battle ? did it ever happen again? Did they call the squares hedgehogs because of the rows of bayonets?
Thanks

Answer 1

I believe you are refering to the Battle of Abu Klea which is featured in a Kipling poem. (Sudan)

The battle was short. British troops forced the Dervishes to retreat. The British only suffered around 60-70 casualties were the Mahdists lost over 1,000. Even though the British won this battle, it did allow the Mahdists to take control of Khartoum .

Yes, British squares have been broken more than once.

Answer 2

The British red square was often pieced by cavalry , but there were many squares not just one, and cavalry always payed a heavy price for trying , from a distant hill all the squares did look like hedgehogs hence its name

Answer 3

against the Mahdies army in the Sudan

watch the movie - the four feathers with Heath Ledger - that will show you

at no other time was one pierced

the us war of independence was won by guerilla warfare
as was the irish

at waterloo the heavy french cavalry could not pierce it - or the old guard

Answer 4

3 June 1866: American Fenians under O’Neill defeat English colonial forces at Ridgeway, Ontario. “British Square” broken.

Answer 5

The Black Watch's has been broken. I wouldn't ask for a pint of Broken Square in a pub if they were in town!!!

Answer 6

The British Square Pierced, is the flag that arose from the General Maritime Treaty 1820. Until the 19th century the Gulf emirates' monochrome red flags were undifferentiated, hence the Pirate flag, a Jolly Rouge, was assoiciated with this coastline. However, they then added white borders, hoists, stripes, script, etc.. Moore and Ross 1986 says that in 1820 the British asked Gulf Emirs who were friendly to them and entered into special treaty relationship with them to put white onto their traditional red Muslim flags. There was, however, no standard way to display this white and it was up to the locals to find a way. In most cases, there wasn't even a standardization, it seems, at any single point in time, much less over time.

This explains the white on the flags of the states, as well as on the hoist of the flags of Qatar and Bahrain (both of which were invited to join the United Arab Emirates when it was formed in 1971 but declined). Fujayrah never entered a treaty relationship with the British, so its flag remained plain red. That treaty was the "truce" that changed the Pirate Coast to the Trucial Coast (or Trucial Oman as it was sometimes misleadingly called).

The flag devised was called the 'white pierced red '.

The military formation was developed in the Battle of Foentes D'Onor, - 5th May 1811.

During the Peninsular War, from 3rd to 5th May 1811, in Spain on the Portuguese border west of Ciudad Rodrigo the British, Portuguese and Spanish fought against the French. The Generals in command were Lieutenant General Viscount Wellington against Marshal André Massena, Prince of Essling and Duke of Rivoli. The size of their Armies being 37,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish (1,500 being cavalry) with 48 guns against 48,000 French (4,500 being cavalry) and 46 guns.

Wellington's Seventh Division was a recent formation and comprised only two British battalions, 51st and 85th Foot. On 5th May 1811, a large force of French cavalry crossed the Don Casas on the extreme right flank and drove the Spanish from the hill. The Guard cavalry, brought up by Bessières, attacked the Seventh Division followed by two divisions of French infantry. There was an immediate crisis, the Seventh Division being unable to hold Poco Velha against such force - so withdrew. But to make the retreat possible sent the Light Division to occupy the woods on the extreme flank beyond Poco Velha. . At one point in the critical fighting in the plain the French cavalry was seen to heave about and Bull's troop of Royal Horse Artillery, which had been nearly overwhelmed, burst from their ranks and galloped for the British lines, the gunners fighting hard with their sabres.

Once the Seventh Division had been extracted the Light Division marched back across the plain with the large force of French cavalry circling them, attempting to find an opportunity to charge home. The British regiments marched in square and the French shirked from the attack. Napier described this hazard withdrawal saying, "there was not during the whole war a more perilous hour".

The basic tactics employed by the British Army in the 19th century were laid out in the Field Exercises Manuel of 1833. These differed hardly at all from the formations used by Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars. At Waterloo Napoleon had used his well tried ‘Columns’ formation, a mass of troops advancing on a narrow front to steamroller their way through by sheer weight of numbers. Wellington had countered this with his ‘Line’ formation, which had the advantage of bringing maximum firepower to bear on the advancing foe. After Waterloo the British adopted both systems, advancing to attack in column then deploying into line to fight. The standard defensive formation for receiving cavalry was to form a square, usually of two ranks (front rank kneeling), both ranks with fixed bayonets presenting an impenetrable barrier secure on all sides.

While these tactics were highly successful against mass attacks by lightly armed opponents like the Zulu, Dervishes and Fuzzy-Wuzzies they were disastrous when employed against an enemy armed with modern rifles and arrtillery. By the end of the century infantry weapons had become highly efficient, quick firing and accurate. In the hands of expert marksmen they were lethal, as the British were to discover to their cost during the Anglo Boer War.

Answer 7

In order -
Sudan
No
British
No
Yes