THE BRITISH ARMY OH THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 
173 
forty to one ; but the detachments of the Forty-first and Forty-ninth came 
gallantly to their rescue, and again obtained the mastery of that position, and for 
a while, despite the deadly batteries and the multitudinous infantry of the 
Russians, they stood their ground till again forced by accelerating numbers. 
The Duke of Cambridge, while the artillery on the opposite hills thundered 
and pounded away amidst vivid cataracts of flame, brought up the Guards, who 
charged this redoubt as if, besides life, immortality was to be won. They were 
successful, and a few lumdered men set at defiance 7000 of the enemy who, three 
several times, sought to recover what they had won and lost. And here, in fact, 
occurred perhaps one of the most splendid episodes of the morning. Back to 
back on that bloody ground, sodden into a hideous quagmire, the gallant Cold¬ 
stream fought against an infuriated multitude till their ammunition was expended, 
and then clubbing their muskets, by dint of blows from stock [and stone, they 
drove the Russian! back far enough to obtain room to form in line, and with 
level bayonets charged the retreating masses and again rejoined their comrades. 
Meantime, while 12,000 English soldiers fought hand to hand and with crossed 
bayonets against a host counting upwards of 40,000 trained men, the Russians 
were picking off the officers as a sportsman selects his game. 
THE 15TH HUSSARS AT YILLARS EH COUCHE. 
The allied forces, under the Hereditary Prince of Orange, were besieging 
Landrecies. The French, in order to interrupt their operations, advanced from 
Cambray as far as Yillars en Couche. They dislodged the Hessians and drove 
them from the river Celle, thus stopping the communication. The French were 
20,000 strong. Undismayed by their numbers, Captain Ryan, with two squadrons 
of the 15th Light Dragoons and two squadrons of hussars, charged them vigorously, 
killed about 1000 men and took three pieces of cannon. The communication was 
thus re-established with the Hessians, and the right wing of the besieging army 
at Laudrecies recovered. The German Generals, Stentkeresky and Count de 
Meoveldt, were warm in their praise of the gallantry of the dragoons, especially 
as it 1 had saved the Emperor of Austria from being made prisoner by the patrols 
of the French on his way from Brussels. More acceptable, however, than the 
laudation of the German Generals was the approval of the Duke of York, who 
added, in his general order eulogizing the 15th Dragoons, that “ they charged 
the enemy with the greatest success, and finding a line of infantry in the rear of 
the cavalry, they continued the charge without hesitation, and broke them like¬ 
wise ; and had they been properly supported, the entire destruction of the enemy 
must have been the consequences.” 
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH AND THIRTY-THIRD REGIMENTS IN 1793-4. 
The 33rd Regiment gained laurels for itself in Holland; nor could it be other¬ 
wise, commanded as it was, by the immortal Wellington, the Lieut.-Colonel 
Wellesley. Retreating after a night attack on Bextel, General Abercromby 
directed the Thirty-third to cover the Guards as they retired. This was the first 
time in which the great Duke was ever under fire, and he shared with his gallant 
corps in the coolness with which the pursuing cavalry of the enemy were met and 
repulsed. The Forty-second, Forty-fourth and Seventy-eighth likewise behaved 
