English civil war campaign. Battle 5. Parliament attacks East Midlands.

Battle 5, Parliamentarians move into the East Midlands 

The Parliamentarian army lead by Sir Morgan advanced into the East Midlands to deal with the bulge in their front line and secure the area around the capital. They were met by Sir Ellerby and his Royalist defenders on a snowy field in the Spring of 1644. The battle field was narrowed by a streem on one flank and a steep hill and woods on the other, an area of rough ground on the Parliamentarians right would prove to be useful to them. The armies where mismatched with the Parliamentarians loosing a unit of horse off foraging and a regiment of pike and shot deserting due to not been paid. On the Royalist side the army was in good spirit and brought an extra cannon. The Parliamentarians been out numbered put them on the tactical defence and did not leave their commanders feeling very confident of victory. The Parliamentarians did have one advantage with their unified command structure giving them a reroll on their order rolls.

Parliamentarians pamphlet cover

The armies deployment was not conventional due to the restricting terrain. The Parliamentarian army deployed between the steep hill and the rough ground on the right. Their infantry on the left with light cannons and the bulk of their cavalry defending the right flank around the rough ground.  The Royalist deployed in response to the enemies disposition but struggled to deploy their larger army on this narrowed front.

The armies deployed 

The battle commenced with neither army been enthusiastic to move forward with orders failed on both sides and even some Parliamentarian troops blundering backwards despite the unified command structure.

The real action began with the parliamentary cavalry charging into the Royalist musketeers sending two of these units retiring shaken. 

The Parliamentarian cavalry mauls the infantry opposite 

The Parliamentarian’s infantry finally got their act together and began their advance on the Royalist lines. The Royalist struggled to get their musketeers into a position to make their superior numbers count.

The Parliamentarian infantry advance with cannon in support

View from the Royalist lines

The Royalist cavalry on their left tried to manoeuvre around the rough ground to out flank their foe. Meanwhile the Parliamentarian cavalry kept up their attacks on their right, disrupting the movement and deployment of the Royalist infantry.

The rough ground impedes the Royalist movement.

On the Parliamentarian left the infantry continued their advance in the face of the now organise Royalist musketeers. The roundhead pikemen manoeuvred into charge range.

The roundheads infantry push forward

More daring cavalry charges by Parliamentary forces saw both side cavalry battalias close to breaking. Royalist cavalry eventually pushed through and round the rough ground with some success, breaking a unit of commanded shot and dragoons holding positions around this feature.

The cavalry continue to clash playing a pivotal roll in the battle

The battles finale saw a desperate cavalry action in which the roundhead cavalry spent the last of their energy in seeing off the enemy cavalry that had got on their flank. This broke the cavalry battalias on both sides but left the blown roundheads in control of their right flank. 

The roundhead cavalry, a spent force but holding the ground 

On the Parliamentarians left the pikemen charged on mass lead by directly by the general and bittalia commanders into the Royalist infantry sending their musketeers running and leaving their pikemen surrounded and outnumbered.

The clash of pikes sees the roundheads coming out on top

The Parliamentarian command was confident of victory but the tally told the tale of a decisive victory for Parliament.  Despite been outnumbered, a good use of the terrain and an aggressive mindset made for a great victory.

Parliamentarian’s high command observe the battle from atop the hill

With East Midlands in the hands of Parliament their capital is better protected and their confidence in the whole campaign has grown at this mid point. The Royalist still have the upperhand on a strategic level and Parliament still has an up hill struggle.