elverno Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 1815 The Duke of Wellington's Continental Victories, Great Britain, 26 x 15mm + brass tube - RR BHM 888 These are the cap ends of a box medal, consisting of a brass tube and 26 individual medals. The set (really the brass tube) is RR while the individual medals are considered N by BHM (British Historical Medals) I'll be posting the individual medals' images in this thread but I warn you they are repetitious and somewhat boring... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 I love sets like this. Great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted June 15, 2011 Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Great set. I'm with Bill on that. I too love things like this set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constanius Posted June 15, 2011 Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 but I warn you they are repetitious and somewhat boring... I love the box, I love the box, I love the box, I love the box.........show us the medals!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted June 15, 2011 Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 I love the box, I love the box, I love the box, I love the box.........show us the medals!!! Don't forget lots of detail on the box too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thomason No. 1 1808 The Battles of Rolica and Vimiero, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 636 (888) There are or were at least three spellings of each of these battles. I won't go into detail on each as BHM usually does that. As always, larger pictures and usually some detail by following the link below the picture. In this case I had collected this medal previously: 1808 The Battles of Rolica and Vimiero, Great Britain. 15mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted June 15, 2011 Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 I like the medals. I can see where they'd be a great treasure to a history buff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thomason No. 2 1809 The Battle of Oporto, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 672 (888) Bramsen 2215 Many of the battles commemorated in this set are pretty minor affairs, at least in the scope of the total war. I'm sure it meant a lot to those who were maimed or killed but the numbers involved scarcely rate a medal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Don't forget lots of detail on the box too. The tube itself is engraved. I suspect I need to take several pictures and then "stitch" them together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2011 Thomason No. 3 1809 The Battle of Talavera, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 674 (888) Bramsen 2221 And another example from an earlier collecting: 1809 The Battle of Talavera, Great Britain. 15mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 4 1809 The Battle of Corunna, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 670 (888) Bramsen 835 And another: 1809 The Battle of Corunna, Great Britain. 15mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 5 1810 The Battle of Bussaco, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 696 (888) A fiercely fought battle in which the bravery of the French Army and in particular her generals who led from the front was probably never surpassed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 6 1810 The Battle of Coimbra, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 697 (888) Arguably this was more of a colossal muck-up by Massena as opposed to a British victory. Massena had parked his sick and wounded in Coimbra and in the course of maneuvering about got himself cut off from them, possibly bluffed into thinking he was facing more or better troops than he actually did. He left and the militia force that actually faced him forced about 4,500 invalids to surrender. It definitely cost the French but was not exactly a battle per se... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Inside the top cap: Couldn't figure out the appropriate lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constanius Posted June 16, 2011 Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 1810 The Battle of Coimbra, Great Britain. Arguably this was more of a colossal muck-up by Massena as opposed to a British victory. The equivalent of losing by an own goal in soccer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 The equivalent of losing by an own goal in soccer Well, as I said, they were reaching on some of these "battles". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 7 1811 The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 716 (888) Unlike others in this set this was a definite British victory. Though none of the Peninsular battles were terribly large by the standards of the rest of the continent this was a long and bloody affair. While a British victory, it was by no means a certain one. Wellington commented in part, "... if Boney had been there, we should have been beaten" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 8 1811 The Battle of Barrosa, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 715 (888) Bramsen 1090 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thomason No. 9 1811 The Battle of Almeida, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 717 (888) This one falls into the colossal muck-up category. Basically this was a fortified city that the French field commander got cut off from (again) and essentially told the garrison "you're on your own". They decided to get out while they could, left three guys to blow the place up and tried to figure out how to get past the British. The Brits caught two of the guys but the third one blew the place up and in the process the French garrison scampered past the British Army. So, they did retain the blown up fortress, a technical victory I guess. One British officer involved in this muckup later blew out his brains because of it. Sigh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Thomason No. 10 1811 The Battle of Albuera, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 719 (888) Bramsen 2239 This was one of the most intense battles of the entire Napoleonic era. Two lines of infantry stood facing each other through thick smoke firing volley after volley into their opponents thinning ranks. The British 1st Battalion of the 57th Regiment (West Middlesex) were encouraged to "Die Hard, 57th, die hard" by their colonel as he lay wounded. Nearly wiped out it remained the regimental motto until amalgamation into the Queen's Regiment in 1967. While the French lost this battle if there had been many more such "victories" the British Army would have ceased to exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2011 Thomason No. 11 1811 The Battle of Arroyo del Molinos, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 720 (888) And a previous example: 1811 The Battle of Arroyo del Molinos, Great Britain. 15mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elverno Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Thomason No. 12 1812 The Battle of Ciudad Rodrigo, Great Britain. 15mm BHM 732 (888) Bramsen 1153 Along the natural campaign path from Spain to Portugal and vice versa during the Napoleonic Wars stood the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo. This commemorates the taking of the fortress by the British after a siege of 12 days in which the charismatic Scot general Robert "Black Bob" Craufurd was mortally wounded storming the lesser breach. Craufurd had the command of the elite Light Division. One wonders if today's leaders could lead from the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Nice medals and info. It's very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiho Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Fantastic set Elverno, and great descriptions of the battles. Thanks for the post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constanius Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 Thought you might like to see one of my engraved etchings, I have a few from the Peninsular War....or my French troops...I must have a word with the one smoking the pipe. If you don't want these pics cluttering up your posts I would be happy to delete them Just one question, any idea about the very strange looking tree(?), extreme left, in the etching where the French line is starting to break & the officers are trying to stop some soldiers from retreating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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