Crecy, the evening of battle begins

After giving his orders to his army to halt for the night, King Philip will have ordered his immediate entourage to start pitching camp and getting ready to cook dinner. It cannot have been long, however, before Philip began receiving messages telling him that all was not going to plan. The troops ahead of him on the line of march were pushing forward in confusion, while those behind were in an even greater muddle.

In fact the movements and actions of King Philip in the crucial hour or so that followed are enigmatic. Our best source for the movements of the French high command is le Bel, whose patron John of Hainault was with the king throughout most of the day. His chronicle leaves King Philip somewhere near Marcheville having given the halt order at about 4pm. Philip is not mentioned again until late in the battle when, as we shall see, he takes a prominent part.

Baker likewise barely mentions King Philip’s role in the battle itself. He says that Edward unfurled his dragon banner in response to seeing that King Philip had brought the Oriflamme with him and implies that this took place before the French attack began. Writing just days after the battle, Richard Wynkeley also reports seeing Philip’s banner before the fighting began. “The adversary” writes Wynkeley using his usual euphemism for Philip, “intending to attack the king personally stationed himself in the front line”. It should be remembered that it was impossible to recognise a man across the width of a battlefield, especially if his face were hidden by a helmet. What Wynkeley saw was Philip’s banner.

The only definite statement of Philip’s movements at this crucial time comes from Froissart who writes that when he learned of the chaos enveloping his army, Philip rode forward to try to take control of the situation but “when the French king saw the Englishmen, his mood changed. He said to his Marshals ‘Begin the battle in the name of God and St Denis’”.

This is an extract from The Battle of Crecy by Rupert Matthews

Alexander the Great on the Granicus - video

Watch the video HERE


Buy the book

The First Battle of Modbury, English Civil War

The causes of the English Civil War of the mid 17th century were complex. Some felt that political considerations were the more important, either wanting to advance the power of Parliament or to enforce the rights of the King. Others saw religion as more important with Protestants backing the radicals in Parliament and the moderates favouring the King’s support for the established Church of England. Still others were more concerned with ridding England of the inept ministers that King Charles had chosen. For many it was a mix of motives that led them to chose the side they did.

Whatever the motivations that led England into civil war, the southwest of England was generally for the king when King Charles I raised the Royal Standard in August 1642 and summoned all loyal Englishmen to join his army. A striking exception was the city and port of Plymouth, which declared for Parliament and closed its gates to the county authorities who supported the king.

At first few men took the prospect of civil war seriously. Several weeks passed without serious fighting as both sides sought to take control of armouries, fortresses and civic treasuries. Both King and Parliament thought the other would back down rather than force a conflict. It was not until after the first large scale battle at Edgehill in October that it dawned on most men that the war was to be taken seriously.

Sir Ralph Hopton, a gentleman from Somerset, was appointed the King’s commander in the Southwest. He ordered the loyal men of South Devon to muster for war at the church at Modbury on 6 December 1642. Each man was to bring with him whatever he had in the way of weapons. Hopton planned to organise the men in to regiments once they had arrived. Those with good weapons were to be fighting troops, those without to form supply units or train as siege engineers or to be used for the manual labour that all armies need.

When Hopton arrived he was pleased to find that more than 3,000 men had turned up. The task of getting them organised into an army would begin the next day. Unfortunately for Hopton the Parliamentarian garrison of Plymouth had heard of the muster and were determined to intervene.


1) In Modbury walk west up the hill and along the A379 to find the war memorial on the left near the top of the hill. 

It was down this road at dawn on 7 December that a force of 500 Roundhead troopers came galloping at full speed led by Colonel Ruthin. The professional horsemen wasted little time, but at once went to work attacking the sleepy Royalists as they stumbled from their beds and tents. Hopton himself narrowly escaped a sweeping sword blade before he managed to get on horseback and try to organise a rally, but it was too late. The Roundheads swept through the town with ruthless efficiency and the forming royalist army was scattered across the fields of south Devon. This First Battle of Modbury was over quickly and few men lost their lives – neither would be true of the Second Battle of Modbury.

This is an extract from Battlefield Walks in Devon by Rupert Matthews

Video for the book Heroes of Fighter Command in Surrey

Watch the video HERE

The RAF Bomb Brest July 1941

The British relied on the convoys crossing the Atlantic for survival, so the bombing of German naval targets was thought to be crucial. It was also very dangerous. Among the main targets were the German warships sheltering in Brest, from where they could sally out against the convoys with ease.

One of several raids on Brest at this time was carried out by no.104 Squadron flying Wellingtons. The bombing was carried out from low level, the bombers having flown right around Brittany far out to sea in an effort to avoid alerting the defences. The ruse proved successful and only the permanently manned defences were in operation as the Wellingtons went in to the attack at 3.30pm. Those defences were strong enough and several of the bombers were damaged, others having their aim spoiled by the heavy flak.

With the Germans alerted, the safest route home was to climb for height while heading directly north across France toward Cornwall. The German fighters arrived with unusual speed, and a force of Messerschmitt Bf109 fighters came diving down as the Wellingtons were struggling for height. The Wellington piloted by Squadron Leader H. Budden DFC was leading the third section and came in for savage punishment. A spray of incendiary bullets riddled the fuselage behind the wings, setting it ablaze.

Rear gunner Sergeant John Armstrong had received a bullet through his shin during the attack, but despite the wounds he scrambled out of his turret to tackle the blaze. Having doused the flames, Armstrong returned to his guns to find the Germans launching a renewed assault on the bomber formation. Armstrong opened fire, but a spray of German shot shattered the turret perspex and ruptured an oil line, coating Armstrong liberally in the sticky black fluid. A third attack saw a bullet hit Armstrong in the thigh while his turret seized up completely and a fresh fire burst out in the fuselage.

Unable to fire back, Armstrong decided to tackle the new blaze. This second fire was worse than the first and had a firm grip of the aircraft. Sergeant Smalley came back to help and between them the two men put out the fire, at which point Armstrong collapsed. Only then did Smalley realise that Armstrong was twice wounded. He dragged the unconscious man up the fuselage to apply dressings. Armstrong then demanded a pencil and paper so that he could write a note to the pilot outlining the damage suffered by the aircraft.

The Wellington was, indeed, badly damaged. Budden made for Exeter and executed a hair-raising belly landing that put the bomber beyond repair, but did get the men down safely. Medical orderlies and the station padre carefully placed Armstrong on a stretcher and were carrying him off to receive proper treatment when Armstrong stopped them. He demanded to be carried to the debriefing room where Budden was writing out his report. It was a key part of a tail gunner’s job to note the fall of bombs and report these to his pilot so that the information could be included in the combat report. Only once that duty had been done would Armstrong allow himself to be cared for.

This is an extract from RAF Bomber Command at War by Rupert Matthews.

Video for the book Heroes of Fighter Command in Sussex

Watch the video about this book HERE

Wild Animal Hunts in Rome impress the Mob

Soon every victorious general brought back to Rome a selection of animals native to the lands in which they had been fighting. Soldiers on campaign had long written home with accounts of bizarre animals, now the Romans could see the beasts for themselves. Julius Caesar brought a giraffe to Rome, and won great acclaim as no giraffe had been seen in the city before.

It was not long, however, before the generals parading animals through the Forum found they had a problem. What were they to do with the animals once they had been displayed to the crowd. Most of them were expensive to keep in captivity and a few, such as lions, were dangerous. The answer was to include the wild animals in the bloody games of the arena. Exotic animals brought from far distant lands were to be killed for the delight of the mob.

At first the animal fights were fairly straightforward affairs. The hapless beast to be killed was chained to a ring set in the pavement of the Forum and then attacked by men armed with spears and, sometimes, assisted by dogs. By the time Sulla became dictator of Rome in 82BC such a format had become stale. For his animal hunt, featuring beasts from what is now Turkey, Sulla erected tough wooden fences around an open area in the Forum. The animals were then let loose to be hunted down by packs of dogs and men with spears. When the Forum was too small for the proposed display, the event was moved to the Campus Martius, the open fields north of the city, where the Saepta, or voting enclosures, could double as animal pens.

In 79BC Gnaeus Pompey organised a fight between war elephants from North Africa and tribesmen skilled in hunting the beasts. The hunt was held in the Circus Maximus, the chariot racing course which was large and surrounded by banks of seating. Although Pompey’s spectacular almost went wrong when the maddened beasts tried to attack the crowd, elephants remained a favourite of the Roman mob.

This is an extract from The Age of Gladiators by Rupert Matthews