[page 102]

74.

Should we be willing to grant him what follows: that he be allowed to leave with his army and his ships, he would give up the city.

Wann wir acordieren wolten, wie er sie sagen liesse: wann er dürffte mit seiner Armee und seinen Schiffen abfahren, wollte er die Stadt übergeben.

Our general sent back this aide-de-camp with this response: he should only say to his general that this could not be granted to him, that he had to defend himself as well as he could, according to the rules of warfare. Either he would lose, or he would win, his losses were, all the same, not yet so great, he was still very much able to defend himself.

Unser General schickte diesen Adjudant mit dieser Antwort zurück: Er solte seinem Herrn nur sagen, daß ihm dieses nicht könte zugelassen werden, er solte sich nur nach Kriegsmanier währen, so gut als er könte. Entweder verspielt oder gewonnen, sein Verlust wäre ja noch nicht so groß, er könte sich noch wohl wehren.

As soon as the latter had disappeared behind the enemy redoubts, the shooting recommenced, stronger and more intense than ever. The message, in these terms, hardly pleased the English General, who had to resume combat.

Sobald dieser die feindliche Schantzen wieder hinter sich hatte, wurde gleich wiedrum auf neu gefeuert so starck als noch niemal. Dem englischen General gefiele diese Nachricht gar nicht mit diesem Beding, aber mußte er sich doch wehren aufs neue.

On October 14^th we gave 800 sappers. During the day we had 5 dead and 29 wounded men. The Royal Deux-Ponts and Soissonnois regiments, including the grenadiers and the Chasseurs, were on guard duty. The Gâtinois and Touraine regiments were on the left wing. As for the Hessians and the soldiers from Anspach[182] etc., they did not want to move on to the attack, as they saw that their regiments were decimated, so that it was impossible to organize the defense.

Den 14ten 8br gaben wir Arbeiter 800 Mann. Wir bekamen den Tag über an Todten 5 Mann, Plessirten 29 Mann. Die Wacht hatte das Regimen t Royal De[u]xponts und Soissonois nebst den Grenadirs und Jäger. Auf dem lincken Flügel ware das Regimen t Gadinois et Touraine. Was aber jetzt die hessische und Anspacher etc Truppen anbelangt, wolten nicht mehr angreiffen, dann sie sahen, daß ihre Regimenter gantz zugrund gerichtet wurden, so daß kein Wiederstand zu thun ware.

[réclame]

diesen

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f52/pct:0,0,50,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 102.

[agrandir]

Notes

182. German-speaking soldiers fought on both sides during the American War of Independence. The English had 20,000 Hessian soldiers and 10,000 other German-speaking soldiers under their orders. The British Crown paid for the services of continental armies by means of sometimes large subsidies (estimated at a total of 7 million pounds for all the German mercenaries): 21 million thaler were paid to Landgrave Friedriech II of Hesse-Kassel for sending 4 grenadier battalions, 15 infantry battalions, 2 companies of Chasseurs, and a general staff. Other mercenary troops came from Brunswick, Ansbach-Bayreuth, Anhalt-Zerbst, but all the non-British troops fighting for the Crown were commonly called “Hessian”. The Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst who sent 1,160 mercenaries to America, the most modest share from Germany, received 110,000 pounds in exchange. Therefore it is not surprising to read further down in Flohr’s account that the soldiers from the Deux-Ponts regiment were called out to in German from atop the redoubts that were defended by Hessians enrolled on the British side.