THE 'LAST FIGHT IN ARMOUR

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16326, 23 August 1913, Page 6

THE 'LAST FIGHT IN ARMOUR

The last fight in armour occurred during Napoleon’s time. In 1799, the main army of the French having withdrawn from the town of Aquila, abodv of some four hundred soldiers remained in the place, whose inhabitants were well disposed toward them. But the peasants of the surrounding region were bitterly hostile, and, rising in revolt, penetrated the town and drove the Frenchmen into the fortress, which was small and weak, yet powerful enough to hold the insurgents at bay with its cannon.

These insurgents numbered ten or twelve thousand. They barricaded the street and loopholed the houses, so that they were safe from attack, but this did not sntisfy them. They wished to take the fort, which, without artillery, was manifestly _ impossible. Finally some cunning brain devised a scheme that came near to being successful. Between the fort and the nearest houses there lay on tho glacis, without carriages, and resting upon pieces of wood, twelvo guns which the French had not had time to take into the fort with them. The position of tho guns exposed them to fire from both sides, so it was not thought they would bo interfered with, though by way of precaution two of tho guns of the' fortification were kept trained upon them.

One night the sentinel hoard a noise. Ho fired, hut the sound continued, ana did not immediately cease after other shots, though it seemed to draw farther off. Wien daylight eame it was seen that, under cover of darkness, the insurgents had reached tho nearest gun, attached a rope to tho breech, and then, fastening tho ropo to a capstan in the nearest house, had attempted to haul the piece away.

Had it been a military man who tried tho trick, lie would have succeeded, but the peasants did not know enough to thrust rollers under the gun before hauling, and consequently tlm breech dug a furrow into the soil which soon became deep enough to stop further progress. Nevertheless, the besieged were much irritated by the occurrence, and determined to prevent a repetition of it. They cannonaded tho house from which tho rope issued 1 , but when the walls foil they found that tho capstan was in the cellar, and. consequently uninjured. although blocked for the time by debris. This did not content them. Then it was that the commandant of the fort remembered having seen stowed away in it somewhere a dozen suits of ancient armour. He selected twelve of ])is coolest men, gunners and grenadie rs, clothed them in this armour, and sent them out to spike the guns. Covered with steel from head to foot and carrying spikes and hammers, the men marched heavily, awkwardly, out of the fort, and moved in dead silence toward the coveted guns, the white smoke curling about their mailed figures, and bullets pattering harmlessly against antique helm and corselet. Many of tho peasants were horrorstruck, and believed the strange figures to bo diabolical and invulnerable. while, after tho first anxious moment was passed, their comrades, looking from the walls, broke into exultant roars of laughter. The twelvo latter-day knights returned safely from their raid, having spiked tho guns and cut the tops. Though many times hit, they had him one wound among them, a slight one received by a soldier who had wrongly adjusted a “ brassart,” so that.it ton off and left his arm exposed. Tho insurgents were discouraged; though the blockade continued, throe was little more fighting, » nc ] tK jv sieged were 60011 relieved friend’s.