THE BATTLE OF MINDEN  - 1 AUGUST 1759

In 1759 during the Seven Years War, Prussia, under Frederick the Great, was fighting against France, Austria and Russia. England joined Prussia and sent troops to Germany where they operated jointly with the Prussian Army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, one of Frederick’s most able allies.

The Battle of Minden, fought on 1 Aug 1759, was the culmination and only major battle of the campaign of 1759. In the space of a few hours, Marshall Contades, Commander of the numerically superior French Forces, engaged and saw the accumulated advantages of a brilliantly executed 3 month campaign dissipated largely because 9 Battalions of Infantry (6 British and 3 Hanoverian) contrary to accepted practice, and in spite of a withering cross fire from 60 cannon, marched on the French cavalry and shot them to pieces at point blank range.

The English Infantry, which included Napier’s Regiment, were formed up on the right of the Anglo-Prussian Army. Through a mistaken order they advanced unsupported against the French with Colours flying and Drums beating. Six times they were charged by the French Cavalry, and each time, by their steadfastness and accurate musketry fire, they repulsed the charges.

A contemporary historian described this action as follows :
Finally, the English Infantry reached the French lines and charged two French Infantry Brigades, chasing them from the field in confusion. At this moment the English cavalry under Lord George Sackville, received orders to charge the fleeing French, but these orders were not carried out and the French escaped. As the Regiment passed through some rose gardens that morning the men plucked roses which they fastened to their hats. Napier’s Regiment, later renumbered 12th foot, was then re-styled the Suffolk Regiment.
In honour of the battle, the 1st Bn The Royal Anglian Regiment continues the custom of wearing red and yellow roses in their head-dress on 1 Aug and by carrying the battle honour ‘MINDEN’ on their Regimental Colour.

Below, from: Encarta - Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 99 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.

Minden, Battle of, engagement in the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 Aug 1759 between an Anglo-German army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and a French army under Marshal Contades. Ferdinand had begun the year in a defensive position along the River Lippe, but in June the French marched around his left flank with the bulk of their army. Contades captured the fortress of Minden on July 10, which allowed him to threaten his enemy's supply bases. Ferdinand decided to tempt the French into battle by dividing his own army a few miles from the French encampment, but Contades almost managed to surprise Ferdinand's army, which was deployed in some confusion. The British infantry, who were the first to arrive on the battlefield, successfully repulsed the main French attacks, but the British cavalry, which could have turned the French defeat into a rout, failed to charge. The cavalry commander, Lord George Sackville, was later cashiered, but despite his inactivity, the French abandoned Minden and retreated up the River Weser.

Germain, George Sackville, 1st Viscount Sackville (1716-1785), British soldier and statesman, son of Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He became an officer in the British army and served with distinction in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). As a major general during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), he commanded an unsuccessful attack on St-Malo, France (1758). In the following year, at the Battle of Minden, he refused the orders of his commander to lead a cavalry charge that would have ensured a decisive allied victory. He was court-martialled in 1760 and dismissed from the service. Known after 1770 as Lord George Germain, he served as colonial secretary under Lord North from 1775 to 1782. In this capacity he was directly responsible for the conduct of British policy during the American War of Independence and was blamed for the failure of the Saratoga campaign (1777).

Afternote from Webmaster: Sackville seems to have been a soldier under whom I am pleased not to have served!
In the 1980s I had the honour of commanding HQ (Suffolk) Coy, 6 (V) Bn The Royal Anglian Regt, based in Bury St Edmunds. Every year since then I have been away, often on military duties, on the nearest Sunday to 1 Aug, when Suffolk Regt Comrades gather in Bury St Edmunds for a grand Minden Day Reunion.
At last, in 2005, at Rollestone Camp, on 1 Aug, my Minden Day rose was affixed! Click here for 2005 photographs and here for 2006 photographs of SACF on Minden Day.