SINCE 1588.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 230, 27 September 1940, Page 6

SINCE 1588.

INVASION PLANS. HOW NAPOLEON TRIED LACKED MASTERY OF THE SEA Various nations through the years have cast covetous eyes on England, and have planned invasion, but without success. There was the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and when that was overcome, England thought herself once more inviolable, but she had not reckoned with the tenacity of Philip 11., of Spain, who gathered together another fleet. After seizing Brittany from the French, the Spaniards had a starting point. Galleys and troops were collected there, a menace which moved Queen Elizabeth to action and to recall Drake to form a fleet. While that was in operation, the Spaniards made a raid landed at Mount's Bay. About 600 men were landed, and after burning several villages, the Spaniards went back to their galleys and returned to Brittany.

The historic attack by the Dutch fleet on the Thames and the Med way, in 1667, was scarcely an- invasion in the strict meaning of the term, as there was no landing force. After the great fire of London, in 1666, King Charles was

short of money, and considered it was advisable to lay up the fleet and discharge the men, as there was no thought of hostilities. The Dutch took advantage of the position to sail right up the Thames to Gravesend, and such was the general confusion that nobody seemed able to get any order carried out. The Dutch destroyed a number of ships, and after sailing up to Chatham, returned down the river, dragging the finest ship in the British Navy, the Royal Charles, in triumph behind them. Six weeks later peace was signed, but the English people had learned a lesson.

Time of Anxiety. The year IG9O was another time of anxiety, with the country torn between the Jacobites, favouring the banished King James 11., and those supporting the new monarchs, William 111. and Queen Mary. It was an opportunity for the French, whose fleet under Conite de Tourville was engaged in battle by a combined English and Dutch fleet near the Isle of Wight. The action was inconclusive, and left de Tourville in command of the Channel. He took his fleet to Torbay, and made a landing at Tcignmouth, where churches were sacked and cattle slaughtered. De Tourville found that the country was against him, and decided to withdraw.

One hundred years passed before England had her next invasion, when the French revolutionary Government was at war with England. A force under an Irish commander named Tate was landed on the Welsh coast near Fishguard in 1797. The men were quite undisciplined, and after general looting were rounded up by a force of Welshmen, armed with any weapons they could lay hands on. "ignominious surrender followed.

The Fishguard fiasco was a prelude to a much more serious threat. While still a general, Napoleon toyed with the idea of invasion, but decided that it was impossible until France gained naval supremacy. In 1803 Napoleon made preparations for the conveyance of a large force to land in England. Thirteen hundred flat-bottomed boats were made to carry the men, boats which naval authorities claimed were unseaworthy, and conld only be used in a season of absolute calm.

England Prepares. In spite of all the detailed schemes to be carried out by Napoleon's navv, no men-o'-war appeared in the Channel. Meanwhile England was finallv aroused. Many volunteers had offered, "and in all parts of England preparations were made to meet the enemv. Napoleon kept his 130.000 men constantlv employed in embarkinjr exercises, "and is reported to have said: "If I can only be master of the sea for six hours. England will be no more." He did not sret the six hours, and even if he had succeeded in landing his conquest of England would not have been an easv matter, and it is possible that had he made his invasion Napoleon might have met his Waterloo in 1805. As events proved JSapoleon was never able to use the great flotilla at Boulogne, and was baulked of his ambition, as even his genius could not control the wind and the waves.

There are still a number of Martello towers on the coast of England, which were built when the Napoleonic invasion threatened. The name came from a famous fort. Tour dc la Mortella, in Corsica, which had been the scene of fierce fighting for its capture in 1793-94 n !l a -L. the x Martell ° towcr * measured about oOft at the base, and slightly tapering towards the top. The walls 3E? m *°l t thick on th * side to aft at the rear. The main armament was a small gun. which could be traversed in any direction. Recesses in the masonry held the projectiles, and the roof was of vaulted brickwork. m oc?^ ay / n ?-". nd * Mar *«U«> towers are y + n ere,,Ct and »»*««Joned, but some still serve a useful purpose. They tnt-J ° f a futi,e attempt to imade England many years ago