This post may seem a little childish, but I seriously think that Britain could have won the battle, considering they still had 7000 men at the scene. However, this would only have been possible through the use of underhand tactics. Victory would neither have been sportsmanlike, nor glamorous, but if I had been in charge of the British forces I would have been immortalised as the greatest military tactician who ever lived. After losing the redoubts and enduring a thumping from the French artillery, the British, with seemingly no relief on its way, were forced to capitulate. Then a formal surrender took place in which the British marched in ceremony before the American and French forces and trampled their arms.
Here's where I would have stepped in. The allies are expecting the British procession to march by fully armed, right? Close enough for a musket ball? Well why not march right by and shoot them! I would have promised a formal surrender to the allies, but then confided to my most trusted officers my real intention; a double-crossing. The British troops would be instructed to parade out as expected, but with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. They would hold fire until the crucial time, namely when the column passed where Washington, Rochambeau and the officers were waiting. And then... Bam! A devastating close-range volley of musket fire all along the British coloumn, slaughtering the allied command and shattering the lines of French and American troops either side. Then simply a matter of a bayonet charge to see the remainder off the field and there you have it! The greatest turn-around victory in the history of mankind!
With Washington, Rochambeau and de Grasse assassinated, the Revolutionary war effort would have been thrown into dissary. The French presence in America would effectively evaporate, and the ever more disillusioned British Parliament would have been given the confidence to see the war through. British victory at Yorktown would also mean no Battle of the Chesapeake, thereby retaining British control of the American coast. Some say the war was as good as over after Saratoga, but I think this would really have shaken things up. Britian might have saved her colonies and jewel in the Empire to become the single greatest super power of the world. And all thanks to yours truly!
Thank you, thank you.
Here's where I would have stepped in. The allies are expecting the British procession to march by fully armed, right? Close enough for a musket ball? Well why not march right by and shoot them! I would have promised a formal surrender to the allies, but then confided to my most trusted officers my real intention; a double-crossing. The British troops would be instructed to parade out as expected, but with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. They would hold fire until the crucial time, namely when the column passed where Washington, Rochambeau and the officers were waiting. And then... Bam! A devastating close-range volley of musket fire all along the British coloumn, slaughtering the allied command and shattering the lines of French and American troops either side. Then simply a matter of a bayonet charge to see the remainder off the field and there you have it! The greatest turn-around victory in the history of mankind!
With Washington, Rochambeau and de Grasse assassinated, the Revolutionary war effort would have been thrown into dissary. The French presence in America would effectively evaporate, and the ever more disillusioned British Parliament would have been given the confidence to see the war through. British victory at Yorktown would also mean no Battle of the Chesapeake, thereby retaining British control of the American coast. Some say the war was as good as over after Saratoga, but I think this would really have shaken things up. Britian might have saved her colonies and jewel in the Empire to become the single greatest super power of the world. And all thanks to yours truly!
Thank you, thank you.