The Danish Royal Army Forces
- The Danes (now the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway) in fact had a
very small contingent of European troops here at Tranquebar, but
given that I know how "frisky" some players might get if
they see an opportunity, I have decided to significantly bolster
the forces here, using the prestige and royal family connections
of the Danish Governor-General that I "installed" for
this conflict. The names here are first in German, then in Danish
in parentheses--while the official language used by the Danish
Army switched from German to Danish in 1772, most official
material was still in German until the 1790's. The parenthetical
names of the "sepoy" units are italicised to indicate
that they represent their larger, and fictional, size in this
campaign.
1 Regiment Europäische Infanterie (1ste Regiment Europaeiske
Infanteri)--In 1777 this European infantry
"regiment" (as it was called "on the books")
was actually the size of a company, with four officers, 13
NCO's, 72 rank and file, and a small band. For the duration of
this conflict, I have heavily reinforced that contingent with
drafts from the homeland at the same time the new
Governor-General was installed to replace the usual Governor. As
stated in the introduction to this Danish section, the unit name
here is given in "German (Danish)"
2 Regiment Tranquebarische Artillerie (2det Regiment
Trankebarske Artilleri)--This was a small battery in terms of
men (actual size in 1778 was 40 Indian and 40 Indian-Portuguese
gunners under the command of 10 European sergeants and 3 European
officers), but encompasses all the guns in the fortifications of
"Fortress Dansborg" protecting the Royal Danish port and
colony of Tranquebar. It was not named as a "European"
regiment, as most of it's gunners were either native Indians
("Talliarier") or Portuguese-Indians. I have also
reinforced this unit within the game to keep the large guns of the
belligerent navies respectful of the neutrality of this port.
1 Kompagnie Cipajen (1ste Bataljon Cipajen)--The
actual composition in 1777 of each of these "sepoy"
units were companies of 90 men each, under the command of a Danish
officer, with native 2nd lieutenants and NCO's. The Indian troops
were of course European dressed and armed.
2 Kompagnie Cipajen (2det Bataljon Cipajen)--In
keeping with my ratio of Sepoys to European troops that I use in
this campaign, I have increased these two "sepoy" units
to the size of full battalions, maintaining the approximate ratio
of sepoys to European troops that seems to hold pretty well in
this theatre during this conflict.
Laskarenen--These are native troops ("Laskars")
in the service of the Danes, acting as guardsmen and police in
Tranquebar, Frederiksnagore (Bengal) and on the Nicobar Islands.
They are both dressed and armed in their native style. In 1778,
there were between 100 and 200 such troops in Tranquebar.
Copy from http://www.cfi-game.org/cfi-land.html#da
French Squadron Arrives in Neutral Danish
Port---(16 Jul 1782)
TRANQUEBAR -- Rear-Admiral Jean de
Barnette's squadron dropped anchor in the Danish port, safe from harassment
by the British. However, they were greeted by several companies of the
Danish Trankebarske Infanteriregiment at the quayside. The Rear-Admiral
met with Rear Admiral Sir Haakon Dazs, Governor-General of the Royal
Danish Colony and Port of Tranquebar, in Fortress Dansborg. Sources say
that while initially the air was a bit tense, having to work through
"difficulties instigated by lesser naval personnel", the two
flag officers soon worked through that and had a reasonable meeting of
the minds. However, concerns were expressed that such behaviour may in
fact be indicative of a trend, after the gross violation of Portuguese
neutrality at the Battle of Porto Praya on 16 April 1781 in the Cape
Verde Islands (reported in V4N2), which was committed by five French
SOLs, all of which were enroute to join the campaign here. While the
Danish Governor-General can be more circumspect and just officially
react to the relatively small incident that occurred within his
jurisdiction, the Portuguese Vice-Roy of Goa will be more difficult to pacify.
With the coming change in the monsoon season in only a couple months,
the goodwill of that single neutral port on the west coast of the
sub-continent could become very important.
Copy from http://www.cfi-game.org/nmg-v4n5.html |