The Forlorn Hope

[Drusilla]

My Dad has been reading the Sharpe books and referred to 'The Forlorn Hope' as a heroic, almost suicidal, attack force. Is this artistic licence, or was the term really used in this manner by the military of the Napoleonic period?

[Lonnie]

yes, it really was used, if you google 'Forlorn Hope', it'll give you much more than I can,

[LazyGun]

Good read, them Sharpe peninsular war novels :)

[johnlambert]

The forlorn hope goes back to the English civil war, 1642-1645. It was so called because musketeers were in the front of the battle and muskets (very early rilfles) in those days took quite a long time to reload

Hope this helps Drusilla

[johnnybriggs]

Further to the above as early modern armies evolved into drilled formations of lines and squares it became advantageous for a group of soldiers to advance into "no man's land" and try to break up the opposition lines.

This practise developed during the 30 years war and the phrase "Forlorn Hope" comes from the Dutch.

So before the two armies met, groups of skirmishers would be sent to harry the enemy lines and defend their own. Leaving the protection of tight formations, to fight in small groups required bravery in the extreme.

Sharpe's Riflemen performed this role in the novels by Bernard Cornwell and their opponents I think were Voltigeurs.