The Assault
Cromwell’s artillery, positioned on a hill near present-day Melview, battered a breach in the town walls. It was intended that his infantry would storm this breach and then open the nearby North town gate to allow access to Cromwell and the Parliamentarian cavalry.
However, O’Neill put all able bodied townspeople to work building a coupure inside the breach lined with artillery, muskets and pikemen. The coupure was v-shaped, starting at the mouth of the breach and narrowing until it ended about 50 metres inside the town. At the end of the breach, O'Neill positioned two cannon, loaded with chain-shot. The area behind the breach became, in military terms, a "killing field". The Parliamentarian infantry which assaulted the breach was repeatedly cut down by the concentrated musket and cannon fire until the soldiers finally refused to make any further attacks on what was a death trap. Cromwell then appealed to his elite cavalry, the Ironsides to make a fresh assault on foot. They assaulted the breach for three hours, taking heavy casualties but failing to break into the town. Eventually, as night fell, Cromwell called off the assault.
Read more about this topic: Siege Of Clonmel
Famous quotes containing the word assault:
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