Series 2, Episode IV

Grandma and Grandpa were so busy tucking into their roast beef, that they rather forgot about the picnic lunch they had promised Polly and her friends.

Luckily for them, there was something of pause while Grandma and Grandpa savoured a spot of Spanish red, and so they marched boldly but quietly, up the carving knife, into the breach. Polly in the lead, then Yuri with his handy pocket knife, then Pedro bringing up the rear with a fresh white baguette, sourced from who knows where, held left so nearly invisible. But if you click to enlarge you might get an orange glimpse of it under his chin. Baby Bear stayed as home because he was not very good on slippery knives and, anyway, he was not that keen on roast beef sandwiches, even on white.

From where there were two associations.

Firstly, to the forlorn hope from somewhere in the 'Sharpe' series. In which an officer volunteers to lead the first assault on the breach in the city walls, a near suicidal business, but after the successful conclusion of which a surviving commanding officer is rewarded with instant promotion. Not such a bad proposition as, even in time of war, promotion still was an uncertain business, still very much the preserve of money and influence. That said, my memory of Sharpe, is that the volunteer in question is a fresh young gentleman, a very young officer, still a teenager. It seems much more likely to me that older, more desperate men would be much more likely candidates. Men, perhaps, with little to lose. Perhaps loaded with wounds, illness, debt or dishonour. Perhaps having waited too long for promotion. But the contrast between this youngster and Sharpe, the grizzled veteran, made for good television.

Presumably the idea was that the men of the forlorn hope sneaked up the pile of rubble which was the breach, just before first light, cleared away, finished off the men trying to hold the crest, opening the way for the main force to sweep in at dawn, up and over the crest and down into the city.

Secondly, to the pep talk Henry V gives his men before the breach at Harfleur, at the beginning of Act.III, Sc.I. 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more'. Which might be a splendid speech, but it seems most improbable to me that this would be how an early modern king would get the sweepings of the channel ports advancing up onto the pile of rubble under enemy fire. Perhaps, in those days, arrows, rocks and boiling oil. But Shakespeare clearly understands this, as on the next page we have the mutterings of some of said sweepings, not 'like greyhounds in the slips' at all. And on the page after that, Act.III, Sc.III, we have Henry telling the town that they had better surrender, because if he has to storm the breach he will not be able to answer for the behaviour of his men afterwards. A tough call for the city's mayor and aldermen: Henry might be bluffing, but the carnage which would follow a successful storming was all too real.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/05/series-2-episode-iii.html.

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