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Talk:Battle of Grandson

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Battle

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The battle went differently and longer in this source.

The Vorhut arrived first numbering 2,500 men plus a 300 men detachment of skirmishers as well as a column of foragers (non-combatant). The Schwyz handgunners skirmished with the Burgundian archers while Hans von Hallwyl (name from German wikipedia) ordered a halt to await the Gewalthut and the Nachhut. After the Burgundian archers withdrew with losses, the much larger Burgundian artillery fired and the Swiss artillery counter-fired. Elements from the Gewalthut arrived reinforcing the Vorhut to 10,000 men. A Burgundian guard cavalry unit drawn up in wedge formation commanded by Charles the Bold, duc de Bourgogne charged the Swiss skirmishers comprised of handgunners and crossbownen forcing them to withdraw. Charles the Bold then ordered his cavalry wedge and another cavalry wedge commanded by Louis de Chalon to charge the Swiss Vorhut but both wedges were repulsed by the Swiss pikes. Charles the Bold ordered both wedges to continue charging the Swiss Vorhut until Louis de Chalon's wedge collided with the edge of the Vorhut while trying to outflank it and the Swiss pinned the wedge in a melée.

The Swiss were facing downhill with their left flank on Neuchâtel Lake. Charles the Bold thinking he was facing the entire Swiss army wanted to draw the Swiss Vorhut forward to expose it to flank attacks. Charles the Bold withdrew his cavlry and ordered his centre to withdraw slightly and his artillery and archers to transfer to the flanks and his reserve cavalry to the left flank. While the Burgundian troops were redeploying, the slimmed down Gewalthut and the Nachhut arrived on the battlefield. The Swiss army advanced on the Burgundians who broke in rout carrying the rearguard along with it. Charles the Bold, left with only his cavalry and artillery, was forced to retreat with his routing infantry, abandoning his artillery pieces and baggage.

title=Armies of the Middle Ages, volume 1: The Hundred Years' War, the Wars of the Roses and the Burgundian Wars, 1300-1487 |last=Heath |first= Ian |year=1982 |publisher= Wargames Research Group
Sleigh (talk) 16:18, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Flags

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Pillage of the Burgundian camp after the Battle of Grandson, illustration by Diebold Schilling the Elder, 1483

The flags are from left to right: the ally Solothurn, the ally Biel, the ally Fribourg, Schwyz, Luzern, Bern, Zug, Uri, Zürich, Obwalden and Nidwalden (same flag as Solothurn) and Glarus.

Diebold Schilling the Elder makes an error depicting the flag of Luzern. He depicts the Luzerner coat of arms instead of the flag which is two horizontal stripes.
Sleigh (talk) 17:12, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]