the Rochefort squadron (Admiral Villeneuve in command of another five
men o'war) and then fetch a wide compass into the Atlantic before
looping round into the Western Approaches north of Cornwallis; La
Touche-Treville would then proceed to the Straits of Dover to cover the
crossing of the flotilla from Boulogne. This was an ingenious plan on
paper, but it did not explain how the Toulon fleet was to emerge safely
and avoid Nelson's blockading squadron. La Touche-Treville duly tried
to come out but was driven back by Nelson. When the able French
admiral died two months later, the project died with him. Napoleon, who
had no great opinion of Villeneuve, considered the implementation of
such an intricate plan beyond the man he reluctantly promoted to
Admiral of the Fleet.
In September 1804 he tried again. This time his conception was even
more elaborate and we can detect elements of a fantastic, Promethean
self-delusion in his strategic imagination, which now bade fair to embrace
the globe. The main thrust of the project was a revived invasion of
Ireland, but this time to be attempted with forces greater than any yet
landed on John Bull's other island. Marshal Augereau was designated
commander of the 16,ooo troops which Ganteaume was ordered to take to
Lough Swilly or environs; the Emperor even gave details on the track to
be adopted: a wide sweep into the Atlantic, an approach to the north of
Ireland fr om the west, and a successful landfall. Once Augereau's troops
were ashore, Ganteaume was to take his course back to Cherbourg to
ascertain the situation in the Channel. If all was ready at Boulogne, and
the winds favoured the crossing of the Grand Army, he was to fall on the
British blockading squadron. If this were not possible, Ganteaume was to
switch to Plan B, pass through the Straits of Dover to Texel to join seven
Dutch ships of the line, and then transports and another 25,000 men
would be taken to Lough Swilly as the second wave of a gigantic French
incursion into Ireland.
The Emperor was pleased with the apparent mathematical cogency of
his new plan. As he saw it, one of these scenarios had to work out, which
meant that he would either have armies in both England and Ireland or
would have over 40,000 men on Irish soil - an irresistible force for the
permanent wresting of the island from the British grip. But there was an
element of 'overegging the pudding' in the capstone Napoleon put to his
grand strategy, which surely shows once again the Romantic vanquishing
the Classicist and the poet manque the mathematician. As if the orders to
Ganteaume were not complex enough, he also ordered the Toulon fleet,
now under Villeneuve, and the Rochefort squadron he used to command
(and now under Admiral Missiesy) to sail in separate divisions for the
marcin
(Marcin)
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