tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839525549786745818.post3912969589812650099..comments2024-03-26T17:38:35.264+00:00Comments on Catherine Curzon: A Celebrated Strategist: Charles de Croix, Count of Clerfayt Catherine Curzonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763562687608837832noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839525549786745818.post-43504414501482939042016-10-14T09:40:32.167+01:002016-10-14T09:40:32.167+01:00Perhaps I was being overly generous as a newly-min...Perhaps I was being overly generous as a newly-minted blogger when I wrote this. Hmm... :-)Catherine Curzonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05763562687608837832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-839525549786745818.post-65034076968592270722016-10-14T00:56:38.185+01:002016-10-14T00:56:38.185+01:00An interesting figure, and talented general agains...An interesting figure, and talented general against Frederick the great in his younger days, but "one of the greatest"? That's debatable, he was widely recorded for his cautious nature. Fortescue calls him “incurably supine”. After the Battle of Mouscron (1794) the Duke of York said of him - “No man on earth has more personal courage than General Clerfayt, but unfortunately his lack of resolution and decision as a general is beyond all description". <br /><br />After being reproached for abandoning Namur in June 1794, ‘Ah!’ said he, showing the place where part of his arm had been carried away at the siege of Thionville, and how his body was covered in ulcers, ‘I am only the shadow of a man’” (Phipps Vol II p.174). French opponents regarded him similarly - "He was a skillful general, made too cautious by long experience" (Saint-Cyr) "prudence personified" (Soult). <br /><br />Just sayin', like :)John Shelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12667956500314198121noreply@blogger.com