In 1758 the second battalion of the Twelfth foot was constituted the sixty-fifth regiment, under the command of Colonel Armiger, from captain and lieut.-colonel of the first foot guards.[9]
Meanwhile the war, which commenced in America, had extended to Hanover, and the electorate was overrun by the armies of France. A body of Hanoverian, Hessian, and Brunswick troops, commanded by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, opposed the forces of the enemy, and in the summer of 1758, the Twelfth regiment, after encamping a short time in the Isle of Wight, was ordered to proceed to Germany to join the allied army. The regiment arrived at Embden on the 1st of August, landed a few miles above the town on the 3rd, and on the 5th commenced its march to join the army, which it accomplished in twelve days, and was reviewed on the 20th of that month by Prince Ferdinand.
During the remainder of the campaign, the regiment was actively employed, and performed many fatiguing services. Towards the end of November it marched into quarters in Munster, a city situate in a fruitful and agreeable country on the river Aa.
1759
Operations were commenced early in the spring of 1759, and the allies gained some advantage; but when the French forces were assembled, they possessed so great a superiority in numbers, that Prince Ferdinand was obliged to fall back as the enemy advanced. A series of retrograde movements brought the allied army to the vicinity of Minden, situate on the bank of the river Weser, in Westphalia.
The French army, commanded by Marshal de Contades, took possession of Minden, and occupied a strong position near that city.
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick manœuvred: he detached one body of troops under his nephew, the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, and appeared to leave another exposed to the attack of the whole of the opposing army. The destruction of this corps was resolved upon by the French commander, and he put his army in motion for that purpose, during the night between the 31st of July and the 1st of August. While the French were on the march, Prince Ferdinand advanced with the allied army, and early on the morning of the 1st of August, as the leading column of the enemy attained the summit of an eminence, it was surprised at discovering, instead of a few weak corps, the allied army formed in order of battle. Thus the French marshal suddenly found himself committed, and under the necessity of fighting upon unfavourable ground. After some delay he formed line, and the battle commenced.
The Twelfth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel William Robinson, with the twenty-third and thirty-seventh British regiments, followed by the twentieth, twenty-fifth, and fifty-first, under Major-General Waldegrave and Major-General Kingsley, flanked by two battalions of Hanoverian foot guards, and the Hanoverian regiment of Hardenberg, and supported by three regiments of Hanoverians and a battalion of Hessian foot guards, advanced to attack the left wing of the French army, where Marshal de Contades had posted the élite of his cavalry, the carabineers and gendarmes. The Twelfth, twenty-third, and thirty-seventh, led the attack with signal intrepidity: as they moved forward in firm array, the enemy's artillery opened a tremendous fire, which rent chasms in the ranks, and the French carabineers advanced to charge them; but a rolling volley from the three British regiments smote the hostile squadrons, when many men fell, and the survivors reined up their horses, wheeled about, and galloped to the rear; their artillery recommencing its fire as the repulsed squadrons withdrew. The Hanoverian brigade came up on the left of the Twelfth, twenty-third, and thirty-seventh, and the other three British regiments on the right. Soon, another line of French cavaliers, gay in splendid uniforms, and formidable in numbers, came forward, the soldiers shouting and waving their swords; but they were struck in mid-onset by a tempest of bullets from the British regiments, broken, and driven back with severe loss. Still pressing forward with a conquering violence, the three brigades became exposed to the fire of the enemy's infantry on their flanks; but nothing could stop them: encouraged by success, and confident in their own prowess, they followed up their advantage, routed the whole of the French cavalry, and drove it from the field.[10] Two brigades of French infantry endeavoured to stem the torrent of battle; but they were quickly broken and dispersed.[11] A body of Saxon troops made a show of coming down upon the conquering British regiments, but they were soon put to flight, and the triumphant English continued their splendid career, overpowering all opposition.
The action commenced between six and seven o'clock in the morning; about nine the enemy began to give way; a general confusion followed; and at ten o'clock the whole French army fled in disorder, with the loss of forty-three pieces of cannon, ten stand of colours, and seven standards.
The Twelfth regiment had Lieutenants William Falkingham, Henry Probyn, and George Townsend, four serjeants, one drummer, and seventy-seven rank and file killed; Lieut.-Colonel William Robinson, Captains Mathias Murray, William Cloudesley, and Peter Campbell, Captain-Lieutenant Peter Dunbar; Lieutenants Thomas Fletcher, William Barlow, Thomas Lawless, Edward Freeman, John Campbell, and George Rose; Ensigns John Forbes, David Parkill, and John Kay, eleven serjeants, four drummers, and one hundred and seventy-five rank and file wounded; Captains Peter Chalbert, and Robert Ackland, and eleven rank and file missing.