English vs. French

Richard Sharpe: Those men who’ve fought in a big battle before, one pace forward.

[no one moves]

Richard Sharpe: This place is called Talavera. There’s going to be a battle here tomorrow. You’ll fight in it... maybe even die in it. But you won’t see it.

[explosion]

Richard Sharpe: There’s a lot of smoke in a battle. Our cannon, their cannon. Our shot, their shell. Our volleys, their volleys.

[shots]

Richard Sharpe: You don’t see a battle. You hear it.

Black powder blasting by the ton on all sides. Black smoke blinding you and choking you and making you vomit.

Then the French come out of the smoke — not in a line, but in a column. And they march towards our thin line, kettledrums hammering like hell and a golden eagle blazing overhead.

They march slowly, and it takes them a long time to reach you, and you can’t see them in smoke. But you can hear the drums. They march out of the smoke, and you fire a volley. And the front rank of the column falls, and the next rank steps over them, with drums hammering, and the column smashes your line like a hammer breaking glass... and Napoleon has won another battle.

But if you don't run — if you stand until you can smell the garlic, and fire volley after volley, three rounds a minute — then they slow down. They stop. And then they run away. All you’ve got to do is stand and fire three rounds a minute. Now, you and I know you can fire three rounds a minute. But can you stand?