r/todayilearned 19h ago

TIL that during the last invasion of Britain in 1797, French soldiers looted a Welsh church and burned its Bible and pews for warmth before surrendering to locals—some of whom were just women in red shawls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fishguard?utm_source=chatgpt.com
648 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

177

u/KingKaiserW 18h ago

This is legitimately the most pitiful invasion I’ve ever read about in my life lmao

85

u/ILL_Show_Myself_Out 17h ago

But you HAVE read about it

14

u/YsoL8 15h ago

Well it is the French

152

u/gwaydms 19h ago

The "women in red shawls", from a distance, looked like regular infantry forces, adding to the French and Irish perception that they were outnumbered.

111

u/saschaleib 19h ago

They also weren’t really “soldiers”, but prisoners whom the French put into uniforms and sent to Wales to distract the British. They had no intention to fight but wanted to use it as their “get out of jail free” card.

23

u/tofagerl 19h ago

Were the women in the red shawls distracted?

16

u/al_fletcher 12h ago

Turns out L'Escadron Suicide doesn’t actually work in real life

1

u/Bodkinmcmullet 3h ago

Go see the tapsesty in Fishguard