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Sharpe's Enemy
Sharpe's Enemy is the fourth episode of the Carlton UK miniseries Sharpe, starring Sean Bean as Captain Richard Sharpe, the officer of a small Rifles detachment during the Napoleonic Wars. It was filmed on location in the Ukraine and the Crimea. The episode follows Sharpe and his company in their efforts to rescue two women hostages from an "army" of deserters camping along the Portugese border.
The following weapons were used in the miniseries Sharpe's Enemy:
Rifles
Baker Rifle
The most prominently used weapon is the Baker Flintlock Rifle, issued to special units of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) and his "Chosen Men" – Sgt. Patrick Harper (Daragh O'Malley), Riflemen Cooper (Michael Mears), Harris (Jason Salkey), Hagman (John Tams) and Perkins (Lyndon Davies) all carry Bakers, as does the company of the 60th Rifles led by Captain Frederickson (Philip Whitchurch).
Brown Bess Flintlock Musket
The standard long arm issued to "redcoat" British soldiers is the Brown Bess Flintlock Musket.
Unknown Muskets
The advancing French soldiers carry Flintlock muskets of an unknown kind.
Pistols
Various characters use Flintlock Pistols of various kinds, including Col. Sir Augustus Farthingdale (Jeremy Child), Hakeswill (Pete Postlethwaite), and "Marshall" Pot-Au-Feu (Tony Haygarth).
Boxlock Blunderbuss
Teresa Moreno (Assumpta Serna), carries a brass boxlock blunderbuss pistol with a cannon style barrel and underfolding bayonet.
Other
Congreve Rockets
One of the more bizarre weapons featured in the episode is the Rocket artillery invented by Sir William Congreve (1772-1828). The Prince-Regent of England (the future King George IV) was so awed by these weapons that he insisted on sending a troop of them to the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular Army. But since neither Congreve, nor anyone else had any concept of aerodynamics, the rockets had no fins, or other stabilizers attached, and thus were wildly inaccurate.
The rockets were sporadically used in British Army engagements in the following years, including during the War of 1812 against the United States, inspiring the phrase "the rockets' red glare" in "The Star-Spangled Banner", the American National Anthem.
However, Sharpe uses them to surprising effect when fighting off a French column, since the weapons are more terrifying than conventional artillery, and because a French column is such a large, tightly-packed mass of men that the rockets cannot fail to hit part of it.
