SUPPLYING THE NEW MODEL ARMY: Logistics, Arms, Ammunition, Clothing, Victuals and the Materiel of War, 1645-1646

1-912124

Recent research reveals the New Model Army's reliance on a centralized supply system from London, challenging the plunder-focused view. The creation, politics, religious identity, officer corps and military campaigns (especially the Battle of Naseby) of the New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, have been the focus for various writers, however little attention has been paid to the supply and logistics of this force. The result has been a critical gap in the understanding of the recruitment, victualing, ordnance, ammunition, clothing, arming, and logistics employed by the Committee of the Army in both the initial establishment of the New Model and its subsequent campaigns. The methods of sustaining this military force of up to 17,000 men in the field necessarily called for a largely centralized system which operated at an increasing distance from London and the army's headquarters at Reading. Challenges the prevailing view that Fairfax's troops increasingly relied upon local sources during 1645 and 1646, rather than an organized system of supply from London manufacturers and other commercial means. Contains six black and white illustrations, 10 black and white photos, and 47 tables.