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The siege involved land forces from the United States, including the Continental Army and state militias, as well as land forces under French and British command. The British forces included a large number of troops from various German principalities of the Holy Roman Empire that were collectively known as Hessians .
The siege of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, and led to the surrender of General Cornwallis and the capture of both him and his army. The Continental Army 's victory at Yorktown prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict.
By December 1780, the American Revolutionary War's North American theatres had reached a critical point. The Continental Army had suffered major defeats earlier in the year, with its southern armies either captured or dispersed in the loss of Charleston and the Battle of Camden in the south, while the armies of George Washington and the British commander-in-chief for North America, Sir Henry ...
Under Olney's command, the regiment took part in the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781, the last major battle of the Revolution. After Yorktown, the regiment moved with the Main Army to Newburgh, New York, where its primary purpose was to be ready to react if British forces in the city went on the offensive.
The American defenders had been refused the honours of war when they surrendered after the Siege of Charleston (1780). When negotiating the surrender of a British army at Yorktown a year later, American General George Washington insisted: "The same Honors will be granted to the Surrendering Army as were granted to the Garrison of Charles Town."
The battle directly led to the Franco-American victory at the siege of Yorktown and helped secure the independence of the United States. After the battle, de Grasse returned with his fleet to the Caribbean. In 1782, a British fleet under Admiral George Rodney defeated and captured de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes. De Grasse was widely ...
Order of battle Date British Expeditionary Force: 1940 British First Army: April 20, 1943 British First Army: May 4, 1943 British Long Range Penetration Groups (Chindits) 1943–1944 British Malaya Command: 1942 British RAF Coastal Command: September 1939 – June 1944 German Air Force: April 9, 1940 German Ninth Army: October 1941
The size of the British Army peaked in June 1945, at 2.9 million men. By the end of the Second World War some three million people had served. [13] [7] In 1944, the United Kingdom was facing severe manpower shortages. By May 1944, it was estimated that the British Army's strength in December 1944 would be 100,000 less than it was at the end of ...