Author: David Greentree
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472832094
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81
Get Book
Book Description
The battles between British and French forces during the Peninsular War (1807–14) and the Hundred Days campaign of 1815 saw both sides deploy specialist units of skirmishers trained in marksmanship and open-order combat. These 'light' troops fulfilled several important roles on the battlefield, such as 'masking' large bodies of close-order troops as they manoeuvred in battle, firing upon enemy troops to provoke them into attacking prematurely, and harassing enemy artillery crews and senior officers with aimed fire. On occasion, the skirmishers were tasked with special missions requiring individual initiative, such as the capture or defence of key battlefield positions, especially those situated in difficult terrain. While Napoleon's skirmishers carried the smoothbore musket, notoriously inaccurate and short-ranged, several elite units fighting for Britain were armed with the rifle, a far more accurate weapon that was hampered by a slower rate of fire. As well as the legendary 95th Rifles, Britain fielded rifle-armed German troops of the 60th Regiment and the King's German Legion, while France's light troops were fielded in individual companies but also entire regiments. In this study, David Greentree assesses the role and effectiveness of rifle-armed British troops and their French open-order opponents in three very different encounters: Roliça (August 1808), the first British battle of the Peninsular War; the struggle for a key bridge at Barba del Puerco (March 1810); and the bitter fight for the La Haye Sainte farmhouse during the battle of Waterloo (June 1815).
Author: René Chartrand
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472803167
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Get Book
Book Description
Constant Spanish guerrilla activity so drained the resources and diverted the attention of the French military that Wellington was able to advance against and overcome a numerically superior enemy. So many French soldiers were being used to counter the guerrillas and the threat that they posed that less than a third of the French army could be tasked with confronting Wellington. This book brings to life, for the first time, the formation, tactics and experiences of the Spanish guerrilla forces that fought Napoleon's army. Using much previously unpublished material, it offers a vivid description of the guerrilla and his lifestyle.
Author: Paddy Griffith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782002235
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Get Book
Book Description
Bonaparte's Grande Armée, one of the most renowned battle-winning machines in history, evolved from a merging of the professional army of the Ancien Régime and the volunteers and conscripts of the Revolutionary levée en masse – although the contribution of the former is often underestimated. A leading authority on the history of tactics draws here on original drill manuals and later writings to explain how the French infantry of 1792–1815 were organized for fire and movement on the battlefield. Illustrated with clear diagrams and relevant paintings and prints, and specially prepared colour plates, this text brings the tactical aspects of eight battles vividly to life.
Author: Si Sheppard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472844211
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
Get Book
Book Description
Following the American Declaration of Independence, communities from Boston to Savannah were forced to make a choice: to strike out for an independent republic, or remain true to the British Crown. This study explores the origins, methods and combat record of the combatants on both sides. The American Revolutionary War was America's first civil war. As the conflict raged from Canada to the Caribbean and from India to Gibraltar, it was in American communities that the war was the most intimate, the most personal, and – accordingly – the most vicious. In 1775, the inhabitants of British America included those born in North America and newly arrived immigrants; the established landed aristocracy and the indigent; the diverse nations of the Native Americans; and people of African descent, both enslaved and free. The coming of war forced every person to make the choice of whether to side with the Patriots or remain loyal to the British Crown. With so many cross-cutting imperatives, the individual decisions made splintered communities, sometimes even households, turning neighbour against neighbour in an escalating spiral of ostracism, embargo, exile, raid, reprisal and counter-reprisal. Accordingly, the war on the frontiers and on the margins of conflict was as underhanded and ugly as any of the 21st century's insurgencies. In this study, the origins, fighting methods and combat effectiveness of the combatants fighting on both sides are assessed, notably in three significant clashes of the American Revolutionary War.
Author: Johann Christian Maempel
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782890289
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 202
Get Book
Book Description
During the Napoleonic Wars, few had such an unenviable job as the “poor bloody infantry”; fodder for cannon, unless tightly packed in ranks prey to cavalry, their only recourse was discipline and a highly inaccurate musket. As tactics evolved, the infantry would look for ways to maximize their effectiveness and minimize their own casualties. Increasingly the swift, the crafty and the most capable soldiers took to becoming skirmishers plying their trade away from the lines of death, fighting a personal war between the lines behind whatever cover they could find. In Wellington’s ranks, many of these skirmishers were armed with the highly accurate but relative slow-loading Baker rifle; feared by their French opponents, the riflemen were not all British but also recruited from the ranks of the German principalities that Napoleon had pressed into his armies. One such soldier was Joseph Maempel: forced away from his native Germany to fight for the French, he was captured early in his career and decided to join the allied cause. After many escapes, scrapes, adventures and much hard fighting, the author returned to his native lands to write his book. The world famous German author and poet Goëthe volunteered to edit these memoirs, which contain an excellent account of the service of the young Rifleman across the battle-fields of Europe. Author — Johann Christian Maempel Editor – Johann Wolfgang von Goëthe (1749 -1832) Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London, H. Colburn, 1826. Original Page Count – 363 p.
Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780961340
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 167
Get Book
Book Description
In the Age of Fighting Sail (1650–1820), ambitious officers of the navies of many nations sought command of a frigate. Speedy, nimble and formidably armed, frigates often operated independently, unlike the larger ships of the line. Legendary sailors such as Edward Pellew and Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linoise, found that commanding such a ship offered numerous opportunities for wealth. In this book, four representative frigate duels are examined: first, a battle fought between two closely matched ships (HMS Nymphe (36) vs La Cléopâtre (32); second, a victory won by an inferior British frigate over a superior French frigate (HMS Pallas (32) vs Minerve (40); third, a victory – the only one – by an inferior French frigate over a superior British frigate (HMS Ambuscade (32) vs Baïonnaise (24), and fourth, victory of a superior British frigate over an inferior French frigate (HMS Indefatigable (44) of Hornblower fame vs La Virginie (40). Featuring specially commissioned artwork and offering expert analysis, this study provides a vivid account of the bloody combats fought by the most romantic warship of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era – the frigate.
Author: William Horsted
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472850866
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81
Get Book
Book Description
An illustrated study of the British tribal warriors and Roman auxiliaries who fought in three epic battles for control of Britain in the 1st century AD. Following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, the tribes of the west and north resisted the establishment of a 'Roman peace', led in particular by the chieftain Caratacus. Even in the south-east, resentment of Roman occupation remained, exploding into the revolt of Boudicca's Iceni in AD 60. Roman auxiliaries from two particular peoples are known to have taken part in the invasion of Britain: the Tungrians, from what is now Belgium, and the Batavians, from the delta of the River Rhine in the modern Netherlands. From the late 80s AD, units of both the Batavians and the Tungrians were garrisoned at a fort at Vindolanda in northern Britain. The so called 'Vindolanda tablets' provide an unparalleled body of material with which to reconstruct the lives of these auxiliary soldiers in Britain. Featuring full-colour maps and specially commissioned battlescene and figure artwork plates, this book examines how both the British warriors and the Roman auxiliaries experienced the decades of conflict that followed the invasion. Their recruitment, training, leadership, motivation, culture and beliefs are compared alongside an assessment of three particular battles: the final defeat of Caratacus in the hills of Wales in AD 50; the Roman assault on the island of Mona (Anglesey) in AD 60; and the battle of Mons Graupius in Scotland in AD 83.
Author: Cecil Scott Forester
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Get Book
Book Description
"Separated from his company ... during a skirmish with the French, Rifleman Dodd finds himself behind enemy lines. Somehow he must pass through the French forces chasing the retreating British and rejoin his comrades ... A recording of the triumph of man over near-starvation and the harrowing uncertainties imminent in enemy territory." --Book jacket, 1989 ed.
Author: Jonathan Mallory House
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915834
Category : Armies
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Get Book
Book Description
Author: Robert Forczyk
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147283075X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97
Get Book
Book Description
With the German defeat at Kursk, the Soviet Stavka (high command) ordered the Western and Kalinin Fronts to launch Operation Suvorov in order to liberate the city of Smolensk. The Germans had held this city for two years and Heeresgruppe Mitte's (Army Group Centre) 4. Armee had heavily fortified the region. The Soviet offensive began in August 1943 and they quickly realized that the German defences were exceedingly tough and that the Western Front had not prepared adequately for an extended offensive. Consequently, the Soviets were forced to pause their offensive after only two weeks, in order to replenish their combat forces and then begin again. The German 4. Armee was commanded by Generaloberst Gotthard Heinrici, one of the Wehrmacht's top defensive experts. Although badly outnumbered, Heinrici's army gamely held off two Soviet fronts for seven weeks. Eventually, the 4. Armee's front was finally broken and Smolensk was liberated on 25 September 1943. However, the Western Front was too exhausted to pursue Heinrici's defeated army, which retreated to the fortified cities of Vitebsk, Orsha and Mogilev; the 4. Armee would hold these cities until the destruction of Army Group Centre in June 1944. Operation Suvorov focuses on a major offensive that is virtually unknown in the West and which set the stage for the decisive defeat of Heeresgruppe Mitte in the next summer offensive.
