Riflemen of Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War

Riflemen of Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War PDF Author: Gareth Glover
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399087436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
No other regiment in Wellington’s Peninsular army can compare with the 95th Rifles. Even before Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels and television series, the Rifles were the most famous of all the British Army’s fighting formations. Unlike the red-coated regiments of the Line, the Riflemen were trained to act with a degree of independence, selecting their own targets in battle. As a result, a number of the officers and some of the men were more literate than their counterparts in the Line, or at least were more willing to record their experiences fighting the French. Consequently, many of the finest memoirs of the era have come from the pens of the likes of Harry Smith, Johnny Kincaid and Riflemen Harris and Costello, and have found their places on the shelves of every enthusiast of the era. However, these well-known works were written years after the fighting when memories had faded and were bulked out with incidents borrowed from others and heavily edited with grand descriptions of ‘derring-do’ for their Victorian audience, and heavily constrained by the strict morals of the day. Through many years of research, Gareth Glover has uncovered other memories written by members of the 95th which have never been published before or have not been brought to the attention of the present-day public, that were written at the time. These honestly state what really happened on the battlefields of Spain and Portugal – the suffering, the awkward incidents, the rumors and camp gossip – presenting a very different picture of life in Wellington’s army than the sanitized versions we have been presented with until now. Also included are rare or unpublished memoirs written by members of the staff of the Light Division, enabling the reader to understand the division’s command structure and organization to provide a rounded and realistic vision of this famous fighting force.

Riflemen of Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War

Riflemen of Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War PDF Author: Gareth Glover
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399087436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
No other regiment in Wellington’s Peninsular army can compare with the 95th Rifles. Even before Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels and television series, the Rifles were the most famous of all the British Army’s fighting formations. Unlike the red-coated regiments of the Line, the Riflemen were trained to act with a degree of independence, selecting their own targets in battle. As a result, a number of the officers and some of the men were more literate than their counterparts in the Line, or at least were more willing to record their experiences fighting the French. Consequently, many of the finest memoirs of the era have come from the pens of the likes of Harry Smith, Johnny Kincaid and Riflemen Harris and Costello, and have found their places on the shelves of every enthusiast of the era. However, these well-known works were written years after the fighting when memories had faded and were bulked out with incidents borrowed from others and heavily edited with grand descriptions of ‘derring-do’ for their Victorian audience, and heavily constrained by the strict morals of the day. Through many years of research, Gareth Glover has uncovered other memories written by members of the 95th which have never been published before or have not been brought to the attention of the present-day public, that were written at the time. These honestly state what really happened on the battlefields of Spain and Portugal – the suffering, the awkward incidents, the rumors and camp gossip – presenting a very different picture of life in Wellington’s army than the sanitized versions we have been presented with until now. Also included are rare or unpublished memoirs written by members of the staff of the Light Division, enabling the reader to understand the division’s command structure and organization to provide a rounded and realistic vision of this famous fighting force.

Captain of the 95th Rifles

Captain of the 95th Rifles PDF Author: Jonathan Leach
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781846770012
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Must for Peninsular War enthusiasts and all those interested in the famous green Riflemen Captain Leach brings his military experiences during the Napoleonic Wars into sharp relief. We share the rigours of campaigning and dangers of the battlefield, but his descriptions of the events in the broader military scene and his description of the country through which he journeys assist in bringing the era to life for everyone interested in the adventures of this famous regiment and its men.

Rifles

Rifles PDF Author: Mark Urban
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571246915
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
As part of the Light Division created to act as the advance guard of Wellington's army, the 95th Rifles are the first into battle and the last out. Fighting and thieving their way across Europe, they are clearly no ordinary troops. The 95th are in fact the first British soldiers to take aim at their targets, to take cover when being shot at, to move tactically by fire and manoeuvre. And by the end of the six-year campaign they have not only proved themselves the toughest fighters in the army, they have also - at huge personal cost - created the modern notion of the infantryman.In an exhilarating work of narrative military history, Mark Urban traces the story of the 95th Rifles, the toughest and deadliest sharpshooters of Wellington's Army.'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail'Urban writes history the way it should be written, alive and exciting.' Andy McNab

RIFLEMEN OF WELLINGTON S LIGHT DIVISION IN THE PENINSULAR WAR

RIFLEMEN OF WELLINGTON S LIGHT DIVISION IN THE PENINSULAR WAR PDF Author: GARETH. GLOVER
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781399087421
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Rifleman Costello

Rifleman Costello PDF Author: Edward Costello
Publisher: Leonaur Limited
ISBN: 1846770009
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book Here

Book Description
THE ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER OF THE 95TH (RIFLES) IN THE PENINSULAR & WATERLOO CAMPAIGNS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

Wellington's Rifles

Wellington's Rifles PDF Author: Mark Urban
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0802718167
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
The 95th Rifles was one of history's great fighting units, and Mark Urban brings them and the Napoleonic War gloriously to life in this unique chronicle. Focusing especially on six soldiers in the first battalion, Urban tells the Rifles' story from May 25, 1809, when they shipped out to join Wellington's army in Spain, through the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other personal accounts, Urban has fashioned a vivid narrative that allows readers to feel the thrill and horror of famous battles, the hardship of the march across Europe, the bravery and camaraderie of a nineteenthcentury Band of Brothers whose innovative tactics created the modern notion of infantryman.

Wellington's Light Division and the Defence of Portugal

Wellington's Light Division and the Defence of Portugal PDF Author: Robert Burnham
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399060619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
There are many books on Wellington’s campaigns during the Peninsular War. Yet very few examine the pivotal year of 1811, when he went on the offensive and forced Napoleon’s armies back over 300 kilometers, from the doors of Lisbon to the Spanish border. For two months he pursued the retreating French, fighting skirmishes and rearguards virtually the whole way. The French finally halted at the Spanish border and turned on Wellington in early May, where an epic three-day battle was fought at Fuentes de Oñoro. The rest of the year, Wellington defended the border while making plans to liberate Spain in 1811. Wellington’s Light Division and the defense of Portugal looks at the famed Light Division as it led the pursuit of the French and was involved in almost every combat and battle fought that year. The book also explores the stalemate of January and February 1811, where the division maintained outposts overlooking French positions in the vicinity of Santarem, as well as the pursuit of the French Army back to Spain in March and April, when the division fought many skirmishes, combats, and small battles, often on its own. These include the actions at Pombal, Condeixa, Redinha, Casal Novo, Foz d’Arouce, Freixada, and Sabugal. May saw the Light Division in a desperate fight at Fuentes de Oñoro, where for much of the battle it held the army’s right flank. For the rest of the year the Light Division was in the vicinity of Ciudad Rodrigo where it occupied ground that it held for much of 1810, where it served as Wellington’s advance outposts. The assumed similar positions and were engaged at Fuente Guinaldo and El Bodon. In addition to these fights, the book will examine the changes in the organization of the division, with the addition of new battalions and release of other units. It will also go into great detail on the problems it had with command and control – with its leading officers exhausted, requesting permission to return home to recuperate. Drawing on diaries, letters, and memoirs, the authors tell the story of the officers and men who fought in the division. Many of these sources have never been published before.

The Recollections of Rifleman Harris

The Recollections of Rifleman Harris PDF Author: Benjamin Randell Harris
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 1474626327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Get Book Here

Book Description
'Describing narrow squeaks and terrible deprivations, Harris's unflowery account of fortitude and resilience in Spain still bristles with a freshness and an invigorating spikiness' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'A most vivid record of the war in Spain and Portugal against Napoleon' MAIL ON SUNDAY Benjamin Harris was a young shepherd from Dorset who joined the army in 1802 and later joined the dashing 95th Rifles. His battalion was ordered to Portugal, where he marched under the burning sun, weighed down by his kit and great-coat, plus all the tools and leather he had to carry as the battalion's cobbler - 'the lapstone I took the liberty of flinging to the Devil'. Rifleman Harris was a natural story-teller with a remarkable tale to unfold, and his Recollections have become one of the most popular military books of all time.

Wellington's Rifles

Wellington's Rifles PDF Author: Ray Cusick
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1631440217
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
Until now there has not been a serious study of the rifle-armed regiments of the British Army that earned such renown in the Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns. Compiled by a former rifleman, Ray Cusick, who has written extensively on the subject, Wellington’s Rifles examines the new rifle regiments, how they came about, their development, and their actions. The author also investigates the introduction of rifled muskets into the British Army in the French and Indian wars of the eighteenth century, where they were shunned by the military establishment, to their transition into a key element in Wellington’s extraordinarily successful Peninsular army. The training and tactics of the riflemen are explained and each significant engagement in which they were involved is explored in thrilling detail. It was the riflemen of the 95th Regiment who inspired Bernard Cornewell’s famous series of Richard Sharpe books. That was the fiction—here is the reality. Featuring a foreword by renowned Napoleonic historian Ian Fletcher, Wellington’s Rifles is an authoritative account of the early history of rifle regiments in the British Army. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

A Scots Grey at Waterloo

A Scots Grey at Waterloo PDF Author: William Clarke
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781473894013
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
"William Clarke of Prestonpans, Scotland, joined the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons, the Scots Greys, in 1803\. Clarke had risen to the rank of sergeant by the time the regiment was ordered to Belgium on the news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Forming part of what became known as the Union Brigade, the Scots Greys played a key role in Napoleon s defeat at Waterloo. The John Rylands Library, Manchester, recently acquired William Clarke s 600-page, hand-written memoir describing his enlistment and military career, the highlight of which was the Waterloo campaign, which he describes in unusual detail in the vernacular of the day, presented and annotated by the renowned historian Garth Glover. Thanks to this rare discovery, the reader can follow the movements of the Scots Greys at every stage of the action throughout the three days from Quatre-Bras to that climatic encounter on the Mont St Jean. Clarke naturally portrays the charge of the Union Brigade in dramatic and heroic terms, but he claims that the man who led the charge, Major General William Ponsonby, was killed by a musket ball and not cut down by French cavalry, as is usually stated, for recklessly charging too far. After the battle, Clarke was part of the Burial Party. He then graphically describes the sad scene as he does the trail of the defeated French army as the pursuing Prussians cut a merciless path on their way to Paris. A Scots Grey at Waterloo provides the reader with an exceptionally in-depth account of the actions of the cavalry at Waterloo that will mark this memoir out as one of the most significant to have been published in the last 200 years."--Publisher's description.