Download or read book A Cavalry Officer In The Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Captain Alexander Gordon and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-22 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Gordon led a troop of the 15th Hussars during the first of the British army’s campaigns into Spain, commanded by Sir John Moore. Unearthed and published many years after it was written by the esteemed Regimental historian Colonel Wylly, his diary bears testimony to the events of the retreat to Corunna. Gordon writes of his adventures with verve, wit and in some places a little venom when talking of his erstwhile commander Moore; he is fulsome in his description of the Portuguese and Spanish people to whom the British had come to aid. For example when relating the qualities of a local wine he could “only compare the taste of it to a mixture of vinegar and ink” On military matters he is no great respecter of rank, and distributes blame and praise where he believes they should be rightly apportioned. He gives a great first-hand account of the famed skirmish of Sahagun, to which he believes started a moral ascendancy of the British cavalry over their French counterparts. Despite some defective equipment and, as Gordon attributes it, dilatory conduct by the commander, he reaches Corunna unlike a number of his comrades and fellow country-men. A fine read, which despite its format as a journal retains some pace, it gives a great view of the retreat from an expert military eye. Author – Captain Alexander Gordon (1781-1872) Editor – Colonel Harold Carmichael Wylly (1858-1932)

Download or read book A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808 1809the Journal of Captain Gordon of the 15th Hussars written by Colonel H. C. Wylly C. B. and published by . This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like the Dunkirk campaign in 1940, General Sir John Moore's advance and retreat from and to Corunna in the early stages of the Peninsular War, was a defeat that has acquired in hindsight all the glorious aura of a famous victory. This was largely due to Moore's own heroic death at the climax of the campaign; but as Churchill remarked after Dunkirk, 'Wars are not won by evacuations' and any reader of these revealing diaries will be left in no doubt that Corunna was a calamitous defeat for Britain at the hands of a confident, competent French force. The author of these journals - first published in 1913 - was Captain Alexander Gordon, a Scottish aristocrat - (he was the son of the Earl of Aberdeen) - who wrote them up from notes he made at the conclusion of the campaign when the events he describes so vividly were still fresh in his mind. Although a Hussar, the conditions during the retreat on Corunna were so chaotic that Gordon, as he puts it "Enjoyed opportunities of becoming acquainted with the situation and general movements of the [whole] army." His journals cover the complete campaign - from Moore's unwise advance into Spain's interior in an effort to link up with Spanish armies; his encounter with the French under Napoleon himself; and his fighting retreat on the port of Corunna where the Royal Navy was waiting to rescue them. The climax was the pitched battle of Corunna itself, during which Moore was killed by a cannon ball in his chest. The British army of 16,000 succeeded in holding the numerically equivalent French at bay until they had embarked, inflicting 2,000 deaths for their own losses of 900 men. But - as at Dunkirk - they had to abandon much of their equipment o the enemy, including 20,000 muskets. In retrospect it is probably fortunate that by the time of the battle, Napoleon had left Spain to meet an Austrian threat, leaving the battle to the cautious Marshal Soult. This is a valuable eye-witness account of an often overlooked campaign by a perceptive and informed professional observer. IIlustrated with maps and a portrait of the author.

Download or read book March Of Death written by Christopher Summerville and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the bitter winter of 1808, a small British force found itself outnumbered and outmanouevered by a French army led by none other than the emperor Napoleon. Faced with crushing defeat, the British, commanded by Sir John Moore, turned and began a legendary march through the snow and ice of northern Spain to freedom and escape. Napoleon, swearing that he would drive the British leopard into the sea, pursued and an epic was born.

Download or read book The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaign 1809 1815 written by William Tomkinson and published by London S. Sonnenschein 1894.. This book was released on 1894 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Memoirs of the War of the French in Spain written by Albert Jean Michel Rocca and published by . This book was released on 1815 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Waterloo Roll Call written by Charles Dalton and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Recollections of Rifleman Harris written by Benjamin Randell Harris and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2022-08-18 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: '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.

Download or read book Corunna 1809 written by Philip Haythornthwaite and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fully illustrated and detailed account of the retreat to Corunna, one of the epic campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. Late in 1808 Sir John Moore found himself virtually alone with his small British army deep inside Spain. The armies of his Spanish allies had been overwhelmed and he faced a victorious French force under the Emperor Napoleon. He had little option but to order a retreat to the port of Corunna. This became the most arduous of trials with armies traversing mountainous terrain over appalling roads in the depths of winter. Somehow Moore held his outnumbered, exhausted men together as they struggled to reach safety. Philip Haythornthwaite recounts how, finally, at Corunna, Moore's army turned to face its tormentors.

Download or read book A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign 1808 1809 written by Alexander Gordon and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Catalogue of the War Office Library written by Great Britain. War Office. Library and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 1446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book God Save the Queen written by US Army Military History Institute and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Special Bibliographic Series written by US Army Military History Research Collection and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Peninsular Eyewitnesses written by Charles Esdaile and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-09-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many books have been written about the British struggle against Napoleon in the Peninsula. A few recent studies have given a broader view of the ebb and flow of a long war that had a shattering impact on Spain and Portugal and marked the history of all the nations involved. But none of these books has concentrated on how these momentous events were perceived and understood by the people who experienced them. Charles Esdaile has brought together a vivid selection of contemporary accounts of every aspect of the war to create a panoramic yet minutely detailed picture of those years of turmoil. The story is told through memoirs, letters and eyewitness testimony from all sides. Instead of generals and statesmen, we mostly hear from less-well-known figures - junior officers and ordinary soldiers and civilians who recorded their immediate experience of the conflict.

Download or read book Napoleon and the Operational Art of War written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Napoleon and the Operational Art of War, the leading scholars of Napoleonic military history provide the most authoritative analysis of Napoleon’s battlefield success and ultimate failure. Napoleon’s development and mastery of the operational art of warfare is revealed as each chapter analyzes one Napoleonic war or major campaign of a war. To achieve this, the essays conform to the common themes of Napoleon’s planning, his command and control, his execution of plans, and the response of his adversaries. Napoleon's sea power and the British response to the French challenge at sea is also investigated. Overall, this volume reflects the finest scholarship and cutting-edge research to be found in Napoleonic Military History. Contributors include Jonathan Abel, Robert M. Citino, Huw Davies, Mark T. Gerges; John H. Gill; Jordan Hayworth, Kenneth G. Johnson, Michael V. Leggiere, Kevin D. McCranie, Alexander Mikaberidze, Frederick C. Schneid, John Severn, Dennis Showalter, Geoffrey Wawro, and John F. Weinzierl.

Download or read book The Outlook written by and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 952 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Charging Against Wellington written by Robert Burnham and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-07-19 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive military history details the generals, organization and movements of Napoleon’s cavalry through the Peninsular War. In Charging Against Wellington, historian Robert Burnham draws on primary sources, manuals, memoirs, and regimental histories to reveal the experiences and activities of the French officers and soldiers who fought the British Army in Spain and Portugal. Burnham presents biographies of eighty French generals, focusing on their service in the Peninsula and its impact on their careers. Two become Marshals of France and many were promoted, while others saw their careers damaged in the conflict—including nine who were relieved from their commands. The author then examines the ever-changing organization of the cavalry, including the location and command of the various regiments and brigades. By April 1814, the Peninsula cavalry was down to 4,000 men, a shadow of the force that invaded six years before. Charging Against Wellington chronicles these changes, showing which units left and how their departure impacted the army. Finally, Burnham looks at the service record of the 70+ French cavalry regiments. There is a table for each that tracks the regiment’s colonels, composition, organization, strength, and casualties while in the Peninsula.

Download or read book Special Bibliography written by and published by . This book was released on with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: