Download or read book Lieutenant Simmons of the 95th Rifles written by George Simmons and published by . This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A subalterns war in 'rifle green' against the French George Simmons, one of a large family, came from a comparatively humble background. Like so many of his countrymen of his time, he chose a military career fighting Napoleon's French Army. He craved action and knew that the place to find it was as one of Wellington's green sharpshooters-the famous 95th-the Rifles. His experiences on campaign and on the battlefield are recounted in detail through his journal and letters to his family. Simmons, accompanied by his brother Joe, fought with the Rifles throughout the war in the Iberian peninsula and over the Pyrenees into the south of France. Another brother, Maud, fought as a red coated infantry officer. After Napoleon escaped from Elba, Simmons was once more called to the front-this time on the bloody and apocalyptic fields outside Waterloo where he was dangerously wounded. This is a story of war told by a junior officer at the sharp end of the action on many of the famous battles and assaults of the campaigns in which he took part. This Leonaur edition of Simmons' story, with the text substantially re-presented for the modern reader, is an essential book for those interested in the Rifles and a vital addition to every library of Napoleonic history.
Download or read book A British Rifle Man written by George Simmons and published by Naval & Military Press. This book was released on 1899 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the best and most justly famous of the many memoirs of a serving British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Beverley in east Yorkshire, George Simmons began his military life in 1805 as Assistant Surgeon in the LIncoln Militia. He subsequently joined the 95th Rifles in order to help pay for his younger brothers education. Simmons served throughout the thick of the Peninsular War under Wellington, doing his duty as a Rifleman in six campaigns up to 1814, and seeing action at the sieges of Ciudad Roderigo and Badajoz and the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, and finally of Waterloo. He was thrice severely wounded, but survived to write these memoirs, which were basaed on the letters he sent home to his impecunious but doting parents.
Download or read book A British Rifle Man written by George Simmons and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-04 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "A British Rifle Man" (The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, During the Peninsular War and the Campaign of Waterloo) by George Simmons. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
Download or read book A British Rifle Man written by George Simmons and published by Naval & Military Press. This book was released on 1899 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the best and most justly famous of the many memoirs of a serving British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Beverley in east Yorkshire, George Simmons began his military life in 1805 as Assistant Surgeon in the LIncoln Militia. He subsequently joined the 95th Rifles in order to help pay for his younger brothers education. Simmons served throughout the thick of the Peninsular War under Wellington, doing his duty as a Rifleman in six campaigns up to 1814, and seeing action at the sieges of Ciudad Roderigo and Badajoz and the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, and finally of Waterloo. He was thrice severely wounded, but survived to write these memoirs, which were basaed on the letters he sent home to his impecunious but doting parents.
Download or read book Waterloo 1815 The British Army s Day of Destiny written by Gregory Fremont-Barnes and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2014-11-03 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing to his mother the day after the fighting, Captain Thomas Wildman of the 7th Hussars described ‘a victory so splendid & important that you may search the annals of history in vain for its parallel’. Little wonder, for Waterloo was widely recognised – even in its immediate wake – as one of the most decisive battles in history: after more than twenty years of uninterrupted conflict, this single day’s encounter finally put paid to French aspirations for European hegemony. The culminating point of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Waterloo also witnessed levels of determination and bravery by both sides which far exceeded anything experienced by the veterans of Wellington’s recent campaigns in Spain and Portugal. Indeed, it was that unconquerable spirit which left over 50,000 men dead on the field of battle and tens of thousands of others wounded. This thoroughly researched and highly detailed account of one of history’s greatest human dramas looks first at the wider strategic picture before focusing on the tactical roles played by individual British units – all meticulously examined with the benefit of an extensive array of hitherto unexploited primary sources which reveal the battlefield experience of officers and soldiers as never before. Refusing simply to repeat the same unchallenged accounts and to commit the same errors of previous historians, this work relies exclusively on hundreds of first-hand accounts, by men of all ranks and from practically every British regiment and corps present on that fateful day, to provide a fresh and revised perspective on one of the most pivotal events of modern times.
Download or read book A British Rifle Man written by Colonel Willoughby Verner and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-08-14 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: A British Rifle Man by Colonel Willoughby Verner
Download or read book Wellington s Rifles written by Mark Urban and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-05-26 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Riflemen of Wellington s Light Division in the Peninsular War written by Gareth Glover and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Light Division in the Peninsular War 1811 1814 written by Tim Saunders and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the middle of 1811, Brigadier General Robert Craufurd’s Light Division was emerging as the elite of the Peninsular Army and Wellington was seeking opportunities to go over to the offensive, following the expulsion of Marshal Masséna from Portugal. After a period of outpost duty for the Light Division on the familiar ground of the Spanish borders, Wellington seized ‘the keys to Spain’ in the epic sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Still reeling from the loss of General Craufurd, ‘The Division’ led the army against Marshal Marmont and after a protracted period of marching and counter marching, the French were finally brought to battle at Salamanca. As a result of King Joseph being driven out of Madrid, the French marshals united and in the autumn of 1812, the British were driven back to Ciudad Rodrigo in another gruelling retreat. With news of Napoleon’s disaster in Russia and with reinforcements from Britain, Wellington prepared his army to drive the French from the Peninsular. A lightening march across Spain to cut the Great Road found King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria and the resulting battle, in which the Light Division fought their way into the heart of the French position, was a triumph of arms for Wellington’s light troops. The pursuit into the Pyrenees, had a sting in the tail when Marshal Soult mounted counter offensives in an attempt to relieve San Sebastian and Pamplona. Having thrown the French back and with the Sixth Coalition intact, the Light Division fought their way through the mountains and into Napoleon’s France. With the allies closing in on all sides, the French fought on into 1814 and the Light Bobs had further fighting before the spoils of peace in a war-weary France could be enjoyed.
Download or read book Saturday Review of Politics Literature Science and Art written by and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 906 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Saturday Review of Politics Literature Science and Art written by and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wellington s Men Remembered Volume 2 written by Janet Bromley and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-03-25 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wellington's Men Remembered is a reference work which has been compiled on behalf of the Association of Friends of the Waterloo Committee and contains over 3,000 memorials to soldiers who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo between 1808 and 1815, together with 150 battlefield and regimental memorials in 24 countries worldwide.?
Download or read book The Literary World written by and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Light Division in the Peninsular War 1808 1811 written by Tim Saunders and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-03-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Histories of the Light Division have tended to be incomplete, being based on memoirs of a few well known diarists, principally from the 95th Rifles. The authors of this book, the first volume of two, have sought memoirs from across the division, including the artillery, the King’s German Hussars and others to complete a broader history of Wellington’s elite division. Light infantry was not new a concept in 1803, but at Shorncliffe Camp Sir John Moore developed a progressive ethos, set of tactics and training for the newly converted light infantry regiments. With the 95th Rifles they were melded into a brigade that was to form the basis of the incomparable Light Division. From the outset of the Peninsular campaigns in 1808 they delivered results way beyond their scant numbers, but it was during the epic winter retreat to La Corunna that they showed their metal. Returning to the Peninsular months later, the irascible Brigadier Craufurd led the Light Brigade in terrible march to reach Wellington at Talavera; heavily laden and in the heat of summer. Over the winter of 1809/10, Craufurd,s battalions, now elevated to the status of a division, provided the army’s outposts. This was work that Craufurd excelled in and actions abounded, including the Combat on the Côa, where the division fought hard to escape Marshal Ney’s trap. In 1810, with Wellington withdrawing to the Lines of Torres Vedra, the Light Division played a significant part in the battle of Buçaco Ridge, while the following year they drove Marshal Masséna’s army back into Spain having fought almost daily actions en route. This history of the Light Division is not simply a series of set piece battles but provides a wider picture of campaigning and what it was to be a light infantry soldier.
Download or read book Wellington s Light Division and the Defence of Portugal written by Robert Burnham and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2024-05-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Wellington s Light Division in the Peninsular War written by Robert Burnham and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A detailed and riveting account of the Light Division and its three regiments, 43rd and 52nd Light Infantry and the 95th Rifles . . . An important book.” —Firetrench In February 1810, Wellington formed what became the most famous unit in the Peninsular War: the Light Division. Formed around the 43rd and 52nd Light Infantry and the 95th Rifles, the exploits of these three regiments is legendary. Over the next 50 months, the division would fight and win glory in almost every battle and siege of the Peninsular War. How the division achieved its fame began on the border of Spain and Portugal where it served as a screen between Wellington’s Army and the French. When it came time pull back from the border, the division endured a harrowing retreat with a relentless enemy at their heels. It was during this eventful year it developed an esprit-de-corps and a belief in its leaders and itself that was unrivaled in Wellington’s Army. Wellington’s Light Division in the Peninsular War uses over 100 primary sources—many never published before—to recount the numerous skirmishes, combats, and battles, as well as the hardships of a year of duty on the front lines. Others are from long-forgotten books published over 150 years ago. It is through the words of the officers and men who served with it that this major, and long-anticipated study of the first critical year of the Light Division is told. “Given the limited scope of the book, covering only one year of the Peninsular campaign, the depth of the study is truly remarkable . . . An excellent history of the Light Division ‘Warts and All.’”—The Napoleon Series
Download or read book The British Soldier in the Peninsular War written by G. Daly and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-07-23 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining military and cultural history, the book explores British soldiers' travels and cross-cultural encounters in Spain and Portugal, 1808-1814. It is the story of how soldiers interacted with the local environment and culture, of their attitudes and behaviour towards the inhabitants, and how they wrote about all this in letters and memoirs.
