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Author: Alexander Henry Craufurd Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 190869288X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
The Duke of Wellington was faced by numerous problems as the head of the British Army in the Peninsular War from 1809, not least of which were the number and quality of the sub-ordinate generals that he was sent by the powers that be at Horse Guards. Ranging from blind cavalry commanders such as Baron von Bock, to Sir William Erskine, who was “generally understood him to be a madman.”, however set apart from these characters was Robert “Black Bob” Craufurd, leader of the Light Division. He was, apart from a handful of errors, as dependable, hard fighting and able a general as the Iron Duke would have under his command in the Peninsular. He died the death of a gallant general, from wounds sustained at the head of his troops at the breach of Cuidad Rodrigo in 1812, after numerous successful battles and engagements. Craufurd’s Grandson, Alexander Craufurd, decided to write a memoir tying together historical documents and the numerous memoirs left by the men of the Light Division, the 43rd, 52nd and 95th Regiments. He does not attempt to gloss over the failings of his grandfather although as might be expected he does his level best to explain them and with the help of eye-witnesses excuse them. General Craufurd, had a long career of soldiering in varied locations before his service, including India and South America where he established his reputation as an outstanding regimental officer and very unafraid of condemning what he saw was bad generalship. In character he was stern and often sullenly broody, a strict disciplinarian, whose men could not be said to love him by they definitely trusted his judgement and were glad to be commanded by a man who looked after their basic needs. He was a “scientific officer” who trained his men to excel in their roles at the outposts, at the forefront of advances and the rearguards of retreats. His officers however roundly disliked him but as Sir George Napier said; "Although he was a most unpopular man, every officer of the Light Division must acknowledge that, by his unwearied and active exertions of mind and body, that Division was brought to a state of discipline and knowledge of the duties of light troops, which never was equalled by any Division in the British army, or surpassed by any Division of the French army." An excellent book on one of the finest British Generals of the Peninsular War. Author – Alexander Henry Craufurd – (1843-1917)
Author: Alexander Henry Craufurd Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 190869288X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 291
Book Description
The Duke of Wellington was faced by numerous problems as the head of the British Army in the Peninsular War from 1809, not least of which were the number and quality of the sub-ordinate generals that he was sent by the powers that be at Horse Guards. Ranging from blind cavalry commanders such as Baron von Bock, to Sir William Erskine, who was “generally understood him to be a madman.”, however set apart from these characters was Robert “Black Bob” Craufurd, leader of the Light Division. He was, apart from a handful of errors, as dependable, hard fighting and able a general as the Iron Duke would have under his command in the Peninsular. He died the death of a gallant general, from wounds sustained at the head of his troops at the breach of Cuidad Rodrigo in 1812, after numerous successful battles and engagements. Craufurd’s Grandson, Alexander Craufurd, decided to write a memoir tying together historical documents and the numerous memoirs left by the men of the Light Division, the 43rd, 52nd and 95th Regiments. He does not attempt to gloss over the failings of his grandfather although as might be expected he does his level best to explain them and with the help of eye-witnesses excuse them. General Craufurd, had a long career of soldiering in varied locations before his service, including India and South America where he established his reputation as an outstanding regimental officer and very unafraid of condemning what he saw was bad generalship. In character he was stern and often sullenly broody, a strict disciplinarian, whose men could not be said to love him by they definitely trusted his judgement and were glad to be commanded by a man who looked after their basic needs. He was a “scientific officer” who trained his men to excel in their roles at the outposts, at the forefront of advances and the rearguards of retreats. His officers however roundly disliked him but as Sir George Napier said; "Although he was a most unpopular man, every officer of the Light Division must acknowledge that, by his unwearied and active exertions of mind and body, that Division was brought to a state of discipline and knowledge of the duties of light troops, which never was equalled by any Division in the British army, or surpassed by any Division of the French army." An excellent book on one of the finest British Generals of the Peninsular War. Author – Alexander Henry Craufurd – (1843-1917)
Author: Tim Saunders Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1526757354 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
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.
Author: Colonel Willoughby Verner Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 1786256843 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 828
Book Description
History of Rifle Brigade from 1809 to 1813 - mainly Peninsular War in which the regiment was involved from start to finish. On 10th May 1809 the strength of the 1st Battalion was 1,536 and the 2nd 1,579 and so a 3rd Battalion was formed. The unfortunate 2nd Battalion was involved in the Walcheren expedition August to December 1809 and when our troops evacuated the place battle deaths had amounted to 111, deaths from disease numbered over 4,000. But the main subject in this volume is the Peninsular War in which the regiment played a very active part from beginning to end. All three battalions were involved and seventeen Battle Honours were awarded, the highest number for any regiment in that campaign. The descriptions of operations are in detail, supported by superb maps. Throughout his account the author draws upon contemporary sources, official correspondence, despatches, reports, letters, diaries, reminiscences and on the work of such historians as Fortescue and Oman. —Print Ed.
Author: Ian Fletcher Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1526775204 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 797
Book Description
To most students of the Peninsular War the name Robert Craufurd evokes images of a battle-hardened martinet, flogging his men across Portugal and Spain, driving them hard and generally taking a tough stance against anything and everything that did not meet with his own strict disciplinarian code. But that is only a partial picture of this most complex character, and it is the other side of Craufurd’s personality that is revealed in this, the first full-length biography to be written in the last hundred years. Craufurd’s letters to his wife are published here for the first time, and they show that he was a far more interesting and varied man in his private life than he appeared to be on campaign. Ian Fletcher follows Craufurd’s controversial career from India, Ireland and South America to the Iberian Peninsula where he achieved immortality as one of Wellington’s finest generals.
Author: Edmund Burke Publisher: ISBN: Category : Books Languages : en Pages : 704
Book Description
Continuation of the reference work that originated with Robert Dodsley, written and published each year, which records and analyzes the year’s major events, developments and trends in Great Britain and throughout the world. From the 1920s volumes of The Annual Register took the essential shape in which they have continued ever since, opening with the history of Britain, then a section on foreign history covering each country or region in turn. Following these are the chronicle of events, brief retrospectives on the year’s cultural and economic developments, a short selection of documents, and obituaries of eminent persons who died in the year.
Author: Robert Burnham Publisher: Frontline Books ISBN: 1526758911 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 357
Book Description
“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
Author: Adrian Goldsworthy Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 0297866680 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 339
Book Description
The fourth novel in a brilliant Napoleonic series from acclaimed historian Adrian Goldsworthy. The year is 1809, and the recruiting sergeants are hard at work, as the British army gathers strength for the next phase of the campaign against Bonaparte on the Spanish Peninsula. Captain Billy Pringle of the 106th Foot, however, has a somewhat more urgent reason to leave the country: having become embroiled in an ill-advised duel with a lieutenant in the 14th Light Dragoons, a posting to Spain would avoid any awkwardness for the regiment. Along with his friend Lieutenant Williams - whose sister Kitty was the cause of the duel - and the doughty veteran Sergeant Dobson, Pringle takes on the task of training Spanish troops to stand alongside their British allies. But what seems at first like easy duty soon turns into a desperate fight for survival as they find themselves besieged in the strategic fortress of Cuidad Rodrigo. For Bonaparte, taking the fortress will be the first step towards pushing the British back to the sea, and the task is entrusted to one of his most daring and successful generals, Marshal Ney. And Ney in his turn has found the perfect officer to lead the assault, a man not only desperate for advancement but also thirsting for revenge - a man whom Williams knows only too well.
Author: Alexander Henry Craufurd
Author: Alexander Henry Craufurd
Author: Alexander Henry Craufurd
Author: Tim Saunders
Author: Colonel Willoughby Verner
Author: Ian Fletcher
Author: Free Public Library (Sydney, N.S.W.). Reference Dept
Author: Edmund Burke
Author: Newcastle Central Library
Author: Robert Burnham
Author: Adrian Goldsworthy