Tuesday 26 February 2013

The King's Chalice - Note4s

To learn more about the real historical events portrayed in teh novel "King's Chalice", you might try the following books:

READING LIST

Early Wars of Wessex                    Major

Anglo Saxon England                     Frank Stenton

Alfred’s Kingdom                             David A Hinton

Harold the Anglo Saxon King        Ian W Walker

History of the Anglo Saxons          Sir Frances Palgrave


The King's Chalice - An East Dorset town in Saxon Times

Buy your copy HERE

 

Product Description

After the death of King Alfred, a small town in Wessex is plunged into conflict and kinship rivalry. A royal prince flees leaving his slave behind. Udda lives in hiding but renders a service to a noble.
From slavery to owning land, the Saxon descendants of Udda are involved in murder and conflict in order to keep what is theirs.
Brutal Danish raids threaten the very existence of the family and the town; tales of brutality and cruelty lingering in the memories and sagas of the times. Each successive ruler struggles to impose his will on the people to whom survival is more important than allegiance. Love and duty collide in the brief lifetime of the Saxon people when invasion, plague and hunger are everyday hazards.
Remarkable events follow the owners of the farm, whose loyalty to their King brings riches and tragedy in equal measure.



About the Author
Brought up in Lancashire, followed by boarding school, language school in Switzerland and a secretarial course in London, Janet Seal now lives on the outskirts of Wimborne in East Dorset with her husband. Most of her time is spent writing, researching, gardening or looking after her elderly horse. She leads a U3A debating group and attends a Creative Writing course with the same organisation.

 

Monday 25 February 2013

The attack of the Northamptonshire Regiment at the Battle of Talavera


Wellesley then ordered Stapleton Cotton up with his light cavalry, sending to Colonel Donellan to bring the 48th Foot from the hill; and soon their broad buff regimental banner was seen approaching side by side with the King’s colour, as the Northamptons marched proudly into the disorder, wheeling back by companies to let the retiring jumble through and then resuming their steady line, shoulder to shoulder.
Gallant Lapisse lay dying on the grass, his life-blood welling out over the general’s gold aiguillette; but his column, hot with victory, had penetrated the British centre, and were making the most of a triumph destined to be short. The sun was now behind the British, for it was afternoon and the band of purple shadow that preceded the scarlet line of the 48th Foot was ominous of the disaster about to fall on the Frenchmen.
Taking the column on its right, the Northamptonshire poured a tremendous volley into it and closed with the bayonet. Colonel Donellan fell mortally wounded near the gruesome masses of dead guardsmen, 600 of whom were slaughtered there; but even in his agony the fine old man remembered his regiment, and raising his distinctive three-cornered Nivernois hat he desired Major Middlemore to take command, sinking back with dimmed eyes as the stout fellows faded from his sight for ever.
Like an avalanche the 48th fell on the column and checked its progress, giving the Guards and the Germans time to rally; then another hand-to-hand struggle began, fiercer if possible than the last, for the British were fighting desperately to recover lost ground.
Those who could not get to the front held aloof, and fired shot after shot wherever they saw an enemy; men wrestled and rolled over, clutching at each other; fists were used when weapons were broken; bearded Sapeurs in bearskin caps and white leather aprons hewed with their axes; officers in topboots shouted themselves hoarse; and Dermoncourt’s 1st Dragoons slashed and pointed in the most frantic attempt to break the British; but order was restored to the British Guards by the example of the Northamptonshire, and Cotton's cavalry came up at a trot with sabres in hand just in time.
Nearly all the staff were either unhorsed or wounded, and Wellesley himself was hit on the shoulder, but not seriously. Ruffin hesitated beyond the valley, and was lost; Lapisse lay dead, and Sebastiani was in disorder. King Joseph’s reserves and his Guard had not been engaged, but the French morale was shaken and the British infantry began to cheer - a pretty sure sign that they considered themselves to be conquering.
The artillery still continued; but little by little the French retreated to their own side of the plain, and about six o’clock the battle was over. 


from "The Battle of Talavera" by Oliver Hayes


Product Description

At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety.

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

Monday 18 February 2013

General Robert Wilson in the Peninsular War


Commanding the detached force in the Tietar Valley was General Robert Wilson. Wilson was one of the more colourful generals to be active in the Peninsula. He was born in 1777 as the son of the artist Benjamin Wilson. When his father died in 1789 young Wilson joined the 15th Light Dragoons and displayed both courage and skill at the Battle of Villers en Cauchies five years later. His continued exemplary service saw him knighted in 1801, but he then put everything at risk by eloping with the teenage daughter of a senior army officer.

Perhaps to stay out of the way of his irate in-laws, Wilson and his new wife went to Russia to work at the British Embassy, but in 1807 he was expelled as a spy. Within months Britain received an appeal for help against the French from the Portuguese. Among the things the Portuguese wanted was British officers to retrain the Portuguese Army. Wilson volunteered and in the summer of 1808 went to Lisbon to help organise the Loyal Lusitanian Legion.
In 1809 he marched into Spain with the Legion alongside the British army under Sir John Moore. But when Moore began his retreat to Corunna, Wilson disobeyed a direct order to do likewise and instead retreated back to Portugal by way of Almeira, which he garrisoned and equipped to withstand a French siege before falling back into Portugal. When General Lapisse launched the inevitable siege of Almeida, Wilson attacked with such energy and determination that Lapisse estimated his force to be three times the size it really was. Lapisse fell back into Spain. Thus when Wellesley came to Lisbon to relaunch British involvement in the Peninsular War much more of Portugal was free of the French than would have been the case without Wilson.
Wilson thereafter co-operated closely with Wellesley, his fine work with the Portuguese force in the Tietar Valley during the Talavera campaign being typical of how well the two men worked together. In 1812, with Russia now at war with France, Wilson was sent by the British government back to Russia. There he advised the Russian generals on his experiences of leading light troops against the French in the Peninsula.
When peace came in 1815, Wilson returned to Britain and went into politics as a radical. He served as an MP from 1818 to 1831. On one occasion he was attending a radical demonstration when the local magistrate called out the army. The situation was becoming ugly with some protestors throwing stones, and the soldiers loading their muskets. Wilson pushed his way to the fore and boldly marched into open space between demonstrators and soldiers. The officer commanding the soldiers recognised Wilson and ordered his men to retire, while the demonstrators heeded Wilson's plea to go home quietly. Wilson eventually rose to be a full general and was Governor of Gibraltar in the 1840s. He died in 1849 leaving a distraught widow and 13 children.

Saturday 16 February 2013

NEW BOOK - Elusive Destiny








Buy your kindle copy HERE
Buy other formats HERE

Author: Beatrice Holloway

Key Note: An historical fantasy/romance that tells of the impossible challenge of living a life without breaking a commandment between the thirteenth and twentieth centuries.

Matthew angered the Senate when he committed murder, thus changing his planned destiny.  They decided that to regain his destiny and Magdalena, the girl he loves, Matthew must live one life without breaking a commandment.  Through the centuries Matthew’s lives include being a smuggler, bishop, gold prospector and a Samurai warrior.  In every life he fails; the Senate ensures there is a dilemma which Matthew can only resolve by default.
In the 20th century he meets Magdalena, now called Marion and married to Alex. Matthew tells her of his lives, adventures and disappointments
Throughout the novel Matthew tries to convince Marion of the truth, Marion is confused; she realises she loves both Alex and Matthew and that she is loved by both.  On her death, Marion confronts the Senate demanding Matthew be released from his ordeal.  On her death, Marion confronts the Senate demanding Matthew be released from his ordeal in the hope that she and Matthew may finally fulfil their destiny.

About the Author
Beatrice Holloway, B.A., B.Ed. has always been interested in history, especially when new information clarifies, confirms or questions the past.  With the help of a lottery grant she has written and had produced a play; an eighteenth century scandal for which she was awarded a Certificate of Merit for Contributions to the Arts.
Her first novel ‘A Man from the North East’ published privately, details the social life of the 1930’s.  'Elusive Destiny', her latest book was written because of a remark she heard –‘I’ll see you in the next life’.


Wednesday 13 February 2013

Wellington's Plan for the Talavera Campaign


Wellesley's plan for what became the Talavera Campaign was relatively simple, though he knew it to be fraught with difficulties. The plan depended on the information that Wellesley had about the French armies being accurate and on the Spanish general Cuesta doing as he promised.
Wellesley knew that the French Marshal Ney had been defeated by the Spanish at Punto Sanpayo on 7 June and was retreating eastward across northern Spain. He himself had defeated Marshal Soult at Oporto on 12 May and believed that Soult was likewise heading eastward. However the precise location and direction of these two French armies was not entirely clear. A third French army, under Sebastiani was in Andalusia where it was thought to be engaged in operations against guerrilleros and against a small Spanish army under Francisco Venegas. A fourth, smaller than the rest, was in Madrid. Other French forces in Spain were too far away to be a consideration.
Wellesley had heard from the Spanish general Cuesta that he and his men were able to roam at will across most of Extramadura. He was securing the rule of the local anti-French Junta against that of the puppet regime in Madrid , and all the time the French Marshal Victor was keeping his army idle up the Tagus Valley. Victor and Cuesta had tangled earlier at the Battle of Medellin and although the Spanish had done well, the French had won the day. Cuesta was therefore unwilling to advance against Victor on his own, but would do so with British support.
The idea of joint operations was first broached in letters between Cuesta and Wellesley late in May, but there were problems. The key issue so far as Wellesley was concerned was food. The British army depended on supplies brought in via the port at Lisbon and then moved to the army on carts and pack mules. An attack on Victor would involve a long advance and Wellesley simply did not have enough animals and carts to transport the food all the way from Lisbon. Cuesta responded that there was plenty of food hidden from the French in Extramadura and that he would arrange for it to be brought to the British. It proved to be a rash promise for the food was under the control of the Junta, not of Cuesta.
Wellesley was also concerned about the other French armies. He was confident that he and Cuesta could thrash Victor, but if any of the other French marshals brought up their men the situation would be entirely different. His sources told him the marshals were far distant, but the information was old and not entirely reliable. Wellesley therefore detached a Portuguese-British force under Sir Robert Wilson to advance up the Tietar Valley, which ran parallel to the Tagus but some miles to the north. There he would be able to delay any French advance from the north, and report the move to Wellesley.
On 4 July Wellesley marched his army into Spain and five days later passed the town of Plasencia. On 10 July Wellesley and a few staff officers rode ahead to Almarez for a meeting with Cuesta to discuss the campaign. The meeting began badly when Wellesley arrived four hours late having got lost on the way, and was not helped by the fact that Cuesta spoke no English and Wellesley only poor Spanish. Nevertheless, both men agreed with the intelligence that Victor and his army was alone and camped at Talavera. A joint plan of operation was hammered out. The British and Spanish armies would meet at Oropesa, 30 miles west of Talavera, on the 21 July. Wilson and his men would form a flank guard to the north, while a Spanish army under Venegas would perform a similar duty to the south. Cuesta and Wellesley would then march rapidly east to attack Victor before news of the advance attracted other French troops. 

from "The Battle of Talavera"


Product Description

At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety.

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

 

Tuesday 12 February 2013

NEW BOOK - The Aztec UFO Crash

 Buy your copy HERE

 

Product Description

Before Roswell there was Aztec - a report of a crashed flying saucer where the wreckage and alien bodies were seized by the US military. But what is the truth?
Experienced researcher and author Richard Thomas takes a new look at the controversial Aztec UFO Crash incident.
Everyone, both UFO believers and agnostics, have heard about the Roswell incident, the alleged recovery of a “flying disk” in the New Mexico desert by the US government in July 1947. Roswell has become a household name around the world and today the small town in the south western United States is synonymous with UFO wreckage, government cover-ups and alien autopsies.
So important has the Roswell crash become that it is often overlooked that the Roswell incident was not actually the first crashed saucer story to enter the public consciousness. That distinction belongs to another alleged UFO incident in the New Mexico desert, this time in 1948, the year after the Roswell incident, near the town of Aztec.
First investigated by celebrity gossip columnist Frank Scully, the Aztec crash was one of three such crashes mentioned in Scully’s 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. In the book Scully revealed his sources to be a man called Silas Newton and a scientist named “Dr. Gee”, who supposedly had “more degrees than a thermometer”. According to these two sources, the flying saucers supposedly worked on magnetic principles.
Although Scully’s flying saucer book sold very well, selling 60,000 hardcover copies in 1950, the book was seemingly debunked in two well researched articles by San Francisco Chronicle reporter J. P. Cahn published in True magazine in 1952 and 1956.
Now it is time to revisit the evidence and seek to uncover the truth.

Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 - 1947 Flying Saucer Wave and Roswell UFO Crash
Chapter 2 - Another Saucer Crash in New Mexico?
Chapter 3 - Saucer Crashes Debunked and Revived
Conclusions
Appendix - Interview with Paul Kimball, UFO Filmmaker and Director of ‘Aztec: 1948’
Bibliography
Filmography
Endnotes


About the Author
Richard Thomas is a writer of non-fiction books, magazine articles and newspaper columns. He has written articles on a wide range of subjects for the South Wales Evening Post, Alien Worlds, UFO Matrix, Mindscape, Paranormal Magazine and many other publications. Visit his website at www.richardthomas.eu.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 310 KB
  • Print Length: 27 pages
  • Publisher: Bretwalda Books (4 Feb 2013)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00BBEBFNA
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Monday 11 February 2013

Beresford recruits a new Portugues Army to fight the French 1808


When the Peninsular War had opened, the Portuguese Army had been suffering from a number of problems. The first of these was that it had been entirely disbanded when the French invaded and conquered Portugal in 1807. All the army's equipment was commandeered by the French and sent back to France. The men were disarmed and ordered to go home, unless they wanted to join the French Army as a distinctive "Legion of Portugal". Some 15,000 volunteered to do so and in February 1808 set off to march to France. By that time, however, the Portuguese royal family had settled in Brazil and announced it was continuing the war against France. More than half the Legion deserted on the march to France and returned to Portugal to await events.
On 7 March it was announced that the British general William Beresford had been appointed to the rank of Field Marshal and Commander in Chief of the Portuguese. He had orders from the Portuguese government to reform and re-equip the Portuguese Army from scratch, while the British government had given him a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money.
Beresford at once began recruiting, preferring former soldiers but taking new men as well. Each man was equipped with weapons, uniforms and other equipment almost identical to that of the British army except that the Portuguese had brown jackets instead of red. Corruption, which had been widespread in the old Portuguese Army, was ruthlessly stamped out and several senior officers sent home in disgrace. Beresford also called on British officers to come and help him retrain the Portuguese. As an inducement he offered every officer an instant promotion of one rank. The British government did not want to lose too many officers, so Beresford next offered to commission as an officer any British sergeant who volunteered to join the Portuguese Army. The only stipulation that Beresford made was the the new officers had to be able to read and write well enough to keep daily records and accounts for the unit they commanded.
The work done by Beresford was so rapid that a Portuguese force of 5,600 men was able to march north to help in the liberation of Oporto in May 1809. Led by General Francisco Silveira, the Portuguese force was tasked with pursuing Soult's retreating French while Wellesley marched south to the Battle of Talavera. Thereafter the Portuguese Army grew in strength and efficiency. 

from "The Battle of Talavera", book of the month.

Buy your Kindle copy HERE
 Buy your other foramts HERE

Product Description

At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety.

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

Please note that some sections - for instance that on tactics - are repeated in other books in this series so you may care to purchase the compilation volume on The Peninsular War, which includes all the battles with no repeated text. 

Saturday 9 February 2013

RAF Duxford

Book Description

5 July 2012 Heroes of the RAF
The thrilling story of Britain's premier fighter station in action from the Great War to the present day. The great fighter base at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, was founded in 1919 as a training station. It became an active base for fighters protecting London in 1923. By 1930 it was expected that any invasion of Britain by Germany would come over the flat beaches of East Anglia, so Duxford was uprated to be a key link in the defensive system. When the Battle of Britain broke out in 1940 Duxford was the base for Douglas Bader and his "Duxford Big Wing" of 60 Spitfires and Hurricanes. Time and again Bader and his men went up to fight the vast swarms of German aircraft heading for London and more than once were almost all that stood between Hitler and outright victory. In 1943 Duxford was handed to the USAAF to serve as a base for fighters escorting daylight bombing raids. Fighers based at Duxford flew all the way to Berlin and back. After the war, Duxford remained a fighter base until 1961. Thereafter it has served as a film studio, flying club and most recently as the home for the Imperial War Museum's aircraft collection. This book takes the reader on a thrilling journey through the history of Britain's premier figher base - RAF Duxford.
 



Thursday 7 February 2013

The British Army in the Peninsular War


By the standards of its time, the British army engaged in the Peninsular War was small and old fashioned. It was to make up for those drawbacks by some superlative advantages.
For a start the British Army was an entirely volunteer organisation. This had a huge influence on both the composition of the army and how it was used. Most European armies by the date of the Peninsular War had followed the lead of France and used conscription to raise armies that were both enormous in number and composed of all sections of society - urban, rural, rich, poor. The British army, by contrast, was comparatively small and drawn very largely from rural areas. The sections of society represented tended to be polarised. Poorer men joined the ranks, richer men joined as officers. Relatively few moderately well off men could afford the costs of being an officer and even fewer wanted to join the rank and file.
The men were paid fairly well by contemporary standards for a labourer and underwent extensive and repeated training. They were, therefore, expensive commodities that the government would find expensive and time consuming to replace. British commanders were never encouraged to embark on the sorts of costly attacks in column that won battles for French generals. Indeed, British tactics and strategy were generally aimed at sustaining the minimum possible casualties. Most European commanders with large numbers of poorly trained conscripts would have viewed this as a decidedly old fashioned view.

 from "The Battle of Talavera"

Buy your copy HERE

Product Description

At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety.

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

NEW BOOK - Chronicles of the Coast



A mystical historical evocation for teenagers.

It is the tail-end of a scorching August, and Jamie is terribly unhappy – dreading returning to school in a few days, and the inevitable resumption of last term’s nightmare of bullying. Then one afternoon, while looking out wistfully over the sea at the easternmost edge of England, he encounters a mysterious stranger who reveals an awe-inspiring vision of the whole huge sweep of English history. Prehistoric hunters in forgotten forests, Romans in toppled towns, Saxon saints, Viking voyagers, medieval monks, charismatic Cavaliers, witch-burners, rioters, soldiers and a host of others come crowding back to colourful life to show Jamie his place in his own history and his value in the world.

About the Author

DEREK TURNER is the editor of the Quarterly Review, and the author of the novel Sea Changes. He has written for the Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph, Times, Country Life, Literary Review, and many other journals in the United Kingdom and overseas, on British history, topography, travel, books and current affairs. He lives on the Lincolnshire coast.

Buy your copy HERE

Tuesday 5 February 2013

The Spanish "little war" in the Peninsular War


Throughout Spain bands of local men armed with whatever they could find by way of weapons embarked on a campaign of sustained and determined resistance to the French. These guerilleros did not wear uniforms and did not form an orderly army, instead they emerged from the local population to fight when an opportunity offered then melted back into the population afterwards. Most bands were small and drawn from rural areas, only a few being larger than a couple of dozen men and even fewer being based in urban areas. Some of the guerrilla leaders were regular army officers who had taken to the hills rather than surrender to the French.
The rise of the guerilleros was aided by the behaviour of the French troops. The supply system of the French army was never very good, and in the rugged countryside of Spain frequently broke down entirely. French troops were forced to steal food from the locals, who then went hungry. Looting of things other than food was frequent, while rapes and murders were not unknown. These early outrages by the French spurred the guerrillas to reprisals, not only refusing to take prisoners but frequently torturing any Frenchmen they could get hold of. The French responded in kind so that large swathes of the Spanish countryside became abandoned by all except the dead.
It was a savage war with high casualty rates, the guerrillas killing far more French soldiers than did the regular Spanish army. The guerrilla war had a wider impact on the French army than mere casualties. Because small French patrols were likely to be ambushed, the French could not move except in large numbers. In some areas a messenger would not get through unless escorted by at least 300 men. That meant not only that the French generals were often ignorant of what each other were doing, it also restricted the French to main roads where they could move in safety. The more rural areas gradually became off limits to the French, allowing Spanish forces to move unseen across Spain. 

from "The Battle of Talavera"

Buy your copy HERE

Product Description

At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety.

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

Monday 4 February 2013

NEW BOOK - The Battle of Arsuf 1191






Buy your copy HERE


Product Description

The key battle of the Third Crusade that saw King Richard the Lionheart of England inflict a crushing strategic defeat on Saladin.

The Third Crusade had already captured the great city fortress of Acre earlier in 1191, but was in danger of petering out in a series of skirmishes and small battles as the effort lost direction and some crusaders headed home to Europe. King Richard took the bold step of leading the English army, the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitallers on a daring march across the desert to capture the port-city of Jaffa, which he hoped to then use as a springboard for the march on the holy city of Jerusalem.

At Arsuf Richard’s army was confronted by Saladin’s main force. Outnumbered by more than 2 to 1, Richard remained on the defensive for much of the day until unleashing his heavy knights in one of the most famous and effective cavalry charges of history.

Contents
Chapter 1: The Rise of Saladin
Chapter 2: Richard the Lionheart and the Crusaders
Chapter 3: A Clash of Cultures... and Egos
Chapter 4: The Battle of Arsuf
Chapter 5: Aftermath




About the Author
Andrew May is a former defence scientist with an MA from Cambridge University and a PhD from Manchester University. His thirty year career spanned academia, the civil service and the defence industry. He has worked on advanced technology research in Farnborough, strategic planning in Whitehall and operational analysis for a large defence company. He is now based in the South-West of England where he works as a freelance writer and blogger.

Friday 1 February 2013

New Book of the Month - The Battle of Talavera







At Talavera a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) tried to link up with a Spanish army under General Cuesta to ambush a French corps under Marshal Victor. But things went wrong and the British had to fight their way to safety. 

This book forms part of the Bretwalda Battles series on The Peninsular War.

The book outlines the Peninsular War up to the start of the Talavera Campaign. It then analyses the careers of the commanders and explains the tactics and weapons of the time together with any differences between the practices of the armies involved in the battle. The book then describes the action in detail before moving on to outline events after the battle.

Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.

This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War in general or the Battle of Talavera in particular.

Buy your kindle version HERE