Featured battle : Rocroi

Part of The Thirty Years War

Date : 18 May 1643 - 19 May 1643

The Spaniards were intent on capturing the important fortress of Rocroi to prevent this the French sent an army to its relief. The battlelines were drawn up with the Spaniards having superiority in number of men and guns. The first day was confined to a cavalry skirmish and an exchange of gun fire. The second day was a full scale engagement. The French right wing destroyed their opposition and were able to attack the centre to relieve their own left wing which was faring badly. After a close run struggle the French won a decisive victory losing only 2,200 men to the Spanish loss of 14,500.

Wellington's Waterloo Allies

Andrew W. Field
Here we have a different view of the Waterloo campaign which calls into question many aspects of some previous Anglo-centric views of the battles. Using the national archives of the various nations new light has been shone on the battles at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. This corrective is useful in so much as no one saw the whole battle, every soldier, if their voice could be heard, would give a different view and that also would change as time passed, this is another view.
This book is a strong reinforcement to more recent thinking about the contribution of the non-British troops to the eventual victory. What is special and particularly valuable is an army officer’s analysis of all aspects e.g. training, equipping etc., of the various national contingents. Understanding of which goes a long way into understanding the actions of the various national contingents. This is incidentally an interesting insight into how different nations organized their army's in the Napoleonic period.
The text is well supported by maps and charts and makes clear as possible the confusion of the battle fields.
A good read which we highly recommend.

Pen & Sword Crime, 2022