Featured battle : Savenay

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 23 December 1793

The Vendéen Royalists retreating after their defeat at Le Mans 10 days before were caught by the much larger pursuing army. The annihilation of the Royalist spelt the end of their resistance as a field army. Their resistance only continued in the form of guerilla actions.

Blood, Guts and Gore.

John Gordon Smith
This book is to be enjoyed as a novel although it is so much more than that. The true adventure of John Gordon Smith, an Assistant Surgeon with the 12th Light Dragoons, from pre-Waterloo, through the battle to the end of the occupation of France. Previously published in 1830 and now resurrected by Gareth Glover whose introduction and footnotes enhance the text.
This book is little more than a fascinating insight into one man’s experiences and thereby to an understanding of soldiering in that time. One can learn How to persuade a young man to have his shattered arm amputated. That the French did not serve horseradish, considered a necessity, with roast beef but it could be obtained from the apothecaries. How you find your regiment again after you’ve been left behind for three days caring for wounded. All this and much more is in John Gordon Smith’s reality and he tells it well.
We warmly recommend it to a wide range of readership.

Pen & Sword History, 2022