Featured battle : Castiglione delle Stiviere

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 05 August 1796

The armies of Bonaparte and Würmser faced each other with the Austrian left 'in the air'. Würmser strengthened this with most of his guns and his cavalry. The French weakly attacked the Austrian front and then withdrew more on their left than centre. The Austrian line moved forward to fill the 'vacuum'. A French force under Fiorella having come by forced march all through the night attacked the left rear of the Austrian line coordinated with a full attack all along the Austrian front. But for some determined defence, and a strong counter attack by Austrians under Bajalich, Würmser's force would have been surrounded.

Marshal Ney at Quatre Bras

Paul L. Dawson
Do we need another book about Waterloo? If they are like this we most certainly do. This book is different because of the primary source material researched to create it. The usual story is not trotted out without a fresh critical analysis. Within the book one chapter stands above all others for me and that is chapter 8. The movements of 1st Corps is a tale of mismanagement and confusion and has been a source of conjecture for all who study Quatre Bras. Paul Dawson makes, as clear as possible, the events of the day carefully weighing the evidence for the ultimate actions of the key players. He makes the confusion clear while bewailing the fact that verbal exchanges which could have played an important part on the day are lost to history.
This is a book for the Waterloo 'aficionado' written in a way which is easily accessible to the general reader.
I highly recommend this book and at the time of writing look forward to, the soon to be published, Paul Dawson's 'Waterloo. The Truth at Last'.
Frontline Books. Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2017