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Welcome to Clash of Steel!
Featured battle : Schönebeck
Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Date : 08 November 1813
The French were a sortie in strength, on a foraging mission, from Magdeburg. The Russians almost succeeded in cutting them off from their base. Russian numbers are not exactly known.
Featured image :
British MOBAT anti-tank weapon
An artillery piece looked after by members of the 20th Century Revisited group. It was a prominent infantry fire support weapon from the 1960's. It was a 120mm recoilless rifle and had a range of between 800 and 1000 yards. It fired a HESH round which was pretty effective against most tanks of the period but was heavy and had an immense back-blast which could quickly give away it's position, as well as being hazardous to it users. It could be towed behind an Austin Champ, or Land Rover. It was a lighter weight development of the BAT weapon which had a protective screen for the gun-team, and was phased out in favour of the later WOMBAT which was of magnesium construction and much lighter. Displayed by the 20th Century Revisited group.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
Napoleon and the Art of Leadership
William Nester
When I first saw this book I was fearful that it was just another biography of Napoleon. But part of the title ‘the art of leadership’ intrigued me. I was pleased to find that the author stuck faithfully to his brief for at least the first three-quarters of the book. The focus was very clearly on the leadership actions and thinking of Napoleon himself and includes on the way the large amount of advice on leadership he gave to others. The final quarter reverts to more of a biography which perhaps reflects the absence of fresh thinking on Napoleon’s part.
Almost incidentally to the main theme we end up with a rather good biography of this ‘flawed genius’. We see the initial energy and drive of the genius become more and more egocentric until the flaws take over. This narrative flows through the book and beautifully draws out the increasing mismatch between what Napoleon said/wrote and what he did.
It is quite a large book as befits the subject with 395 pages of well written text and with over a hundred further pages of supporting notes.
We highly recommend this book to those who only want a good read about the life of a ‘flawed genius’ and those who want more will get more.
Frontline Books, 2020
Reviewed : 2021-05-07 15:23:33
