Featured battle : Figueras [3]

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 04 May 1811 - 19 August 1811

The Spanish took the fortress on the 10th April 1811 [see Figueras 1] and garrisonned it with 5 weak regular battalions. The remainder of the garrison were made up from volunteers and Miqueletes [Catalan irregular mountain troops]. In May Napoleon had ordered an immediate re-capture of the fortress but the Spanish put up such a determined defence the immediate became over three months. The Spanish dead numbered 1,500 the French lost nearly three times that number. A French victory but a long expensive one.

Fighting with the Long Range Desert Group

Brendan O'Carroll
War may be viewed on many levels a national conflict and the strategic sweep of armies or the placing of divisions and brigades but at the base of the pyramid everything depends on individual men. This superb book is about one of those men who fought his war as a member of a very special unit the Long Range Desert Group. The motto of the LRDG was ‘Not by strength by guile’ and although they had to do quite a lot of fighting their most important role meant they should avoid any contact with the enemy wherever possible. Put briefly their mission was to go deep, hundreds of miles, behind enemy lines gather intelligence and cause disruption. An example of this is the road watch incredibly dangerous and boring but of enormous value to allied intelligence. Information which could not be gathered in any other way. What it meant to the men who lay in cover within a few hundred yards of the road and recorded vehicle movements for 24 hours at a stint we can barely imagine.
Brendan O’Carroll has done an excellent job, using large sections of Merlyn Craw’s diary, to bring to life a true picture of this special unit. The book is rich in detail of ‘every day’ life and the equipping and organizing of the ‘trips’ into the desert behind enemy lines. Supporting the text are many special photographs and maps. The ten appendices add even more fascinating detail.
This gripping story is very highly recommended.

Pen & Sword Military, 2022