Featured battle : Gospic

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 21 May 1809 - 22 May 1809

In Croatia far from the main scene of action [Aspern-Essling] an Austrian force inflicted a significant defeat upon a larger French force.

The French at Waterloo. Eyewitness Accounts

Andrew W. Field
This book, taken as a whole, is fascinating. Each of the twenty-eight eyewitness accounts is engaging and intriguing and the introduction offers wise guidance for any would be military historian. There are three accounts from Napoleon himself progressively ‘adjusted’ as time passed to cast himself in a better light and to place the blame for defeat on other shoulders. To a certain degree one would expect accounts from different sides of the battle to differ but these accounts are all from the same side and one wonders, in some cases, if they were in the same battle. A number of accounts have Hougoumont and La Hay Sainte both falling while others confuse the two. Somewhere in the midst of this confusion of first hand accounts lies the truth.
The text is support by a few photographs and a map of the disposition of French troops at the start of the battle. Also, before each account, there is a very useful potted biography of the writer and the source of the document.
A most enjoyable read which we highly recommend.

Pen & Sword Military, 2020