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Anniversaries for today :
Welcome to Clash of Steel!
Featured battle : Castalla
Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Date : 21 July 1812
Although they outnumbered the French by nearly three to one the Spanish still came off worse in this engagement. Among their casualties over two thousand of them were unwounded but captured.
Featured image :
British Saracen Armoured Personnel Carrier
Built on the same basic chassis as the Saladin Armoured Car (see entry), this 6 wheel drive APC was designed in 1952 and has served with the British army until the 1990's, latterly in an urban role in Northern Ireland, and with many other countries until very recently. The engine is mounted forward of the centrally positioned driver, and a squad of 10 troops could be carried in the armoured crew compartment, accessible by the twin rear doors. A hand-operated turret could contain a 7.62mm machine gun such as the bren and ports down the flanks and in the rear doors permitted the occupants to fire their personal weapons. It had the same performance as the Saladin, a speed of 45mph, good cross-country performance and the ability to operate on 5 wheels to cope with mine damage.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
The Sieges of Cuidad Rodrigo
Tim Saunders
Here is a book that does just what it says on the cover and does it well and at the same time is an excellent insight into Napoleonic warfare in general. The sieges of Cuidad Rodrigo in 1810 by the French against the Spanish and the 1812 return match of the British/Portuguese against the French are dealt with in detail. The movements and engagements of the armies between the two events are covered sufficiently for the reader to grasp the strategic significance of the sieges. The book is rich in illustrations including photographs of things as they are today and one of the appendices is a battlefield tour guide.
The text flows easily with many appropriate contemporary accounts covering many aspects of the soldiers lives. Two of them will stick in my memory for a long time. One is of an Irish woman dropping out of a very tough winter march to have a baby by the side of the road and who then rejoined the marching column. The other is of a major who had his arm amputated and then wandered around to find a bed for the night. There are many similar accounts which enrich the narrative and get the reader closer to the reality of Napoleonic campaigning. I often have cause to complain about the maps in modern books but I don’t need to here. To my joy the maps are excellent supports to the text, some are reproductions of contemporary maps and these are supported with new maps and battlefield plans which have both keys and scales.
There are four useful appendices and the bibliography is contained within the notes attached to each chapter.
We thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Napoleonic warfare and especially to anyone thinking of visiting this area of Spain. My hope is Tim Saunders is going to write a similar book on the siege of Badajoz, an altogether bloodier affair.
Pen & Sword Military, 2018
Reviewed : 2019-01-28 11:58:13
