Featured battle : Tewkesbury

Part of War of the Roses

Date : 04 May 1471

The Lancastrians held a hill top position and had a numerical advantage of six to five. Both forces formed up in three battles. An attack by the Lancastrian right wing under Somerset was not only badly executed but had been anticipated by King Edward who had placed spearmen to take them in the flank. The battle turned into a rout and between two to three thousand Lancastrians were killed in the battle and pursuit compared with about 500 Yorkists. The Lancastrian heir to the throne, Edward, Prince of Wales, was killed.

Wellington's Infantry

Gabriele Esposito
Here is a book with a bit of a wow factor and it goes much further than the title suggests. All the British Guards, Line, Scottish and Light Infantry regiments are covered. Then come the hundreds of units from around the world. A further section covers foreign troops in British service and this includes the Kings German Legion. The range is from the many full regiments raised in Canada to the militia companies of the West Indies. Militias, Veterans and Fencibles are all included even the Select Embodied Militia, making the coverage truly comprehensive. By way of example of the inclusivity one unit mentioned is the grand sounding Canadian Light Dragoons raised in 1813 comprised only eighty men but took part in several engagements until disbanded in 1815. Naturally in a book of 137 pages the coverage of each unit is slight being an overview of the whole picture rather than the detail.
The many illustrations showing a range of uniforms of different units are really excellent and the bibliography points the reader to further reading. There is also a concluding chapter on uniforms and the changes made in this period.
Forgive the somewhat misleading title, many of these units mentioned never came anywhere near Wellington’s zone of command. Enjoy a jolly interesting read and put this book in your reference section for dipping into as the need arises or when you just feel like looking at the pictures
We strongly recommend this book.

Pen & Sword Military, 2021