Featured battle : Bautzen

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 20 May 1813 - 21 May 1813

The Allies formed up on the heights to the east of the river Spree near the town of Bautzen. They anticipated Napoleon's main attack would come on their left and made dispositions accordingly. On the first day of the battle Napoleon merely held the Allied left, in sufficient strength to suggest that maybe the main attack would develop there, while strongly attacking the centre of their line. On the second day, with all reserves having been drawn into the centre or to the left wing, Napoleon brought up Ney's and Lauriston's Corps to out-flank the right wing of the Allies. In spite of Ney's tardiness the move was successful in causing the Allies to withdraw. However the Allies were able to pull out in fairly good order thanks to their superiority in cavalry which they had not exploited earlier in the day.

Wellington's History of the Peninsular War

Stuart Reid
In this book we find the four long memoranda concerning the Peninsular war which Wellington wrote. He only did this for the years 1808, 1809, 1810 and 1811; it is a pity that he did not do the same for the remaining years of the war. However these years are covered by the author in selecting some dispatches from Wellington concerning the major battles 1812 to 1814. This is the first time that this material has been brought together as a continuous narrative. It is supported by brief summaries of the careers of the officers mentioned in Wellington’s dispatches, by a set of 21 very nice annotated colour plates, and 8 moderately useful maps. Appendix 2 is particularly worthy of mention as it contains a breakdown of the Peninsular army from 1808 -1814. It goes into much detail even to the extent of movement of regiments between division and temporary commands of various formations.
What I found really interesting is the way Wellington writes about events, actions and other people which reveals so much about himself. The times he goes through the thought process in considering the for and against an action proceeding to explain why he came to the conclusion he reached. He constantly makes reference to the well being of the men and to the subsistence of both men and animals. He held to Napoleon’s maxim ‘an army marches on its stomach’ far better than Napoleon ever did. This is Wellington’s performance review of his own and his subordinates actions and we see a generous nature in his praise of them.
This is a very good read for the general reader and a valuable resource for the specialist. We highly recommend it.

Frontline Books, 2019