Featured battle : Oporto

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 12 May 1809

Soult had nearly 12,000 men [of his nominal corps strength of 23,500] in the city of Oporto and was trying to hold the line of the Douro. Wellington's first action after landing in Portugal was to march against Soult as the most serious threat to Lisbon. The line of the river Douro was made even more impassable because Soult moved all boats to his bank of the river. In a brilliant move four wine barges were secretly captured from the French bank of the river and the Buffs [3rd Foot, East Kents] 30 men per barge crossed the river and held a bridgehead while Wellington ordered other troops across. Soult rushed troops from guarding the waterfront to face the crossing. As soon as he had done this the towns people launched their boats and ferried British troops across to attack the other flank of Soult's 'front'. The French believed their position was untenable and withdrew from the town.

1812 Napoleon in Moscow

Paul Britten Austin
It is difficult to evaluate this book which has a confusing conflict between style and content. As a style the author has adopted the appalling affectation of the use of the present tense to describe the past. This in parts makes gaining a clear understanding more difficult than it needs to be. The content is well researched and appropriately selected giving real insights into the French in Moscow. The real quality of the book is that we get to see the big event from many personal perspectives. In the introduction the author apologizes, and so he should, for his 'syntactic and grammatical deviations' for these in part make difficult reading of what otherwise would be a very good book.
Frontline Books, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2012