Featured battle : Bellver

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 27 July 1795

The small garrison were overwhelmed by the much larger Spanish force. The number killed or wounded on each side was negligible. The war between France and Spain had already been ended by the Peace of Bâsle, 22 July 1795 but the message had yet to reach the commanders in the field.

In Action with Destroyers 1939-1945

Commander J.A.Dennis/Ed: Anthony Cumming
This book is the personal account of one man’s war. One of that particular special breed who are destroyer men. The language is not jingoistic not egoistic Commander Dennis never looked upon or wrote of himself as a hero choosing to attribute his survival to luck rather than his skill or his bravery. But hero he most certainly was. He saw service in the English Channel, the Eastern Mediterranean the Red sea, and with the Arctic convoys. Every tough assignment written up in the same low key factual manner. He calmly lists off colleagues, friends lost as ships were sunk. In one action near Crete his ship was the only survivor of a group of four destroyers. In the course of his story we hear about every kind of destroyer action from shore bombardment, anti-aircraft fire, submarine hunting, escorting convoys to attempts to torpedo enemy capital ships. There are also some appropriate photographs.
The whole book flows with the action like a good novel but this is fact and it is difficult to put down.
After the diary the editor has added a very good thirteen page summary of the wider picture of the war which places the actions in their context.
We thoroughly recommend this book to all.

Pen & Sword Maritime, 2017