"The disastrous retreat and near disintegration of Sir John Moore's army on the road to Corunna in 1809 is traditionally regarded as the low point in the history of the British intervention in the Peninsular War. Yet under the Duke of Wellington, the British and their allies suffered defeats and retreats that tend to be overshadowed by the series of victories that eventually drove the French from Portugal and Spain. None of these setbacks was graver than the retreat that followed the disastrous failure of the siege of Burgos in 1812. It is this, less than glorious, phase of the Peninsular campaign that is the subject of Carole Divalls latest study of the British army of the Napoleonic Wars.By reconstructing events in close detail, and by bringing together [many] primary sources, she gives a vivid account of what happened and why. Wellington himself recognized the mistakes and miscalculations that led to the potentially catastrophic situation in which he placed his men. He described it as his worst scrape. Yet most of the letters, journals and memoirs that have survived praise the skill with which he saved Britain's only army from disaster. Carole Divall weaves together Wellingtons dispatches with the eyewitness testimony left by British and Portuguese officers and men, by civilians, and by the French. A fascinating, multi-layered impression emerges of the siege of Burgos itself and the sequence of maneuvers that preceded it. She describes in authentic detail the tense decision-making and the misjudgments that were made on the allied side and the headlong retreat that followed as the British fled from two French armies that threatened to trap and destroy them. Carole Divalls in-depth study of a pivotal and neglected episode in the Peninsular War gives a fascinating insight into the character of the fighting, at every level, and into the strengths and weaknesses of Wellingtons command."
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I can recommend anything from Carole Divall, her work is always throughly well researched and referenced yet eminently readable. My favourites are; Inside the Regiment: The Officers and Men of the 30th Regiment During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Carole Divall tells the fascinating inside story of a typical infantry regiment during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Rather than focusing on the history of the 30th Regiment of the Line in action and on campaign, she explores its organization, traditions and hierarchy, its personnel, and the ethos that held it together. Using primary source material, in particular surviving regimental records, War Office documents, letters and journals, she reconstructs the life of the 30th Foot and the lives of the men who served in it during a critical period in Europe s military history. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Napoleonic-Lives-Paperback/p/3389 And Redcoats Against Napoleon The 30th Regiment During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Military histories of the struggle against the French armies of the Revolution and Napoleon often focus on the exploits of elite units and famous individuals, ignoring the essential contribution made by the ordinary soldiers - the bulk of the British army. Carole Divall, in this graphic and painstakingly researched account, tells the story of one such hitherto ignored group of fighting men, the 30th Regiment of the Line. She takes their story from one of the opening clashes of the long war, the Siege of Toulon in 1793, to the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1815. She gives us a fresh perspective on key events the men took part in - Massena's retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, the bloody storming of Badajoz, the retreat from Burgos, the ordeal of the troops holding the centre of Wellington's Waterloo position. The regiment's history - which she describes using some hitherto unpublished and vivid memoirs left by the men themselves and those they fought alongside - offers a fascinating insight into the life of British soldiers two centuries ago. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Redcoats-Against-Napoleon-Hardback/p/1858