Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, in the Peninsula, France, and the Netherlands from 1809 - 1815

by J. Kincaid

The Rifle Brigade, one of the British Army's crack infantry units, took part in most of Britian's land campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars and this memoir recounts the adventures of a Scottish officer who was there for all of them from Walcheren in 1805 to Waterloo in 1815. The heart of the memoir, however, is the Peninsula War in which Kincaid served under Wellington at the lines ofTorres Vedras, and in the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, the sieges of Ciudad Roderigo and Badajoz, and the battles of Salamanca and Vittoria. The author describes the pursuit of Marshal Soult across the Pyrenees and the battles of Nivelle and Toulouse. The memoir concludes with the Waterloo campaign in which KIncaid fought at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo itself. This is an invaluable addition to the bookshelves of Napoleonic war addicts, as seen through the eyes of an intelligent writer who seems to have been at the sharp end from first to last.

Genres: History

372 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Rick Brindle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively account of life as a Rifle Officer as written by one who was there. I got lost a few times in the narrative, but it kept my attention throughout. It brings into sharp (no pun intended) focus the realities as opposed to Mr Cornwell's excellent fiction. An excellent read.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read and which fits with what I've previously read in the Peninsular War.