'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 13, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE NAPOLEONIC WARS group.

Betsy wrote: "AR, have often wondered approximately how many Napoleonic books do you have? 🙄"

I'm afraid to say probably too many, but I think I can safely say that for my US Civil section and any other major conflict, just ask my wife :)

That's maybe why I haven't started yet :)

I purchased a lot of books to enjoy in retirement, I am finding I'm too busy doing nothing much to get around to all the books I have put aside, but its still nice to have them.

I have the three volumes of "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte" by Bourrienne that I am yet to read. I have read both good and bad points of view on his trustworthiness:

"But very often in passages in which blame is thrown on Napoleon, Bourrienne speaks, partly with much of the natural bitterness of a former and discarded friend, and partly with the curious mixed feeling which even the brothers of Napoleon display in their Memoirs, pride in the wonderful abilities evinced by the man with whom he was allied, and jealousy at the way in which he was outshone by the man he had in youth regarded as inferior to himself."

As long as I keep this in mind his account should be quite illuminating.

"A History of the Peninsular War" - One fairly famous casualty during the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo was Major-General Robert Craufurd of the Light Division:

https://medium.com/@LynnBry29527024/g...

https://www.napoleonguide.com/soldier...

"A History of the Peninsular War" - The storming of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812. The French are desperate to knock out the British siege works as the saps get closer to their lines:

"Heavy damage was done to the batteries themselves - the French adopted a system of firing simultaneous flights of shells with long fuses at given points, 'of which several falling together upon the parapets blew away in an instant the work of whole hours'."

The Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo:
https://www.britishbattles.com/penins...

Great post Betsy, its seems the state of mind of the Russian military hadn't changed even up to WW2!

Elliot, maybe you can collect the books over time and read them later in life when things have slowed down.

Nicely done Mike! Take you time, at my current rate I tend to read one volume a year but each has been pretty good considering they were published before the Great War.

That's quite true Al.

I have been slowly making my way through Sir Charles Oman series on the Peninsular War, only another two volumes to go then I have to make a start on Napier's six volume series.

"A History of the Peninsular War" - Here is how Sir Charles Oman opens his chapter on the start of Wellington's 1812 campaign:

"It is with no small relief that we turn away from the annals of the petty warfare in the provinces and of the bickerings of politicians, to follow the doings of Wellington. All the 'alarms and excursions' that we have been narrating were of small import, compared with the operations on the frontiers of Portugal and Leon which began at the New Year of 1812. Here we have arrived at the true backbone of the war, the central fact which governed all the rest. Here we follow the working out of a definite plan conceived by a master-mind, and are no longer dealing with spasmodic movements dictated by the necessities of the moment. For the initiative had at last fallen into Wellington's hands, and the schemes of Soult and Marmont were no longer to determine his movements. On the contrary, it was he who was to dictate theirs."

A History of the Peninsular War, volume V, October 1811-August 31, 1812: Valencia, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Madrid by Charles William Chadwick Oman

Betsy wrote: "The more I read about France vs. Russia in Zamoyski's book, the more I think about the Axis vs. Russia in WWII. With France acting the part of the Germans by attacking with overconfidence, treating..."

Very apt comparison Betsy. I remember reading one book on the WW2 invasion of Russia and one of the panzer commanders was reading a copy of "With Napoleon in Russia: Memoirs of General de Caulaincourt".

Al wrote: "Would you all mind if I jumped in? I'll read this:



[book:The British I..."

No problems at all, jump right in :)

Betsy wrote: "I think the sieges during the Peninsular War are some of the most interesting reading about that conflict. Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo are probably the best known, but ones like Tarifa have their ow..."

Wellington is on the march so the next few chapters in my book will be covering a few sieges.

"A History of the Peninsular War" - The siege of Tarifa of 20 December 1811-5 January 1812 didn't go as planned for the French forces under Marshal Soult:

The Siege of Tarifa:
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...

Battle Honours of the Royal Irish Regiment:
https://www.royal-irish.com/events/ba...

Map of Tarifa, 1811:
https://militarymaps.rct.uk/napoleoni...

Betsy wrote: "In that realm is Napoleon's overconfidence. "Barbarian peoples are simpleminded and superstitious. A shattering blow dealt at the heart ofthe empire on Moscow the great, Moscow the holy, will deliv..."

That's a good question Betsy and maybe one hard to answer now after all these years. My own personal opinion is a bit of both I think.

"A History of the Peninsular War" - The author's summary of the campaign in Spain to date in 1812:

"To sum up the results of all the operations in Catalonia, Aragon, and Navarre, which followed on the release of Reille's troops from the Valencian expedition, it may be said that Napoleon's scheme for the complete reduction of north-eastern Spain had completely failed by April. Large forces had been put in motion; toilsome marches had been executed over many mountain roads in the worst season of the year; all the bands of the insurgents had been more than once defeated and dispersed. But the country-side was not conquered: the isolated garrisons were still cut off from each other by the enemy, wherever the heavy marching columns had passed on. The communications were no more safe and free than they had been in December. The loss of men by sickness and in the innumerable petty combats and disasters had been immense. The game had yet to be finished, and the spare time in which it could be conducted was drawing to and end. For Wellington was on the march, and ere long not a man from the Armies of the North or the centre was to be available to aid Reille, Suchet, and Decaen in their unending and ungrateful task. Gone, too, were the days in which reserves without end could be poured in from France: the Russian was was about to open, and wen once it began reinforcements were to be drawn from Spain rather than sent into it. The invasion had reached its high-water mark in January 1812 before the walls of Valencia and Alicante."

A History of the Peninsular War, volume V, October 1811-August 31, 1812: Valencia, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Madrid by Charles William Chadwick Oman

"A History of the Peninsular War" - Not every battle against Spanish forces led to a French victory:

"This expedition, entrusted to the French brigadier Bourke, ended in an unexpected check: Eroles offered battle with 3,000 men in a strong position at Roda, with a torrent bed covering his front (March 5). Bourke, having far superior numbers, and not aware of the tenacity of the Catalan troops, whom he had never before encountered, ordered a general frontal attack by battalions of the 60th French and 7th Italian line. It was handsomely repulsed, with such heavy loss - 600 casualties it is said - that the French retreated as far as Barbastro, pursued for some distance by the troops of Eroles, who thus showed that their late disaster had not impaired their morale. This was a most glorious day for the Baron, one of the few leaders of real capacity whom the war in Catalonia revealed. He had been a civilian in 1808, and had to learn the elements of military art under chiefs as incapable as Blake and Campoverde. From a miquelete chief he rose to be a general in the regular army, purely by the force of his unconquerable pertinacity and a courage which no disasters could break."

A History of the Peninsular War, volume V, October 1811-August 31, 1812: Valencia, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Madrid by Charles William Chadwick Oman

"A History of the Peninsular War" - Sir Charles Oman provided a good account of the siege of Valencia, December 1811 to January 1812.

Some online articles on this action:

Marshal Suchet and the Siege of Valencia:
https://www.napoleon-series.org/milit...
(check the drop down box at the bottom of the page for more links)

Siege of Valencia:
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...

Betsy wrote: "The question is, does she still think that? 🤔"

That's a very good question Betsy and I'm not too sure of the answer :)

I wonder if that's what my mother-in-law first thought about me when she met me :)