Badajoz 1812: Wellington's Bloodiest Siege (Campaign Series, 65) (Campaign, 65)

By Ian Fletcher

Book Overview

The storming of Badajoz was an epic action which involved Wellington's infantry in some of the most savage hand-to-hand fighting of the whole Peninsular War (1812). At appalling cost in a nightmare assault during the night of the 6 April 1812, Wellington's soldiers hacked their way over the bodies of their dead and wounded and through the huge medieval walls of the town. These were held with great tenacity, skill and courage by a resolute French and German garrison. Having stormed the town the battle-crazed army went berserk and the horrors of the sacking which followed, as much as the sublime courage of the attackers, have passed into legend.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1855329573
• ISBN13: 9781855329577
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing
• Length: 98 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.9" x 0.2" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Fletcher is THE modern authority on the Peninsular War

Not to take anything away from Jac Weller, who wrote some of my favorite books about Wellington, but Ian Fletcher does spend a significant portion of each year leading battlefield tours around Spain,has written numerous books about the Peninsula War specifically, and has made as his primary business the study of this period of the Napoleonic conflict. For purposes of writing the Osprey Campaign Series title about this battle there is nobody better suited.Fletcher's battlefield descriptions are up to date as he traces out the location of every British battery in relation to contemporary landmarks along with photographs detailing key points of interest. The level of detail is exactly what one has come to expect from the Osprey Campaign Series and, in addition to Badajoz, the seige of Ciudad Rodrigo is also covered in this title. For a greater level of detail than this title permits read "In Hell Before Daylight", also by Ian Fletcher.