Naval General Service Medal Roll 1793-1840
Naval General Service Medal Roll 1793-1840

Author: Kenneth Douglas-Morris

Publisher: Andrews UK Limited

Published: 2012-04-19

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 1781505012

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Captain Douglas Morris's classic Medal Roll. Recipients are listed by bar entitlement, then alphabetically. This book is a fine tribute to a great researcher whose tenacity and precision are unequalled in the field of naval medal research.

Wellington's Command
Wellington's Command

Author: George E. Jaycock

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2020-01-19

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1526733544

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A military historian assesses the leadership style of the man who defeated Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo cemented his reputation as a great general, and much subsequent writing on his career has taken an uncritical, sometimes chauvinistic view of his talents. Little has been published that fully pins down the reality of Wellington’s leadership, clearly identifying his weaknesses as well as his strengths. George E. Jaycock, in this perceptive and thought-provoking reassessment, does not aim to undermine Wellington’s achievements, but to provide a more nuanced perspective. He clarifies some simple but fundamental truths regarding his leadership and his performance as a commander. Through an in-depth study of his actions over the war years of 1808 to 1815, the author reassesses Wellington’s effectiveness as a commander, the competence of his subordinates, and the qualities of the troops he led. His study gives a fascinating insight into Wellington’s career and abilities. Wellington’s Command is absorbing reading for both military historians and those with an interest in the Napoleonic period.

Spying for Wellington
Spying for Wellington

Author: Huw J. Davies

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2018-11-08

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0806162147

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Intelligence is often the critical factor in a successful military campaign. This was certainly the case for Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War. In this book, author Huw J. Davies offers the first full account of the scope, complexity, and importance of Wellington’s intelligence department, describing a highly organized, multifaceted series of networks of agents and spies throughout Spain and Portugal—an organization that was at once a microcosm of British intelligence at the time and a sophisticated forebear to intelligence developments in the twentieth century. Spying for Wellington shows us an organization that was, in effect, two parallel networks: one made up of Foreign Office agents “run” by British ambassadors in Spain and Portugal, the other comprising military spies controlled by Wellington himself. The network of agents supplied strategic intelligence, giving the British army advance warning of the arrival, destinations, and likely intentions of French reinforcements. The military network supplied operational intelligence, which confirmed the accuracy of the strategic intelligence and provided greater detail on the strengths, arms, and morale of the French forces. Davies reveals how, by integrating these two forms of intelligence, Wellington was able to develop an extremely accurate and reliable estimate of French movements and intentions not only in his own theater of operations but also in other theaters across the Iberian Peninsula. The reliability and accuracy of this intelligence, as Davies demonstrates, was central to Wellington’s decision-making and, ultimately, to his overall success against the French. Correcting past, incomplete accounts, this is the definitive book on Wellington’s use of intelligence. As such, it contributes to a clearer, more comprehensive understanding of Wellington at war and of his place in the history of British military intelligence.

Adventures in the Connaught Rangers
Adventures in the Connaught Rangers

Author: Lt.-Colonel William Grattan

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2011-06-14

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1908692758

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Born into a well-known and respected family in Dublin, William Grattan has left no sketch of himself or his reasons for joining the 88th Regiment of Foot, the most Irish of all the Irish regiments according to Oman, as a subaltern in 1809. It is conceivable that he thirsted for adventure, and advancement, however little did he know that he would be joining as hard fighting, drinking and pilfering regiment that ever fought in the Peninsular under Wellington. Christened “The Devil’s Own” by their divisional commander Picton, the Connaught Rangers as they were also known are detailed in all their varied adventures by Grattan. The “Adventures” are particularly well written by an author who had two sterling attributes as a writer above and beyond his contemporaries, the first an un-erring ability to describe the actions, skirmishes and battles that he was involved in despite smoke, carnage and confusion around him at the time. The second is an ability to provide a plethora of details and anecdotes that breathe life into normal day-to-day events in the army and more specifically his famous regiment. Wellington was to famously to congratulate them along with four companies of the 45th Regiment of their charge at Busaco; “Upon my honour, I never witnessed a more gallant charge than that just now made by your regiment.” Grattan would eventually leave the service in 1817, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, but his association with the regiment that he dearly loved would continue on his continued writings in defence of Sir Thomas Picton, his divisional chief and his regiment in the pages of the United Service Magazine and monographs of his own. Warmly recommended. This is the second volume of the original two volume account left by Lieutenant-Colonel Grattan, rather than the heavily edited version commonly found.