Featured battle : Battle of Stamford Bridge

Part of War of the Confessor's Succession

Date : 25 September 1066

Harold Godwinson marched the Saxon army from London to Tadcaster in six days. Without pausing he marched on through York and took Hardrada and Tostig by surprise. An attempted defence of the Derwent crossing soon failed and battle was begun. The combat was long and hard but eventually the Saxon's succeeded. Only 24 ships were needed to carry the survivors of the Norse army which had arrived in 300 ships.

Wellington's Infantry

Gabriele Esposito
Here is a book with a bit of a wow factor and it goes much further than the title suggests. All the British Guards, Line, Scottish and Light Infantry regiments are covered. Then come the hundreds of units from around the world. A further section covers foreign troops in British service and this includes the Kings German Legion. The range is from the many full regiments raised in Canada to the militia companies of the West Indies. Militias, Veterans and Fencibles are all included even the Select Embodied Militia, making the coverage truly comprehensive. By way of example of the inclusivity one unit mentioned is the grand sounding Canadian Light Dragoons raised in 1813 comprised only eighty men but took part in several engagements until disbanded in 1815. Naturally in a book of 137 pages the coverage of each unit is slight being an overview of the whole picture rather than the detail.
The many illustrations showing a range of uniforms of different units are really excellent and the bibliography points the reader to further reading. There is also a concluding chapter on uniforms and the changes made in this period.
Forgive the somewhat misleading title, many of these units mentioned never came anywhere near Wellington’s zone of command. Enjoy a jolly interesting read and put this book in your reference section for dipping into as the need arises or when you just feel like looking at the pictures
We strongly recommend this book.

Pen & Sword Military, 2021