Featured battle : Friedland

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 14 June 1807

Bennigson's Russians had concentrated at Friedland in East Prussia after the battle at Heilsberg. Napoleon sent Lannes and 17,000 men to delay him, and prevent him withdrawing further while he concentrated his own forces. Lannes held the Russians for most of the day until around 5:30, by which time Napoleon had around 80,000 men to oppose Bennigsen's 60,000 and launched his main offensive. Ney led the attack on the Russian left, crushing it and driving them back into the city. The right however held out and although suffering heavy losses were able to fall back beyond the river. The victory for the French was such that Tzar Alexander asked for terms, and the treaty of Tilsit brought the War of the Fourth Coalition to an end.

Arras Counter-Attack 1940

Tim Saunders
By late May 1940 the German Panzer spearhead had reached the coast of France. This effectively cut off the British and French armies fighting in Belgium from the main body of France. The German extended lines of communication necessitated by the nature of Blitzkrieg were ripe for counter attack. Tim Saunders’s book is an account of the major attempt to cut the German lines of communication which took place around Arras.
The counter attack was hastily put together. A serious lack of command and control leading to a lack of coordination between infantry, armour and artillery resulted in chaos and failure. The German effective response was largely due to their superior communications net and Rommel’s grip in command. Within two days the Germans out numbered the British to the point where three British infantry brigades faced four Panzer divisions.
When the author first looked at this event writing it up in any coherent fashion must have seemed a daunting task. In making sense, for the reader, of chaos and confusion he has succeeded brilliantly. All through the book there many first-hand accounts and a large number of maps and photographs. The final chapter is an up to the minute guide to the battlefield.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.

Pen & Sword Military, 2018