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Anniversaries for today :
Welcome to Clash of Steel!
Featured battle : Rio Gebora
Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Date : 19 February 1811
An utterly incompetent handling of his troops by the Spanish commander, Mendizabal, led to this defeat by a force half the size of his own. Most ofhis cavalry fled the field leaving the flank of his infantry exposed to the French cavalry attack. Many of the Spaniards fled into Badajoz and many others fled over the border to Portugal. This defeat sealed the fate of Badajoz.
Featured image :
A Parliamentarian Musketeer
A member of the Tower Hamlets Trayned Band showing how a Civil War musketeer would have been armed. He has a matchlock musket of the period, with a rest, and the match (a piece of slow-burning fuse used to light the priming powder which in turn ignited the main charge) held ready in his left hand, away from the breech. He wears a buff coat of stout leather as his only armour since mobility and flexiblity were of more use as a musketeer than metal cladding. Across this he had a set of powder charges for the musket, and on his other flank (not in picture) he would have a short sword for close up protection although often the butt of the musket itself would serve the purpose well.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
Salamanca 1812. Wellington's Year of Victories.
Peter Edwards
A high level of research is presented in a most readable way. The book has a pervading quality in its insights which can only come from an experienced 'military mind'. Throughout the author uses appropriate and varied selection of original text providing both colour and veracity. The maps are few and lacking in detail, in Further Reading the author recommends Ian Robertson's Atlas of the Peninsular War which I would have found most useful in this case. That said however this book is difficult to put down once started and thoroughly recommended.
The Praetorian Press, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2013
Reviewed : 2013-05-30 08:26:31
