Product Description

As part of the Light Division created to act as the advance guard of Wellington's army, the 95th Rifles are the first into battle and the last out. Fighting, thieving and raping their way across Europe, they are clearly no ordinary troops. The 95th are in fact the first British soldiers to take aim at their targets, to take cover when being shot at, to move tactically by fire and manoeuvre. And by the end of the six-year campaign they have not only proved themselves the toughest fighters in the army, they have also - at huge personal cost - created the modern notion of the infantryman.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15361 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail 'A brilliant warts-and-all depiction of Wellington's famous riflemen.' Daily Telegraph

Daily Telegraph, October 2003
Urban's last book ... was very good. This is even better.

Scotland on Sunday, October 2003
Urban’s book is war unplugged - vicious, immediate, chaotic and raw.

Customer Reviews

"The More The Danger, The More The Honour"
Mark Urban, the author of "The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes," has written another very good book. He tells the story of the "legendary" 95th Rifles, following them from when they embark from England in 1809 (to take their place in the Peninsular War) up until their involvement at the Battle of Waterloo. We travel along with them through Portugal, Spain, France and Belgium and get to know the hardships they endured- seemingly endless marching; the confusing advances and retreats; sleeping out in the open in the cold, rain and snow; and going long periods, sometimes up to 3 days, without any food. This, in addition to the many skirmishes, sieges, and battles they engaged in- which were more numerous than those fought in by any other regiment. I enjoyed this book for many reasons: Mr. Urban writes very well, with a witty, yet informal, style; there are many first-person accounts, so we really get to feel that we know these men and what they are going through; in addition, the author doesn't try to hide the less noble aspects of the 95th- besides the many examples of bravery and loyalty that we read about, we also see drunkeness, desertion, looting, and shirking of duty. But let me emphasize that Mr. Urban doesn't do a "hatchet-job" on the regiment. This is not revisionist history, it is just a full history...warts and all. And, believe me, the positive vastly outweighs the negative. Considering the amount of combat these men saw over an extended period (6 years), and the privations they suffered, one comes away from this book with a great deal of admiration and respect. Another nice thing about the book is that Mr. Urban goes to great lengths to explain what made this regiment so special- and what wasn't unique to them. For example, they became excellent marksmen because they practiced actual shooting. This was unusual because most soldiers of the time, although they practiced formations and loading their weapons, did not get much, if any, "target practice." On the other hand, while the 95th was known for its ability to "pick off" French officers in battle (causing confusion and loss of morale amongst the common French soldier), this practice did not originate with them. What made the 95th so special was their ability to hit the target! Before this time, British army leadership was under the impression that only "woodsmen," such as German and Swiss mercenaries, could become sharpshooters. The 95th showed that, with enough practice (and with the right weapon) the common British soldier could do just as well. The 95th, through their long years of combat, also showed that sharpshooters had value not just as skirmishers: they could also fight in a line, and they could also be effective in siege operations...as they proved at Ciudad Rodrigo. The reason I am giving this book 4 stars rather than 5 is because it does suffer from a few defects. Firstly, the maps are very poor. They are few in number and not detailed enough. It is very difficult to follow the author, sometimes, as he tries to describe in detail what is going on during the course of a battle. Secondly, Mr. Urban is almost exclusively concerned with the "small picture"- following the 95th in action from one battle to another. It would have been helpful if he had stepped back once in awhile to explain the broader strategy- what Wellington or Napoleon had in mind at a particular time. In the overall scheme of things, however, this is small beer. This is a very good book, and well-worth reading for its "insider's view" of what camp-life and battlefield conditions were like for both officers and common infantrymen who served under Wellington.

First Band of Brothers
This book is a cracking read.The author peels away layers of myth and tells it like it was.
The officer who hid in his tent to avoid a battle gets his due, so does the sergeant who got himself a comfy job in the hospital store room to avoid fighting. At the same time the guys who fought the French again and again - desperate not to let their regiment down despite suffering terrible conditions get the praise they deserve. In other words the 95th can at last be judged as real men rather than the two dimensional heroes of previous books.
Urban flags up the stories of several soldiers and officers to show what kind of people they were, where they came from, what their hopes and fears were. He shows also how the cameraderie between officers and men came to blow away the class system - with men of the Rifles themselves using the term 'Band of Brothers' that is now so familiar to us.
There are plenty of battle scenes and as many villains seem to wear British uniform as French. It really is an eye-opener, especially if you've read a bit about the Rifles before.
My only criticisms: not enough maps and it could have been longer - quite a few soldiers who you want to know more about but just get walk on parts.

The real Sharpe
Having been a student of military history at uni and having grown up reading Bernard Cornwell's adventures of Richard Sharpe it was very interesting to read the true life accounts of the men of the 95th (or at least the 1st Battalion). Urban manages to make his book both informative and interesting, there are enough first hand accounts to stop it reading like a text book but there is still a wealth of academic information to keep the military historian happy. It was very interesting to follow the lives of several key figures within the battalion watching as their careers developed or indeed ended abruptly on the battlefield (or in at least one case, in front of a firing squad).
This is not a campaign history of the Peninsular war, although there is plenty of information on the subject, nor is it a regimental history of the 95th; it is more a personal history of the men of the 1st battalion of that unit that followed Wellington from Talavera to Waterloo. It focuses not only on their experiences in battle, be in small skirmishes, large set piece battles or the storming of a breach but also on the day to day lives of the soldiers covering such topics as food, shelter, desertion, advancement, money and entertainment. All in all a great book and well worth a read for anyone wishing to find the true Richard Sharpes of Wellington's army.