Product Description

The most decisive battle of the entire Peninsular War is described in this volume of the "Campaign" series. Wellington smashed Marmont's French Army and pursued its shattered remnants, leading to the famous cavalry charge of the King's German Legion at Garcia Hernandez.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272735 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Simple but excellent guide to what was arguably Wellington's greatest battle
A thorough explanation of the Salamanca campaign, from Wellington's siege of the three improvised French forts in Salamanca, through the long marches and counter-marches in the countryside around the City, to the battle of the "Arapiles" itself. In fact, it doesn't stop there, going on via the action at Garcia Hernandez (one of the few in which Napoleonic cavalry appear to have broken formed infantry squares) to the abortive siege of Burgos, which rather took the shine off the whole campaign necessitating a desperate retreat for Portugal at the end of the year.

As is usual in the Osprey campaign books, the campaign is situated in the theatre of operation, with descriptions of the armies, a comprehensive order of battle, pen pictures of the commanders as well as a description of the battlefield today and advice on wargaming it.

How would I make it better? Some of the period illustrations are so inaccurate as to be pointless, others are there as padding: the obligatory pictures of the 95th Rifles - and then the comment that they played little part in the battle. Some of the commissioned illustrations (with all due respect to Mr Younghusband) do seem to have been done down to a budget. Aerial photographs would perhaps be prohibitively expensive, but perhaps satellite ones (from Google Earth?) might be used in the next edition? As a battlefield visitor I would appreciate "proper" maps - and perhaps advice on the sheet numbers at 1:50,000 scale.

Salamanca, btw, is still one of the best battlefields to visit, even though (since this book was published) the west side of the battlefield has been cut off by a new motorway. The City is fantastic - and do look out for the relief of Wellington in the Plaza Major.

Salamanca - Good but Traditional
I bought the Osprey edition of this, but I imagine it is the same. Book gives good coverage of the campaign, copiously illustrated (though some of the contemporary pictures are of doubtful relevance, as noted by another reviewer). Unusually good description of the action at Garcia Hernandez - possibly worth the price in itself.

Good so far, but there are a couple of negatives. Firstly, Mr Fletcher is a well established author and expert on this period, but I find that his actual skill with language is sometimes questionable and there are some lumpy bits in this book - in particular it kicks off with two grammatical howlers in the Introduction which make me wonder whether anyone proof-reads this stuff. My other issue with the work is that it very substantially replays the traditional, Napier-vintage view of the battle, complete with implicitly anti-Spanish overtones. Wellington is portrayed as an undoubted super-hero, and, for example, the dreadful injustice he inflicted on Colonel Bevan to save face after the French escape from Almeida is glossed over.

Overall, this was a pretty good buy as a new paperback; it is currently out of print, and secondhand copies are changing hands at prices which really are not justifiable. It is not a patch on Rory Muir's book on Salamanca, for example, which is still available.