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Title: Napoleon's Shield and Guardian: The Unconquerable General Daumesnil by Edward Ryan, Henri De Clairval, HENRI DE CLAIRVAL ISBN: 1-85367-553-9 Publisher: Greenhill Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Old Sweat
Comment: The men who followed Napoleon across the length and breadth of Europe for twenty years and fought countless skirmishes, actions, and battles, enduring enormous hardships as well as many wounds were a unique breed. Honed by war and hardship, they were tough as nails, and defeated every enemy of their country and Emperor at least once, stabling their horses in every continental European capital. They were also the men Napoleon felt most at home with, for his home was the Grande Armee.
General Daumesnil was one of those 'men of bronze' who could and did survive anything, including his Emperor, and soldier on despite overwhelming odds in men and guns.
This story, one not usually told in such detail and color, is told with great panache, as well as painstaking accuracy, by the author who is the authority on his subject. Starting with Daumesnil's humble beginnings as a cavalry trooper, he follows him through the wars and many wounds, promotion, heartbreak, unbelieveable success and promotion into the Imperial Guard until his serious wounding at Wagram in 1809 which cost him a leg.
Continuing in the service of his Emperor, Jambe de Bois Daumesnil is famous for his unrelenting defense of Vincennes, not once, but twice, in 1814 and 1815, where he refuses to surrender to the allies, stating that he'll give up his post to them as soon as they restore his amputated leg.
This volume is a must have for any student of the period, and especially of the Grande Armee. Daumesnil was one of its great characters, and one of the most gallant of its officers and commanders.
One of the highlights of the book is the stirringly told story of the cavalry charge up the Somosierra pass in 1808 during Napoleon's second invasion of Spain. Frustrated with the slowness of the French infantry trying to outflank the pass defended by 9,000 Spaniards with sixteen guns in four batteries entrenched at strategic locations up the pass, Napoleon turns to the commander of his escort squadron of Guard cavalry, that day the 3d Squadron of the newly organized Polish Light Horse, and orders him to take the pass. The hardy Poles took the order as a challenge and charged up the pass in a column of fours, losing half their strenth and taking the four batteries in succession. The author's correct version of this amazing fear of arms is the best this reviewer has seen in English.
This book is enthusiastically recommended and it is the best and most lively biography of the period that the reviewer has ever read. If you come across any book written, edited, or translated by Edward Ryan, my advice is to pick it up immediately. You won't be disappointed.
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Title: March of Death: Sir John Moore's Retreat to Corunna, 1808-1809 by Chris Summerville, C. J. Summerville ISBN: 1853675644 Publisher: Greenhill Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Austerlitz: The Empire at Its Zenith by F. G. Hourtoulle, Francois Guy Hourtoulle ISBN: 2913903711 Publisher: Histoire & Collections Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $37.95 |
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Title: Memoirs of Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition 1798-1801 by Joseph-Marie Moiret, Rosemary Brindle ISBN: 1853674494 Publisher: Greenhill Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars by Kevin Kiley ISBN: 1853675830 Publisher: Greenhill Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Sharpe's Christmas by Bernard Cornwell ISBN: 0972222014 Publisher: Sharpe Appreciation Society Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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