Book Description

“Ludlow Beamish’s famous history of the K.G.L. is undoubtedly one of the rarest and most sought-after contemporary studies of the Napoleonic Wars. Much praised by Sir Charles Oman as ‘a valuable and conscientious’ history, it was largely compiled from eye-witness accounts of serving soldiers. The Legion played a major part in the British Army in the Peninsula and this special edition is a vital addition to the library of all serious students of the Napoleonic Wars. One of the most unusual, as well as the most heroic and distinguished Allied units in the Napoleonic Wars was the King’s German Legion (KGL). Originally composed of German volunteers from King George III’s Hanoverian domain, and founded out of Royal outrage at France’s occupation of Hanover in 1803, the KGL, according to David Chandler, doyen of Napoleonic military historians ‘was without a doubt amongst the very best troops commanded by Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo’. The KGL was a mini-army in its own right, comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery... Volume 1 begins with the bungled loss of Hanover and the raising of the KGL, and its first foreign expedition - to Denmark under Lord Rosslyn. The KGL was next deployed in the Mediterranean theatre, and had its first taste of Spain under Sir John Moore and Sir Arthur Wellesley (Wellington) where the German hussars covered the disastrous retreat to Corunna. The Legion returned to Portugal and Spain with Wellington and lost heavily at the Battle of Talavera. Other KGL units took part in Sir Eyre Coote’s expedition to Flushing and Walcheren. In the Peninsula War, the Legion fought under General Craufurd, helping to defeat the French at Busaco and before the lines of Torres Vedras, and later participating in Wellington’s victory over Marshal Massena at Fuentes d’Oñoro. The volume ends with Soult’s defeat at Albuera and the siege of Badajoz.”-N&M Print version