Wellington Invades France


Book Description

When, in the late summer of 1813, Wellington's troops approached the Pyrenees to enter France, the Peninsular War was far from won. Indeed, with their French adversaries defending their own soil, months of severe, relentless fighting were to follow. In this compelling account of the closing period of the Peninsular War, Ian Robertson records the difficult and brutal fighting which so characterise this phase of a stubborn, six-year conflict. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and official despatches, Ian Robertson outlines the nature of the war as well as tracing the complicated manoeuvring and operations of the British and French armies. He describes in detail such hard-fought actions as at Sorauren, the Nivelle and the last great battle of the war at Toulouse, as well as some less-well-known clashes in the unforgiving terrain of the Pyrenees. For Wellington, as well as his men, the campaign in France was a test of stamina and endurance in hostile territory, and fighting an implacable and energetic foe. Wellington's troops fought hard to win their crown of victories and bring the war to a successful conclusion.




Wellington Invades France


Book Description

A detailed account of Wellington's campaign in the south of France. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and official dispatches, Ian Robertson outlines the nature of the war as well as traces the complicated maneuvering and operations of the British and French armies. He describes in detail such hard-fought actions as the Nivelle, Orthez, Toulouse, and Bayonne and throws light on some less well-known clashes, many of which were fought in the unforgiving terrain of the Pyrenees.




Vittoria 1813


Book Description

A compact, fully-illustrated guide to a strategic British victory that forced the French troops out of occupied Spain. Despite Wellington's success against Marmont's army at Salamanca in July, the year of 1812 ended in bitter disappointment for the British. However, a year later Wellington's series of brilliant manoeuvres threw the French onto the defensive on all fronts, culminating in the final victory at Vittoria: 90,000 men and 90 guns attacking in four mutually supporting columns. The French centre gave way and both flanks were turned, their army finally breaking in flight towards Pamplona. Any French hopes of maintaining their position in the Peninsular were crushed forever. On 7 October the British set foot on the 'sacred soil' of' Napoleon's France.




Wellington


Book Description

First published in 1925, this rare book recounts the final phase of the Peninsular War when Wellington chased the French across the Pyrenees into France, defeating them again at the Battle of Orthez. Illustrated with early 20th c. photos of the battlefields, and reproduces the Iron Duke's campaign plans and battlefield orders.




Wellington and the Invasion of France


Book Description

As Napoleon's French Army retreated, all hope that it could maintain a hold over the Iberian Peninsula began to fade. By September of 1813 the Allied Army commanded by the 'captain of the age'-the Duke of Wellington-stood on the frontier of France within the area of the estuary of the Bidassoa. Napoleon was being pressed on two fronts, but he still had a large reserve of veteran troops stationed in the south of France to call upon. The time had come to tighten the grip on France. Wellington would now invade it, engage the southern army which it was hoped would spur the Coalition of northern European powers to greater endeavours to bring about its defeat. No longer now an expanding empire, the French were faced with the defence of their own homeland and Wellington was poised for a campaign which would bring a large and prosperous region of it under allied control. It would be a contest bitterly fought as only those with desperate stakes can be. In this, the second of Beatson's series on the fall of Revolutionary France published by Leonaur, the reader is once again taken into the centre of Wellington's strategic and tactical genius. Every action is described in detail and complemented by the voices of the soldiers who experienced those momentous times.




Bayonne and Toulouse 1813–14


Book Description

The news of Wellington's momentous victory at Vitoria on 21 June 1813 reached London in early July. The celebration spawned an expectation of a rapid conclusion to events in the Peninsula. His Majesty's Government gave authority for Wellington to invade France and made noises and plans for the redeployment of the Peninsular Army in support of Russia and Prussia. Wellington, however, did not see things in quite the same way. His army was worn out and there remained sizeable French forces in Spain, so what followed had to be a carefully thought out and planned campaign. The invasion of France is a complicated aspect of the culmination of the War in Iberia: indeed many historians consider the invasion and subsequent operations in southern France as separate from the Peninsular War as a whole. The preliminaries include Wellington's need to capture Pamplona and San Sebastian prior to the invasion and Soult's attempts to relieve both garrisons resulting in the Battle of the Pyrenees (July-August) and San Marcial (late August) respectively. The invasion itself commenced with the daring Allied crossing of the Bidassoa estuary in early October 1813 and was followed by an operational pause prior to the Battle of Nivelle in November, another pause to re-group and the subsequent offensives on the River Nive and the Battle of St. Pierre. This phase, and ipso facto the invasion, was complete by mid December 1813. Finally, the subsequent operations, which commenced early in 1814, provided the aftermath to the invasion and the conclusion to the Peninsular War. These actions focus primarily on the investment of Bayonne and the pursuit of Soult's army east, and include the battles and engagements at Garris, Orthez, Aire, Tarbes and the final showdown at Toulouse in April 1814.










A Commanding Presence


Book Description

The many battles fought by Wellington have always excited interest and controversy. Almost all of the fighting on land between British and French troops during the Napoleonic period took place in Portugal and Spain, and so the extended struggle became known as the "Peninsular War." Few are aware that Wellington's armies were actually engaged with the enemy less than 10 per cent of the time. Much of the campaign was spent finding food and drink for man and beast, and withstanding the severe physical conditions encountered in the Peninsula. The unforgiving climate and mountainous terrain materially affected Wellington's strategy, and it was his commanding presence that enabled the many logistical problems to be over come. In this new study, Ian Robertson draws on many vivid first-hand accounts of campaigning life and places the several stubbornly fought actions in their proper context.