Book Description

After the glorious victory of Vittoria, Wellington followed the retreating French army to the very borders of La Belle France itself. Facing him and his army of British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were significant physical barriers to progress toward the final resolution of the conflict in the Peninsula which had raged since 1808. The Pyrenees mountain range alone would have been a significant obstacle, added to the number of defensible river lines that lay beyond it, and faced with the enemy now commanded by Marshal Soult, a man far more able than the deposed King Joseph. And so, as the Allied army assume the offensive, much hard fighting would have to be done before they set foot on la Bell France and take the fight into Napoleon’s own lands. This book forms part of General Beatson’s trilogy dealing with the campaigns in and around the Pyrenees during late 1813 and 1814. They are rightly acknowledged as the standard works on these campaigns and provide an insight into the later, often ignored stages of the Peninsular War. An acclaimed classic of Military History. Author — Major-General Finlay Cochrane Beatson C.B. (1855-1933)