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The Vital Link: The Story of Royal Signals, 1945–1985
by Philip WarnerTo maintain the link of communication between battlefields and HQ, between commanders and soldiers, between physically distant Corps is the vital job of the Royal Signal. But the responsibility of the Signals extends beyond the logistical requirements of inter-personal contact Electronic Intelligence and Electronic Warfare are major departments within the organisation, each of which supports the other. The Vital Link examines these diverse aspects and traces the complex developments in techniques, technology and signals tactics since the Second World War. The book, however, is more an historical story then an exhaustive tract for reference purposes. It records the growth of the Signals through its people, the 'high quality' ordinary solder to the odd character, all of whom help to define the Royal Signals. With anecdotes from individual's achievements, both personal and professional, the history of this essentially military branch is presented in an accessible and enjoyable manner.
Vitebsk: The Fight and Destruction of Third Panzer Army (Die Wehrmacht im Kampf)
by Otto HeidkämperA highly decorated Wehrmacht general gives &“an incisive and accurate account&” of a pivotal Eastern Front battle during World War II (Army Rumour Service). The city of Vitebsk in Belarus was of strategic importance during the fighting on the Eastern Front, as it controlled the route to Minsk. A salient in the German lines, Vitebsk had been declared a Festerplatz—a fortress town—meaning that it must be held at all costs. A task handed to 3rd Panzer Army in 1943. Otto Heidkämper was chief of staff of Georg-Hans Reinhardt&’s 3rd Panzer Army, Army Group Center, which was stationed around Vitebsk and Smolensk from early 1942 until June 1944. His detailed account of the defense of Vitebsk through the winter of 1943 into 1944, right up to the Soviet summer offensive, is a valuable firsthand account of how the operations around Vitebsk played out. Twenty maps accompany the narrative. During this time, 3rd Panzer Army undertook numerous military operations to defend the area against the Soviets; they also engaged in anti-partisan operations in the area, deporting civilians accused of supporting partisans, and destroying property. Finally, in June 1944, the Soviets amassed four armies to take Vitebsk, which was then held by 38,000 men of 53rd Corps. Within three days, Vitebsk was encircled, with 53rd Corps trapped inside. Attempts to break the encirclement failed, and resistance in the pocket broke down over the next few days. On June 27, the final destruction of German resistance in Vitebsk was completed. Twenty thousand Germans were dead and another 10,000 had been captured.
Vittoria 1813
by Ian Fletcher Bill YounghusbandOsprey's Campaign title for the Battle of Vittoria during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). 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.
¡Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico
by David C. BaileyBetween 1926 and 1929, thousands of Mexicans fought and died in an attempt to overthrow the government of their country. They were the Cristeros, so called because of their battle cry, ¡Viva Cristo Rey!—Long Live Christ the King! The Cristero rebellion and the church-state conflict remain one of the most controversial subjects in Mexican history, and much of the writing on it is emotional polemic. David C. Bailey, basing his study on the most important published and unpublished sources available, strikes a balance between objective reporting and analysis. This book depicts a national calamity in which sincere people followed their convictions to often tragic ends.
Viva Jacquelina!
by Louis A. MeyerThe vivacious Jacky Faber returns in the tenth tale in L. A. Meyer's Bloody Jack Adventures, a rip-roaring young-adult series applauded for its alluring combination of adventure, romance, history, and humor. Once again under the thumb of British Intelligence, Jacky is sent to Spain to spy for the Crown during the early days of the nineteenth-century Peninsular War. She finds herself in the company of guerilla freedom fighters, poses for the famous artist Goya, runs with the bulls, is kidnapped by the Spanish Inquisition, and travels with a caravan of gypsies...all while hoping to one day reunite with her beloved Jaimy Fletcher.
Viví en el cerro Mariposa (The Butterfly Hill Series)
by Marjorie AgosinNow available in Spanish! An eleven-year-old&’s world is upended by political turmoil in this &“lyrically ambitious tale of exile and reunification&” (Kirkus Reviews) from an award-winning poet, based on true events in Chile.Celeste Marconi is a dreamer. She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile—until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word. Celeste doesn&’t quite know what is happening, but one thing is clear: no one is safe, not anymore. The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered &“subversive&” and dangerous to Chile&’s future. So Celeste&’s parents—her educated, generous, kind parents—must go into hiding before they, too, &“disappear.&” Before they do, however, they send Celeste to America to protect her. As Celeste adapts to her new life in Maine, she never stops dreaming of Chile. But even after democracy is restored to her home country, questions remain: Will her parents reemerge from hiding? Will she ever be truly safe again? Accented with interior artwork, steeped in the history of Pinochet&’s catastrophic takeover of Chile, and based on many true events, this multicultural ode to the power of revolution, words, and love is both indelibly brave and heart-wrenchingly graceful.
Vladimir Putin: The World's Most Dangerous Man?
by James GreensmithGet inside the mind of Putin and discover what makes this ruthless, brutal, and amoral dictator tick. Following the celebrations of the Millennium and our entry into the 21st century, it was to be hoped that the days when a brutal dictator could bring mindless death and destruction to another country, and even to his own people, were over, and that the lessons of the past had been well and truly learned. A forlorn hope, as it transpires, for yet another monster has raised its ugly head above the slimy cesspit which such monsters inhabit, one to rival those of the past such as Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot. For now, we have Vladimir Putin, a depraved, deranged, warmongering megalomaniac who threatens the peace of the entire planet. In former times the appropriate description of Putin would have been ‘evil’; ‘a monster’; ‘the Devil incarnate’; ‘ghoulish’, ‘an excrescence’, etc, but we no longer live in the Middle Ages and such appellations no longer suffice. And anyway, what adjective exists to describe a person who has no respect for human life? In their place we have the terminology of modern-day psychiatry. So, is it possible to get inside the mind of Putin and discover what makes this ruthless, brutal, and amoral dictator ‘tick’? The answer is ‘Yes’, but it is not to be found in any textbook of psychiatry. Instead, the clues are to be found in a scientific paper, published by a female psychiatrist as long ago as the year 1997, and in the known side effects of the illness from which he is currently suffering. A new and unique insight is now offered into the mind of Putin, one which has not previously been advanced.
Voglia Per Favore Il Vero Albert Speer Alzarsi? I Molteplici Volti Dell'architetto Di Hitler
by Cristina Ventrella Geetanjali MukherjeeHa presentato al mondo molti volti, ma qual era quello vero? Nel corso degli anni, Albert Speer, è stato insignito di molti titoli: ‘il buon Nazista’, ‘l’architetto di Hitler’, ‘il futuro Cancelliere del Reich’ e persino ‘l’unico imputato pentito di Norimberga’. Non c’è dubbio che Alber Speer abbia mille volti: è stato un uomo dal potere più sconfinato di chiunque altro fosse al fianco di Hitler e si credeva che gli sarebbe succeduto. Le sue enormi capacità organizzative hanno portato al culmine la produttività tedesca in un’epoca in cui le risosrse disponibili erano ai minimi storici. Tutti, incluso lui, si aspettavano una pena di morte per lui, così come gli altri leader nazisti. Invece, scampò all’impiccagione con solo vent’anni. Alla luce del suo importante coinvolgimento nel partito nazista, sia in qualità di architetto di Hitler che di Ministro degli Armamenti, e dei suoi contributi alla guerra illegale finanziata dal regime, si pone una questione: Speer ha ricevuto una punizione adeguata? Il verdetto rifletteva forse la percezione che, in qualche modo, Speer fosse ‘meno colpevole’ degli altri imputati, o pianificò la sua difesa in modo da ottenere uno sconto di pena? gli eventi che portarono al processo di Norimberga, e il processo stesso, ci forniscono indizi per rispondere a queste domande: cosa possiamo imparare da una personalità come quella di Speer, in base alle prove tangibili, e perché è importante?
A Voice From Harper's Ferry
by Osbourne P. AndersonA unique book from the 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, this firsthand account of the only black combatant to survive the raid details the story of this turning point in the struggle against slavery and refutes the notion that African American people did take on the cause for their freedom.-Print ed.“Osborne Perry Anderson was born on this date in 1830. He was a Black abolitionist.From in West Fallow Field, Pennsylvania, Anderson along with John Anthony Copeland Jr., attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. He later moved to Chatham, Canada, where he worked as a printer for Mary Ann Shadd's newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. In 1858 Anderson met John Brown and eventually became persuaded to join his band of men determined to attack Harpers Ferry. He was one of the five Black men to accompany John Brown in the raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in October 1859. This was Brown’s radical scheme to free the United States of slavery.Like Brown and the other followers, Anderson believed that if the group seized weapons at Harpers Ferry and then marched south, they would create a massive slave uprising that would liberate all of the nearly four million African Americans in bondage. He was the only Black to escape capture. In 1861 Anderson, now safely in the North, wrote A Voice From Harper’s Ferry with assistance from Mary Ann Shadd.Here he described his role in the raid and argued that many local slaves would have welcomed their liberation and some in fact had helped Brown and his men. Anderson's account was the only one published by a member of Brown's party and provided a rare first hand description of the events and the motivation of these abolitionists. In 1864, five years after the Harpers Ferry Raid, Anderson enlisted in the Union Army, serving as a recruitment officer in Indiana and Arkansas.Osborne Anderson died on December 13, 1872 in Washington, D.C. at the age of forty-two.”-AAREG
A Voice From Waterloo – A History Of The Battle Fought On The 18th June 1815
by Sergeant-Major Edward CottonThis ebook is purpose built and is proof-read and re-type set from the original to provide an outstanding experience of reflowing text for an ebook reader. Sergeant-Major Cotton retired from the British army after long and hard service that saw him fight in numerous engagements and battles, none more memorable than his last, that of Waterloo. During the battle he was orderly to Maj-General Sir Hussey Vivian commanding 6th British cavalry brigade. Thankfully a new, less dangerous, and more lucrative trade opened up to him, that of battlefield guide. This trade still lives on in and around the battlefield, after many years Cotton knew the history of the campaign in minute detail, not however missing updating his knowledge with the books published from time to time such as Beamish's History of the King's German Legion and Siborne's History. Having fought on and spent so much time in and around the battlefield steeped in the history of the epoch defining battle, Cotton stood uniquely placed to add to the blossoming Waterloo book trade and add his own incomparable story. His book is well researched, interesting and is the source for a great many of the anecdotes that have been lifted for other books on the subject. An excellent addition to the eye-witness accounts, flavoured with a lifetimes knowledge of the battlefield and the original source documents which he uses especially as indexes. Author - Sergeant-Major Edward Cotton, formerly of the 7th Hussars (1792?-1849) Text taken, whole and complete, from the third edition published in 1854, London, B. L. Green and Principal Booksellers in Belgium Original - 276 pages. Portraits and Illustrations - 11 included MAPS - due to their size have not been included [1 A3] Linked TOC - in keeping with the format of the times that the book was published the table of contents includes the summary notes of each chapter.
The Voice of Bataan
by Carlos BulosanThe Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II. It began in January 1942, when forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, and culminated in the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942.The present volume, which was first published in 1943, is a collection of poetry by Filipino-American novelist and poet Carlos Bulosan, written during the Second World War. It is his tribute to the soldiers who died fighting in the Battle of Bataan.“Poems of Bataan—of that ‘small island of ashes and dead bodies,’ of the soldiers that resisted to the last man, of the hope of freedom once again. Impassioned lyrical expression of that struggle and the refusal to be conquered”—Kirkus Review
Voices Against War: A Century of Protest
by Lyn SmithBased on nearly 200 personal testimonies from the Imperial War Museum's Collections, this landmark book tells the stories of those of those who participated in anti-war protest from the First World War 1914-18 to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.Voices Against War is a compelling, emotional and very moving human story, essential for understanding war in its entirety.
Voices at Whisper Bend (American Girl History Mysteries #4)
by Katherine AyresIn their Pennsylvania town in 1942, twelve-year-old Charlotte and her classmates collect scrap metal for the war effort only to have it disappear from the school basement.
Voices at Whisper Bend (Mysteries through History #4)
by Katherine AyresAt the outbreak of World War II, a twelve-year-old girl comes up with an idea to help the war effortAmerica has just entered World War II, and everyone in Charlotte Campbell&’s family is doing his or her part, either abroad or in the Pennsylvania factory town where the Campbells live. Charlotte&’s brother Jim has enlisted in the navy, and her mother works in Braddock&’s local war plant. Her dad guides tugboats filled with supplies up the Monongahela River. Eager to contribute to the war effort—besides saving to buy defense stamps—Charlotte organizes a scrap metal drive like the ones all over the country. She and her sixth-grade classmates start collecting old junk and soon have so much that they have to store it in the school basement . . . until someone steals all the metal. Charlotte is determined to find the thief and get back the precious scraps. Her younger brother Robbie supplies a list of potential suspects, from the school janitor to a fellow fourth grader. Some of the kids think it might be Charlotte&’s German friend Betsy. But when they set a trap for the culprit, Charlotte has to face the fear that&’s been giving her nightmares since childhood. This ebook includes a historical afterword.
Voices from D-Day
by Jonathan BastableD-Day - June 6, 1944 - was a pivotal day in human history. This was the great turning point of the Second World War, when the largest armada ever assembled took a third of a million Allied men across the English Channel.The invasion force of 150,000 troops from Britain, the United States, Canada and many other nations fighting on the Allied side on D-Day under the command of Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery landed on five beaches to spearhead Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied mainland Europe. On Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches they fought through what has been described as the longest day against deadly German firepower but many sadly would not live to see the end of the day.This new paperback edition of a classic account of D-Day told through firsthand accounts brings vividly to life the bravery and skill of the young men called to fight to liberate Europe. For many it was their first experience of combat and it would change their lives for ever. The accounts are taken from letters, diaries and interviews and range from generals and politicians to front-line soldiers and civilians.The accounts in this book tell the whole story of D-Day from the meticulous planning of the four years following the retreat at Dunkirk, the invasion armada, the fighting on the beaches and the first foothold in France, the hard-fought progress through the bocage countryside of Normandy before the German army was surrounded and the Allies could breakout at speed and sweep through France to the German border, not forgetting the role of the home front throughout the campaign.Even today there are many reminders of D-Day that visitors can see on the beaches of Normandy and in the towns, villages and cemeteries inland.
Voices from D-Day: Eyewitness Accounts from the Battle for Normandy
by Jon E. Lewis<p><i>Voices From D-Day</i> features classic accounts by soldiers such as Rommel and Bradley, together with frontline reports by some of the world's finest authors and war correspondents, including Ernest Hemingway and Alan Melville. <p>Published to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings, highlights of this unique collection include the break-out from Omaha beach as told by the GI who led it, a French housewife's story of what it was like to wake up to the invasion, German soldiers' accounts of finding themselves facing the biggest seaborne invasion in history, a view from the command post by a member of Eisenhower's staff, combat reports, diaries and letters of British veterans of all forces and services, and accounts of the follow-up battle for Normandy, one of the bloodiest struggles of the war.</p>
Voices from Iraq: A People's History, 2003-2009
by Mark KukisFeaturing the testimony of close to seventy Iraqis from all walks of life, Voices from Iraq builds a riveting chronological history unmatched for its insight and revelations. Here is a history of the war in Iraq as told entirely by Iraqis living through the U.S. invasion and occupation.Beginning in 2003, this intimate narrative includes the experiential accounts of civilians, politicians, former dissidents, insurgents, and militiamen. Iraqis offering firsthand stories range from onetime Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to resistance fighters speaking on the condition of anonymity. Divided into five parts, these interviews recount the 2003 invasion; Iraq's gradual slide into chaos from 2004 to 2005; the start of a new order in 2006; the rise of open sectarian violence over the next two years; and the effort since 2008 to reconstruct a society from relative calm. Each section includes interviews grouped into themes, with brief epilogues for the participants. Not since Studs Terkel's The Good War has a book captured so acutely the human consequences of a conflict we are still struggling to understand. Voices from Iraq makes utterly vivid the meaning and legacy of America's campaign in Iraq.
Voices from Iraq: A People's History, 2003–2009
by Mark KukisA Time magazine foreign correspondent shares &“moving stories from the Iraqis who lived through the nightmare&” in this oral history of the Iraq War (Kikrus). Journalist Mark Kukis presents a history of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq as told by Iraqis who live through it.Beginning in 2003, this intimate narrative includes the accounts of civilians, politicians, former dissidents, insurgents, and militiamen. The men and women sharing their firsthand experiences range from onetime Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to resistance fighters speaking on the condition of anonymity. Divided into five parts, these interviews recount the 2003 invasion; the two years of chaos that followed; the start of a new order in 2006; the rise of sectarian violence; and the effort to reconstruct their society since 2008. In each section, interviews grouped into themes, with brief epilogues for the participants. As Studs Terkel's The Good War did for World War II, Voices from Iraq brings the meaning and legacy of America's campaign in Iraq to vivid life.
Voices From Jutland: A Centenary Commemoration
by Jim CrossleyJutland was the only major fleet engagement to take place during the First World War, and indeed the only time in history in which columns of great dreadnought battleships fought each other. In spite of terrible losses of life, the battle did nothing to change the strategic situation in northern European waters, in fact it simply confirmed Britains command of the seas and her ability to enforce the blockade which was eventually to lead to Germanys downfall.
Voices From The Past, Armistice 1918: The Last Days of The First World War Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There
by Paul KendallAt 11.00 hours on 11 November 1918, the guns fell silent across the battlefields of Europe. After the deadliest conflict the world had ever seen, peace had finally arrived. Since the withdrawal from the Somme and the repulse at Verdun, the Germans knew they could not win the war and had sought a negotiated end to the fighting. This was rejected by the Allies and the fighting continued until, almost two years later, with its economy on the verge of collapse, Germany had no choice but to accept defeat and seek terms for an armistice.The story of the efforts to bring the war to a conclusion, and those final days and hours of the First World War, are told in the words of the politicians, soldiers and newspaper columnists who were there at the time. From the nervous anxiety of the men on the front line counting down the last few, and in some cases still deadly, minutes, through to the wild celebrations around the world on Armistice Day, renowned historian Paul Kendall relives some of the most emotional scenes ever witnessed through the eyes of those men and women that were there, and had lived, to see the end of the First World War.
Voices from Stalingrad: First-hand Accounts from World War II’s Cruellest Battle
by Jonathan BastableImagine what is was like, after being subjected to the relentless roaring of dozens of airplane engines, and constant explosions, to be suddenly surrounded by a deathly silence! We were cut off from the outside world. Were we staring an agonizing death in the face?' No previous work about Stalingrad places such emphasis on the experience of ordinary fighters and civilians. This volume of human history and military strategy includes fresh translations from original sources describing this pivotal event of World War II as told by the German and Soviet soldiers who fought the battle, Russian civilians who watched the enemy at the gates as well as Western diplomat and newspaper correspondent onlookers. Offering a record of one of the pivotal events of World War II, as told through the personal accounts of the German and Soviet soldiers who fought in it, this book features photographs from the Battle of Stalingrad, from both sides of the front. This is a fascinating record of the pivotal event of World War II, told through the personal accounts of the German and Soviet soldiers who fought it, the Russian civilians who watched the destruction of their city, and Western onlookers such as diplomats and newspaper correspondents. Many of these voices are gleaned from newly-discovered archive material, and from rare sources and reminiscences in Germany and Russia, including KGB sources. Many of these accounts have never been published, or are totally unknown in the English-speaking world. All foreign voices are quoted in fresh and engaging new translations from the original sources. There are rare photographs of the battle, from both sides of the front.
Voices from the Battle of the Bulge
by Michael ReynoldsAfter the Allies broke out from Normandy in July 1944, they drove quickly through the rest of France and were threatening the German border by the autumn. To halt the Allies, Hitlers last throw of the dice was the massive gamble of a counter-attack in the Ardennes.Sensing the Allies were fatigued, with stretched supply lines after their rapid advance, Hitler presented to his commanders an ambitious plan to force two Panzer armies through the Allied forces, to take the vital port of Antwerp. He intended to exploit the differences between the British and American commands and separate their forces, driving the British to another Dunkirk and buying him time to launch a full-scale assault on Britain with his 'miracle weapons' and undermine the Allies Western alliance.The massive German attack launched on 16 December 1944 achieved complete surprise but heavy fighting in the American sectors, halted their advance after two days. Known as the Battle of the Bulge because of the bulge in the German lines at this point, a battle of attrition followed in the bitter winter weather but Allied air power and limited fuel supplies on the German side gradually turned the battle in the Allies favour and by mid-January German forces were in retreat. This had been the largest battle fought by the Americans in World War 2 and at the end of it Germany was facing its final defeat.This new paperback edition of Voices of Battle of the Bulge tells the story of this pivotal battle of World War 2 through contemporary witnesses. Drawing on interviews, letters, diaries and eye-witness accounts from the military commanders and generals, ordinary front-line soldiers and civilians who experienced the Battle of the Bulge at first hand, it vividly brings to life and commemorates one of the key battles of World War 2.
Voices from the Carpathia: Rescuing RMS Titanic
by George Behe"When Titanic began sending out distress calls, one of the first to reply was the Cunard liner Carpathia. As it turned out, Carpathia was the only vessel to reach the scene in time to save the lives of any of Titanic’s passengers, and, after she arrived in New York, reporters crowded the pier and vied with each other to obtain interviews with the survivors of the disaster. In their zeal to interview survivors, though, the reporters brushed past other people who could have provided their own eyewitness accounts – namely, Carpathia’s own passengers, largely left to their own devices as to how and when they discussed their participation in events. A few wrote letters to relatives, others wrote accounts intended for publication. The author’s collection of these rare written accounts and interviews sheds new light on the tragic way the lives of so many were impacted by the loss of the largest passenger liner in the world."
Voices from the Luftwaffe (Luftwaffe in Combat 1939–45)
by Bob CarruthersThis WWII oral history tells the story of the Luftwaffe through the eyes of those who served in combat—illustrated with wartime propaganda. Drawing on extensive interviews with Luftwaffe, Emmy Award–winning historian Bob Carruthers traces its rise from the ashes of the Great War to its fearsome height and ultimate downfall. Here are the personal memories and perspectives of young volunteers seeking adventure who would soon face the grim realities of their service. Here too is the propaganda machine that glorified the Nazi cause and perpetuated the charade that this was a civilian undertaking. With vivid detail and revealing candor, readers experience how the stunning successes of the Blitzkrieg era are quickly overshadowed by the grim experiences of the Battle of Britain and the life-or-death fight for the skies over Germany. The book is illustrated throughout with extensive selections from Der Adler, the wartime Luftwaffe propaganda magazine.
Voices From the Napoleonic Wars: From Waterloo to Salamanca, 14 eyewitness accounts of a soldier's life in the early 1800s
by Jon E. LewisVoices from the Napoleonic Wars reveals in telling detail the harsh lives of soldiers at the turn of the eighteenth century and in the early years of the nineteenth - the poor food and brutal discipline they endured, along with the forced marches and bloody, hand-to-hand combat. Contemporaries were mesmerised by Napoleon, and with good reason: in 1812, he had an unprecedented million men and more under arms. His new model army of volunteers and conscripts at epic battles such as Austerlitz, Salamanca, Borodino, Jena and, of course, Waterloo marked the beginning of modern warfare, the road to the Sommes and Stalingrad. The citizen-in-arms of Napoleon's Grande Arm?e and other armies of the time gave rise to a distinct body of soldiers' personal memoirs. The personal accounts that Jon E. Lewis has selected from these memoirs, as well as from letters and diaries, include those of Rifleman Harris fighting in the Peninsular Wars, and Captain Alexander Cavalie Mercer of the Royal Horse Artillery at Waterloo. They cover the land campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars (1739-1802), the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) and the War of 1812 (1812-1815), in North America. This was the age of cavalry charges, of horse-drawn artillery, of muskets and hand-to-hand combat with sabres and bayonets. It was an era in which inspirational leadership and patriotic common cause counted for much at close quarters on chaotic and bloody battlefields. The men who wrote these accounts were directly involved in the sweeping campaigns and climactic battles that set Europe and America alight at the turn of the eighteenth century and in the years that followed. Alongside recollections of the ferocity of hard-fought battles are the equally telling details of the common soldier's daily life - short rations, forced marches in the searing heat of the Iberian summer and the bitter cold of the Russian winter, debilitating illnesses and crippling wounds, looting and the lash, but also the compensations of hard-won comradeship in the face of ever-present death. Collectively, these personal accounts give us the most vivid picture of warfare 200 and more years ago, in the evocative language of those who knew it at first hand - the men and officers of the British, French and American armies. They let us know exactly what it was like to be an infantryman, a cavalryman, an artilleryman of the time.