Description
Urban, a BBC journalist, focuses on the fate of six soldiers in the 1st Battalion of Wellington's legendary 95th Rifles from the day they shipped out of Great Britain in May 1809 through the Battle of Waterloo, six years later. The 95th Rifles' innovative tactics became a model for the modern concept of infantrymen. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other personal accounts, Urban's narrative takes readers inside famous battles and on the march across Europe. Three of the six soldiers he follows made it home; one was executed by his own comrades. Sixteen glossy plates bear maps and other images. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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A nineteenth-century Band of BrothersThe 95th Rifles was one of history's great fighting units, and Mark Urban brings them and the Napoleonic War gloriously to life in this unique chronicle. Focusing especially on six soldiers in the first battalion, Urban tells the Rifles' story from May 25, 1809, when they shipped out to join Wellington's army in Spain, through the battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other personal accounts, Urban has fashioned a vivid narrative that allows readers to feel the thrill and horror of famous battles, the hardship of the march across Europe, the bravery and camaraderie of a nineteenthcentury Band of Brothers whose innovative tactics created the modern notion of infantryman.
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