The Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1808–1811
By Tim Saunders and Rob Yuill
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Light infantry was not new a concept in 1803, but at Shorncliffe Camp Sir John Moore developed a progressive ethos, set of tactics and training for the newly converted light infantry regiments. With the 95th Rifles they were melded into a brigade that was to form the basis of the incomparable Light Division.
From the outset of the Peninsular campaigns in 1808 they delivered results way beyond their scant numbers, but it was during the epic winter retreat to La Corunna that they showed their metal. Returning to the Peninsular months later, the irascible Brigadier Craufurd led the Light Brigade in terrible march to reach Wellington at Talavera; heavily laden and in the heat of summer.
Over the winter of 1809/10, Craufurd,s battalions, now elevated to the status of a division, provided the army’s outposts. This was work that Craufurd excelled in and actions abounded, including the Combat on the Côa, where the division fought hard to escape Marshal Ney’s trap.
In 1810, with Wellington withdrawing to the Lines of Torres Vedra, the Light Division played a significant part in the battle of Buçaco Ridge, while the following year they drove Marshal Masséna’s army back into Spain having fought almost daily actions en route.
This history of the Light Division is not simply a series of set piece battles but provides a wider picture of campaigning and what it was to be a light infantry soldier.
Tim Saunders
Tim Saunders served as an infantry officer with the British Army for thirty years, during which time he took the opportunity to visit campaigns far and wide, from ancient to modern. Since leaving the Army he has become a full time military historian, with this being his sixteenth book, has made nearly fifty full documentary films with Battlefield History and Pen & Sword. He is an active guide and Accredited Member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.
Read more from Tim Saunders
Battle for the Bocage: Normandy 1944: The Fight for Point 103, Tilly-sur-Seulles, Vilers Bocage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDieppe: Operation Jubilee—Channel Ports Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island: Nijmegen to Arnhem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNormandy: Hill 112: The Battle of the Odon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Varsity: The British & Canadian Airborne Assault Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHell's Highway: U.S. 101st Airborne & Guards Armoured Division Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, 1810 and 1812: The Peninsular War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPointe du Hoc, 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNijmegen: US 82nd Airborne & Guards Armoured Division Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJuno Beach: Canadian 3rd Infantry Division–July 1944 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hill 112: The Key to defeating Hitler in Normandy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Plunder: The British & Canadian Rhine Crossing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crete: The Airborne Invasion, 1941 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Commandos & Rangers: D-Day Operations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Epsom: VIII British Corps vs 1st SS Panzerkorps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fort Eben Emael 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSalamanca Campaign 1812 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division in Normandy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasséna at Bay 1811: The Lines of Torres Vedras to Funtes de Oñoro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of the Reichswald: Rhineland February 1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1808–1811 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arras Counter-Attack, 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1811–1814 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWest Country Regiments on the Somme Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Talavera Campaign 1809 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking the Siegfried Line: Rhineland, February 1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Totalize Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1808–1811
Related ebooks
The Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1808–1811 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rifles Are There: 1st & 2nd Battalions The Royal Ulster Rifles in the Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllied Special Forces Insignia, 1939–1948 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRetreat and Rearguard, Somme 1918: The Fifth Army Retreat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOperation Bluecoat: Breakout from Normandy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsXD Operations: Secret British Missions Denying Oil to the Nazis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tug of War: The Battle for Italy, 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings1 Group: Swift to Attack: Bomber Command's Unsung Heroes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattles of the Jacobite Rebellions: Killiecrankie to Culloden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTracing Your Tank Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAustralia's Few and the Battle of Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Royal Armoured Corps in the Cold War, 1946–1990 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trench: The True Story of the Hull Pals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArtillery in the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secret Forces of World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greater Game: Sporting Icons Who Fell in the Great War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Somme Offensive, March 1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of the 33rd Divisional Artillery, in the War, 1914-1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Journeys End Battalion: The 9th East Surrey in the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1811–1814 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVictory in the Falklands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Winged Crusaders: The Exploits of 14 Squadron RFC & RAF, 1915–45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTracing Your Army Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Footsloggers: An Infantry Battalion at War, 1939-45 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHull Pals: 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Battalions East Yorkshire Regiment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stockbrokers' Battalion in the Great War: A History of the 10th (service) Battalion, Royal Fusilliers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTobruk Commando: The Raid to Destroy Rommel's Base Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Commandos & Rangers: D-Day Operations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Guns of the Northeast: Costal Defences from the Tyne to the Humber Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaring Raids of World War Two: Heroic Land, Sea & Air Attacks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Light Division in the Peninsular War, 1808–1811
0 ratings0 reviews