Confection Drouot

 210 years ago, Napoleon led his army through the congested streets of Genappe towards, what the maps told him was the hamlet of Mont Saint Jean. As lighting slashed the evening sky, torrential rain. The dawn brought Napoleon his last battle.

How those fateful battles were fought, and what those men wore on the fateful morn, has been a research obsession of mine for twenty years. If you have not been tempted to read my books on the Waterloo Campaign, perhaps now is the perfect time to look at some of my books from my back catalogue.

All reactions:

11François Mazen and 10 others

Military dress of the Peninsular War

 Today's bargain. 50p. Gerry Embleton is a great artist one of the best.

Grouchy's Waterloo

 This looks interesting. Blurb says

In this concluding volume of his highly praised study exploring the French perspective of the Waterloo campaign, Andrew Field concentrates on an often neglected aspect of Napoleon's final offensive the French victory over the Prussians at Ligny, Marshal Grouchy's pursuit of the Prussians and the battle at Wavre. The story of this side of the campaign is as full of controversy and interest as the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo which he has examined in such a penetrating and original way in his previous studies. Napoleon in his memoirs accused Grouchy, like Marshal Ney, of a series of failures in command that led to the French defeat, and many subsequent historians have taken the same line. This is one of the long-standing controversies that Andrew Field explores in fascinating detail. Grouchy's extensive description of his operations forms the backbone of the narrative, supplemented by other French sources and those of Prussian eyewitnesses.

Forthcoming 1815 title

 

Waterloo Christopher Hibbert

 Picked this up for 50p. Anybody read it?

16th Light Dragoons in the Waterloo campaign by David Blackmore

 A history book written by the author of the below series of novels.

Making extensive use of previously unpublished material this book gives an unprecedented view of the Waterloo Campaign from the viewpoint of a single regiment. It reveals the preparations that preceded the battle, the role of the regiment in the battle, and the long months spent in France after Paris fell, until the regiment finally returned home in December 1815. An Order Book for the year, and letters and diaries of several officers, shed light on the internal life of the regiment and their – occasionally humorous – social life.

From Osprey Publishing

 THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE ROYAL HORSE GUARDS AND 1ER CUIRASSIERS

  

As the British cavalry crested the brow of the height they saw the 1er and 4e Régiments de Cuirassiers commanded by Baron Jacques-Charles Dubois. The French cavalry were on the ridge, having ridden forward to support the infantry attack, and already overwhelming the Lüneburg Light Infantry Battalion, which was attempting to support the isolated troops at La Haie Sainte. Both French cavalry regiments had been engaged at Ligny, but had sustained relatively minor losses, and so they numbered in excess of 800 officers and men in seven squadrons. The 1st Dragoon Guards and 1st Life Guards collided with the cuirassiers and a tremendous melee ensued. This lasted for several minutes. Neither side were seemingly willing to give quarter. But eventually the French wheeled to the right and attempted to flee. The British cavalry pursued, and a considerable number of the cuirassiers were cornered in the hollow ground close to La Haie Sainte and slaughtered. The right squadron of the Royal Horse Guards  abandoned their role as the reserve and pursued the enemy to the west of La Haie Sainte, while part of the left squadron moved across the high road to the west of the farm. These officers and men became embroiled in a vain charge towards the French guns and were almost annihilated in the ensuing counter-attack.

Artwork from CAM 280 Waterloo 1815 (3): Mont St Jean and Wavre illustrated by Gerry Embleton.

Waterloo Relics

 See more here

Napoleon's last army

 

Update on this here

Book of interest

 Get it from here. The author Bernard Coppens has passed away. Read about him here

The Years of Napoleon published by Almark

 This book I have. From 1972. Some nice illustrations by Gerry Embleton.

The field of Waterloo Paul Davies

 This is a book I had as a youngster. Published 1970. Contains some stills from the film. Good introduction for a lad like me.

The Waterloo Campaign in 100 locations

 Haven't seen this yet but could be interesting.

Blurb says 

In the 200 years since the famous battle in the muddy, bloody fields of Waterloo, almost every aspect of the fighting has been examined and analysed, apart from one – that of finding and illustrating locations relating to the campaign. From Napoleon’s landing on the Golfe Juan on France’s Côte d’Azur, along the Route Napoleon and through Grenoble, the Emperor’s journey back to Paris, and back to power, is revealed here. In this beautifully produced book, we see where Napoleon distributed the Imperial Eagles to the regiments of his army, and where his forces assembled before marching to war, and where the Due of Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army gathered in Brussels. The camera follows the initial encounters on the banks of the River Sambre and the manoeuvring of the French and Coalition forces leading to the first great battles of the campaign at Quatre Bras and Ligny. The key sites occupied by the opposing armies at these battles are investigated as are the routes of the withdrawal to Mont St Jean by Wellington’s army and to Wavre by Blücher’s Prussians. The Waterloo battlefield and its associated buildings are examined in pictorial detail, as are the locations which marked the pivotal moments of the battle. The sites of the corresponding battle at Wavre are also shown, as well as the pursuit of the two wings of beaten French Army, including the sieges of the fortresses by the British army, before Paris was finally reached. The uprising in the Vendée and the last clashes of the campaign before Napoleon’s abdication are also featured. The book closes with Napoleon’s journey from Paris to St Helena via l'Île d’Aix and Plymouth. Headquarters buildings, observation posts, monuments and memorials, bridges and battlefields, and the principal locations of the campaign are portrayed in unique photographs – and behind every plague and place is a tale of political posturing, military manoeuvring, sacrifice and savagery. Together these images tell the story of Napoleon’s greatest gamble, and we know that a picture is worth a thousand words!

Uniforms of Waterloo Haythornthwaite

 This book from 1974 I had as a teen. My parents bought it for me. I will post some of my favourite images

Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow, 1812

 My library loan service has this book. Just reserved it. Like the artist's work

Title: Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow, 1812: ...

Publisher: Poole: Blandford Press

Publication Date: 1976

Illustrator: Michael Chappell

The British cheer

 

This is a bold, painstakingly researched and wide-ranging assessment of the British Cheer in the Napoleonic era. Reference to the Cheer in accounts of the time is virtually ubiquitous and repeatedly the claim was made for cheering as an integral part of British offensive operations. However, more recent historians have tended to overlook this evidence.

Based upon a vast range of contemporary sources, this book suggests that the Cheer wielded genuine power as a true 'weapon of war'. This book first surveys the history of acclamations in battle worldwide and British battle-cries from all periods, before addressing the question of what the British Cheer actually sounded like. Issues of acoustics, physics and the psychology of battlefield morale are considered, along with commentaries from significant military scholars throughout history. Examination of the Napoleonic-era Cheer then reveals the practically invincible 'recipe' of volley-cheer-charge that propelled the British Army to victory upon victory. Comparison is drawn with French and other national patterns of vocalizing, along with analysis of those occasions when the Cheer might be suppressed. Finally, the attitude of the Duke of Wellington towards cheering is reconsidered, with surprising results.

This study encompasses a vast canvas of place and time in pursuit of the elusive yet galvanizing Cheer: from the Mahratta wars in India, through campaigns in Egypt, the Mediterranean, Flanders, the Caribbean and South America, as well as the war of 1812. The Peninsular and Waterloo campaigns feature prominently as the Cheer is heard thrillingly from Vimeiro to Talavera, Salamanca to Vitoria, Orthez to Toulouse and the shocking siege of Badajoz to the charge of the Scots Greys on the ridge of Mont Saint Jean. Anyone interested in the wars of Revolutionary France and Napoleon, the British army, the career of the Duke of Wellington, or indeed the wider questions of the psychological motivations of combat will find this book illuminating and thought-provoking

Bernard Cornwell Waterloo

 Picked this up 2nd hand today.

Waterloo Henri Lachouque

 This coffee table book came out in 1972 - 75 for the English Edition. Introduction by David Chandler. A very pro French book but sometimes you need that. Highly illustrated it really is an enjoyable book. 

Uniforms of Waterloo in Colour 1974

 This book I had. Haythornthwaite.

Waterloo Making an Epic

 A 2021 book about the film reviewed here