I'm also reading a story about a British officer in the Peninsula. He's a bit of an outcast, but has a huge non-English NCO and a trusty band of riflemen behind him as he undertakes an irregular operation after being noticed by Wellington's gimlet eye.   

Sharpe, you say? Indeed not. This is Craven's War: A Call to Arms by Nick S Thomas. It's the first of a series of 11 (so far) which cover only 3 years (1809-1812).


Craven is an anti-hero, a philanderer, a drinker and a poor gambler, only in the Peninsula to avoid debts and to make money through training rather than fighting. He is an excellent swordsman and this book goes somewhat into more detail about the art of fencing that is strictly necessary (or interesting.)

In this volume, Craven is caught duelling and as a punishment is to escort a beautiful Portuguese lady to her home. What could go wrong? Well the night after the lady visits Craven in his tent, she is kidnapped by French light cavalry and hilarity ensues. Aside from his band of fencing riflemen, he is accompanied by a gauche young officer who is a perfect explanatory device. 

The story is a bit stop-start and in some places illogical and far fetched, but generally trots along at a reasonable pace. Unlike Roberts in To The Duoro, Craven has many, many flaws (one of his men is a preacher who has dedicated his life to saving Craven's soul) and so over the series of books there is room for a redemption arc.

Comparisons to Sharpe are both unfair and somewhat inevitable. There are many similarities, but sufficient differences to make Craven worth pursuing. Perhaps it says more about me that the books, but I prefer the rough, complex and imperfect Craven, to Roberts in his implausible plot armour.

Craven's War: A Call to Arms is a 6/10. It's not unputdownable, but I'm sufficiently intrigued to buy volume 2.
         

Got myself a present. More of a "let's look that up" than a "read back to back" volume. All, and I think it's really all vehicles of the Durch army, 1945 to 2015.

There's quite a few of those in the Pendraken catalogue already, but we could always use a few more. 

https://www.defensie.nl/onderwerpen/militaire-geschiedenis-nimh/boeken-nimh/2020-wiel-en-rups

Translates as "wheel and track", btw.

Wow! That looks like the kind of book I'd love. 557 pages of goodness.

 

Tankeskadron https://imgur.com/a/r74XnQp



A page from the book, which may be of interest to some. There are quite a few of these 'company spread' pictures in the book. In this case a tank squadron from the mid sixties with (at least 2) Centurion Mk 5/2 tanks in each troop.

That's a thing of beauty.

I read that as 3 troops of 5 and 2 in the HQ?

Quote from: fsn on 29 December 2022, 11:57:24 AMThat's a think of beauty.

I read that as 3 troops of 5 and 2 in the HQ?

Yes, that's the setup here.

I picked up Corrigan's "Mud, blood and poppycock" at the Nat Trust 2nd hand bookshop this week (family days out have their uses!), so far I have... read the blurb

Got that on Kindel, its not bad. He is far better an author than broadcaster.

So I understand - let's see if I can actually find time to read any of it!

Finished "The Hands Of The Emperor" by Victoria Goddard.  Not the type of book I normally read (magic, but not  a lot - no military) but it was a Christmas present from my daughter.  Nothing to do with Games of Thrones, but it seems using the "Hand" as a minister of an emperor, or king, may be popular.

The Hand, Cliptopher, nicknamed Kip (which is my nickname but my daughter swears that is not the reason she bought it for me), is from the islands, far from the main kingdom.  He has risen from a very junior secretary to a confidant of the Emperor.  And the reason for "Hand" is that no one may touch the Emperor, so Kip receives anything presented.

A long story (900 pages) and this is part one.  (I understand the next book is 1300 pages.)  It is well written with a surfeit of adjectives and adverbs for describing the lands, the islands, the Emperor and anything else that appears (houses, food, water).  The story involves Kip inviting the Emperor on a vacation where the Emperor decides he wants to find his successor and "retire".  (Book 2 must be the Emperor's search but I don't know that for sure).

Anyway the book gives good mental pictures and is fast flowing (I got through it in a week or so).  Recommended if you are into vivid descriptions and a bit of magic.

Having seen FSN's note on Craven, I went and bought the first three.  Explanation of the plot was well covered by FSN.  I liken Craven to Fox (British naval officer series if anyone remembers that) but not as well done.  To me, the narrative sounds more American than British and it bothers me.  Some proof reading errors as well as some factual errors (in Book 2 the author has the KGL in black uniforms).

The author, Nick S Thomas ("Best Selling Author" but never heard of him) is also a researcher and teacher of swordsmanship and combat in the Napoleonic era. So, we get detailed descriptions of the swords and the parries and lots of sword play - Craven doesn't have a pistol because he is so good with the sword (and a dirk).

OK novel but not very compelling to me.

Just finished "The Roman Army: the Civil Wars 88-31 BC" by Nic Fields. An excellent intro to the subject. Given how much I've read about the Roman military of the period recently I was pleasantly surprised how much I learned.

Finished book 2 of "Craven's War: Into The Fire"  This is the bandido (as the author calls it - read guerillo) war as Craven's few work to disrupt French troops with ambushes, intercepting couriers and supply/foraging missions.  The book ends with the battle of Talavera where Craven saves Wellington and helps during the night attack and the next day's attack b the French.  This is the book where the author has the KGL wearing black uniforms.

Like the last, interesting but not compelling.

Rereading McKinstry's "Operation Sealion" as I got distracted. Had intended "Blood, Mud and Poppycock" on the 1st WW as I got it cheap from a Nat Trust 2nd hand shop but missed

He writes entertainingly and it's a substantial step up from his "journalism".

Destination Dunkirk: The Story of Gort's Army by Gregory Blaxland. I bought this to really fill in a gap of my knowledge of the France 1940 campaign. Most books naturally focus in the breakthrough at Sedan and the fall out from that, but I wanted to see more detail on the BEF, for a planned BKCII campaign this year. A few chapters in and a brilliant read with plenty of little snippets of useful info. Highly recommended.