Corunna (British Battles)

This work is part of a series reprinting classics of military history about battles that were to prove turning points in history. It features the Battle of Corunna which was fought on 16 January 1809 and the short campaign that preceded it. The battle saved a British army from annihilation and resulted in the death of one of its finest generals - Sir John Moore. Later Wellington was able to defeat Napoleon`s armies in Spain but in 1809 the odds were all stacked against the British. Extensive use is made of the many eye-witness accounts which survive in the form of official despatches, histories, diaries, memoirs and letters. With the aid of these, the author not only shows an understanding of the general and his fellow-officers, of their conflicting characters and views, but also provides a picture of the hardships of this brief and bitter campaign notable for the suffering endured by the retreating army across the mountains of Galicia in appaling weather conditions, with inadequate food-supplies and the French hard on their heels.