Featured battle : Espinosa de los Monteros

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 10 November 1808 - 11 November 1808

The Spaniards led by Blake, being pursued by Victor's I Corps, turned to support his rearguard. For the first day they stood firm and fought well. On the second day the French broke the centre and the whole line collapsed. Subsequently to this battle many Spaniards deserted reducing Blake's force to around 12,000 men.

Gurkha Odyssey

Peter Duffell
An odyssey is a long eventful journey and an appropriate title for this book. The story is of the author’s journey with and in the Gurkha ‘family’. The manner of its telling, in the main, is like a dinner party conversation with an excellent raconteur. In the telling not only do we see the Gurkhas but we see the author. Peter Duffell is a fighting man both with his men in the jungles of Borneo and for his men in the corridors of Whitehall. The period covered is from the early 1960s to 2018 with some coverage of early history. The unit focused on is the 2nd Gurkhas and therefore sadly does not include the Gurkha contribution to the Falklands war [7th Gurkhas].
The book is well illustrated with a dozen pages of colour plates and some super Ken Howard drawings. Nine maps, all with scales, help in the telling of the journey. There is more to Gurkha history than told here and this book is a taster which will leave you wanting to find out more.
Gurkha Odyssey is a most enjoyable cover to cover read which we highly recommend.

Pen & Sword Military, 2019