Featured battle : The Saints

Part of American War of Independence

Date : 09 April 1782 - 12 April 1782

Admiral Rodney, in command of the British West Indies fleet, 36 ships of the line, intercepted a French fleet, 33 ships of the line, escorting 150 merchant ships going to pick up troops from Haiti to attack Jamaica. The morning of the first day was one of exceptionally light winds. After a skirmish in which neither side got the better of the other the French withdrew. There then followed a chase and by 0740 hrs on the twelfth the fleets were again engaged. The battle is significant because whether by order or as a neccessary response to a wind shift the British fleet cut through the French line in two columns just as Nelson would order some thirteen years later at Trafalgar. The battle ended about 4pm when de Grasse order his ships to disengage. Shortly after the signal his flagship was taken and he was made prisoner, four other French ships were captured. Rodney won a significant victory and prevented the invasion of Jamaica but Rodney was later criticised for not following the battle up energetically.

United States Marine Corps in the Korean War

Michael Green
As with all of this series of ‘Images of War’ the pictures with their appropriate annotations are the story. However the supporting text places the sets of photographs in their context. All aspects of the marines involvement in the war are covered and this clearly spells out their special role. In addition to the photographs of the marines in action there are pictures of their equipment from carbines to aircraft. There also many photographs of the weapons used by their opponents. Michael Green has done a superb job in pulling these together from many disparate sources.
The final impression of the Korean conflict is that the fighting was tough and at times the weather was tougher. But the real ‘grit’ of the book comes in the final paragraph. Although there were rarely as many as 20,000 marines in Korea at any one time there were over 30,000 casualties in the course of the conflict among which were 436 aircraft of the marines airwing.
We warmly recommend this book to all our readers and especially those unfamiliar with this ‘sideshow’ of a war. Having read this you will want to go on and read more about this conflict.

Pen & Sword Military, 2021