Featured battle : Quatre-Bras

Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Date : 16 June 1815 - 17 June 1815

One of the 'Waterloo' quartet of battles. Napoleon's left wing under Ney arrived at the crossroads of Quatre-Bras about midday on the 16th. The French were at that time at least 20,000 strong and were opposed by 8,000 unseasoned troops. But knowledge of Wellington in the Peninsular dictated caution which allowed the allies to build up their strength. They held the position against far superior forces until the end of the day. Not until 1800 hrs was their full strength achieved. Overnight Wellington ordered a general fall back to Mont St Jean. The fight on the 17th was mainly between the British cavalry/horse artillery rearguard and those few elements of the French which could get up with them. Although they had lost the position the allies regained some of the valuable time lost to Napoleon's initial surprise advance.

British Army of the Rhine - The BAOR 1945-1993

Paul Chrystal
Part of the "Cold War 1945-1991" series, this is quite a small book at only 126 pages, to cover such a large subject and I think that's it's biggest issue. It tries to cover too much. There are sections which are interesting and obviously well researched, particularly the chapters on the predecessors and formation of the BAOR, de-nazification & fraternisation and the 'families on the Rhine'. The sources and further reading sections are useful too. However the majority of the period of the BAOR's service is somewhat sparsely covered, and the token section on the RAF and the Royal Navy really should have been left out all together. There is hopefully a much bigger, more comprehensive book somewhere that this is taster for, and I would very much like to read it. The author has a good grasp of the subject and good photographs supplied by his family furnishing welcome detail and authenticity but it has definitely lost something in the edit.
Pen and Sword Military, Barnsley, 2018