Featured battle : Pharsalus

Part of Rome's Civil War Caesar v Pompey

Date : 48 bc

Pompey's forces out numbered Caesar's by two to one. Pompey feared that his inexperienced troops might not advance in good order so he waited for Caesar to make the first move. Caesar took the initiative, [and gamble] using seasoned troops [10th Legion] against five times their number of raw cavalry. He broke Pompey's left wing and went on to surround his centre. Pompey fled from the battlefield.

With Napoleon’s Guard in Russia - The Memoirs of Major Vionnet 1812

Louis Joseph Vionnet. Translated & Edited Jonathan
A book I finished reading wanting more of the same. I suspect desperate hunger, numbing cold and the struggle to keep his troops together caused Major Vionnet to make few notes from which these memoirs were constructed. Jonathan North has written an excellent introduction, especially the Peninsular War background to the regiment, and there is an appropriate selection of maps and illustrations to support the text. He has also used other personal accounts to broaden the perspective and add detail. My one minor complaint is that the many footnotes are gathered at the end of the book. If, like me, you always read footnotes, and these are most helpful, then having them on the relevant page is so much more convenient. This book is about detail having a broad overview of the Russian campaign, while not essential, is most useful.
With only a little imagination the reader will gain insights into the hell which engulfed and killed so many of Napoleon’s troops in the retreat from Moscow. And crucially how some of the survivors survived.

Pen & Sword Military. Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2012