Featured battle : Aire

Part of The War of the Spanish Succession

Date : 06 September 1710 - 08 November 1710

The seige was timed to run simultaneously with the seige of St.Venant. The Prince of Anhalt-Dessau commanded the seige for the Allies and M. de Goësbriand with 15 battalions and 7 squadrons of dragoons defended the fortress. The French put up a determined defence and this combined with poor provisioning of the beseigers lead to a protracted engagement. The Governor began discussions for terms on the 8 November and he and his men were allowed to march out to St. Omer.

The Harwich Striking Force

Steve R Dunn
Having enjoyed three previous books by Steve Dunn I had high expectations of this one and I was not disappointed. The Harwich force was a special creation to meet a particular need and worked under a talented leader. It’s actions, successes, failures highs and lows are all here and indicate a massive amount of research. The breadth of its actions many of them experimental is down to the vision of its commander, Admiral Tyrwhitt. He thought deeply about the weapons, cruisers, destroyers, mine sweepers, mine layers, submarines and flying boats, and used them in novel aggressive ways. The accounts of various voyages show how the weather, especially fog, was as much of an enemy as were the Germans.
The easy flowing text includes a lot of personal accounts and observations, there are many photographs of the men and the vessels and one very good map. This is a well-focussed work and a jolly good read which we highly recommend.

Seaforth Publishing, 2022