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Featured battle : Action at Tadcaster
Part of The Civil Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Date : 06 December 1642 - 07 December 1642
The Earl of Newcastle assaulted and took Tadcaster from Lord Fairfax
Featured image :
RAF Tucano T1
This picture of a Tucano of No.72(R) Sqn taxiing to the hold on the main runway at Linton-on-Ouse prior to a training exercise vividly shows off the RAF's new training colour scheme. They have concluded that contrary to normal military aircraft, trainers need to be very visible and easily spotted. Tests showed that the most noticable colour against both the sky and the ground is black. Hence this has replaced the older red and white common to RAF trainers since the war.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
Wellington's Foot Guards at Waterloo
Robert Burnham & Ron McGuigan
This book by Robert Burnham and Ron McGuigan is a thorough exposition of who the Foot Guards were and what they did. Some readers will think it is telling them more than they need to know. For example when it comes down to colour of eyes and hair why should that matter? It doesn’t ‘matter’ but it, along with the other factors described, does build a strong picture of who those men were as people and incidentally indicates the thoroughness of the authors research. The authors are also to be admired for sticking to their subject and not being pulled into more general descriptions of the battles; even so it is still a large 380 page volume.
Within those pages are some rather apt plates which support the text and there is an extensive bibliography. The very useful Name index allows the reader to follow many persons through the action, some with over twenty references in the text. I also liked the way that the rank and file are treated which is as well as any other book I have read. There is far more information concerning officers available to the researcher and, while acknowledging this, the authors have compensated for the lack to some extent. This includes the contents of the fifteen appendices which contain a mass of detailed information for the reader to access easily.
There are some minor criticisms which do not detract from the overall value of the book. The maps are reproductions of those appearing in a book published in 1874 which would have had, and still need, keys and supporting text. The plan of Hougoumont appears on page 136 rather than page 171 as shown in the list of maps.
In our opinion this book successfully bridges what is a difficult divide between a reference book and a good sit down read and, as such, will delight both the Waterloo buff and the casual reader.
Frontline Books, 2018
Reviewed : 2019-01-03 14:27:20
