Salamanca was the most decisive battle of the entire Peninsular War. Wellington smashed Marmont's French Army and his pursuit of its shattered remnants led to the famous cavalry charge of the King's German Legion at Garcia Hernandez. There would be two more years of sieges and hard fighting before the Iron Duke crossed the Pyrenees into France but from Salamanca the British and their Portuguese and Spanish allies always had the upper hand. Ian Fletcher examines this important battle in detail and also discusses the campaign which led up to it.
Author Biography
Ian Fletcher has established a reputation as a Napoleonic historian of the first rank, particularly on the British army in the Peninsular. He has been widely published and among his several titles for Osprey are Elite 52 Wellington's Foot Guards and Campaign 59 Vittoria 1813. Bill Younghusband was born in 1936. He was educated in Devon and studied at Newton Abbot College of Art. He has been interested in all things military since childhood, and this interest was compounded through the reading of authors such as G.A. Henty. In 1954 he joined the Life Guards and saw service in Egypt and Cyprus. Bill is a respected military illustrator of more than 15 years experience, and has illustrated many Osprey books including Men-at-Arms 299 Austrian Auxiliary Troops 1792-1816 and Campaigns 48 Salamanca 1812 and 59 Vittoria 1813. He is married with one daughter and currently lives in Ireland.
