Napoleonic Fiction
Whose Business is to die - extra sources.
Reading Graves' biography of Pearson of the 23rd Foot with its vivid description of Albuera was one of the triggers to make me think up the idea for these stories, and I knew from the start that my fictional 106th would have to be there. It is largely chance that this ended up as the sixth story in the series - so about half way through the whole story of these characters and their part in the Peninsular, Waterloo and the wider conflicts of these years. MacAndrews' story in this book draws extensively on Pearson's actual experiences and successes. I would heartily recommend this - and indeed anything by this author -
- D. Graves, Fix Bayonets. A Royal Welch Fusilier at War (2007). His Dragon Rampant. The Royal Welch Fusiliers at War 1793-1815 (2010) is also well worth a look.
For Albuera itself, I have relied heavily on Dempsey's account of the battle, following almost all of his interpretations. I hope that the narrative does some justice to this excellent book, which is very careful to be fair to all the armies involved.
- G. Dempsey, Albuera. The bloodiest battle of the Peninsular War (2008).
Also of considerable use were -
- P. Edwards, Albuera. Wellington's Peninsular Campaign of 1811 (2008)
- M. Oliver & M. Partridge, The Battle of Albuera 1811. the glorious field of grief (2007)
- I. Fletcher, Bloody Albuera. The 1811 campaign in the Peninsular (2000). Also of considerable use, especially for Campo Major, is the same author's Galloping at Everything listed in the main bibliography.
When it comes to memoirs, many of the works already listed provided nuggets of material, but especially handy was
- J. McGuffie, Peninsular Cavalry General 1811-1813. The Correspondence of Lieutenant-General Robert Ballard Long (1951)
