105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment Series by Martin McDowell (#1-3)
Requirements: EPUB Reader, 1.6 MB
Overview: A novel set in the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, using the actual events as they happened.
Genre: Historical Fiction
#1 – Worth Their Colours
The Channel, but Napoleon”s Grande Armee remains a potent threat. Faced with this, the Secretary of State for War gathered all possible forces to resist invasion. This included sweeping up into Detachment Battalions the surviving soldiers of various minor disasters and combining them together with a very less than re-assuring mixture of recruits. This is the story of one such Battalion, a collection of veterans, social outcasts, untried Militia, volunteers, criminals and poachers who march and train together until the desperate British military deem them fit to be part of General Stuart”s army that invades Calabria to support one the few allies Britain has, the King of Naples. There they confront a veteran French army on the plains of Maida for the first set piece confrontation between the armies of Great Britain and Napoleon’s all-conquering forces. At the campaigns end, as a Detachment Battalion, usually considered as inherently inferior, they could be broken up and sent to reinforce under strength, well established, Regiments. Or, perhaps, by their own deeds and prowess, they deserve to be recognised as a numbered Regiment, and be""Worth Their Colours."
#2 – Close to the Colours
This story, sequel to “Worth Their Colours” is also set within actual history – fictional characters in actual events. On 2nd May 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte imprisoned the Spanish Royal Family and proclaimed his brother Joseph the new King of Spain. The Spanish rose up at the insult and so, with Spain in foment, the British Government saw the opportunity for a British army to once again set foot on European soil. Therefore, in August 1808, a small force led by General Sir Arthur Wellesley came ashore through the pounding surf of Mondego Bay to land on the Portuguese coast. This is the story of that army, how they confronted the hitherto victorious French, beginning with the very first exchange of fire at Brilos and then the success of Rolica and the stunning victory of Vimeiro. Wellington was recalled as being signatory to the controversial Convention of Cintra, and only then came the advance into Spain under General Sir John Moore. This incursion soon turned into a winter retreat of appalling hardship, but the army turned and stood at Corunna to inflict one last defeat on their pursuers, before returning home. The tale is told through the eyes of the characters of the fictional 105th Foot, The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment, but all the events are actual history.
#3 – The Plains of Talavera
In January 1809 Moore’s evacuated army arrived back in England, but by April another, this time under Sir Arthur Wellesley, was returned to Lisbon to renew the war with the forces of Napoleon. This army was 23,000 strong but at the time of Wellesley returning, the French had a quarter of a million men in the Peninsula and so he had very much to rely on Spanish Armies to occupy the bulk of the French occupiers and also on the growing strength of the Spanish and Portuguese guerrillas, ably led by El Capucino and El Charro. In March of 1809, the French had captured the Portuguese port of Oporto and so Wellesley began there, to recapture this Portuguese second city and here begins another chapter in the story of the ‘The Rag and Bone Boys’. The 105th Foot, The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment.
To the Battle Honour of Maida, first on their Colours from the previous campaign of 1808, have now been added those of Rolica, Vimeiro and Coruna. They march with Wellesley to play a major role in crossing the River Douro to take Oporto and then on to Talavera to support the Spanish, from which they have to withdraw after this costly victory and then suffer a dreadful retreat where their starvation was worse than that of Moore’s retreat in the previous year. After a year of inactivity, during which Officers could return home, the Summer of 1810 sees Wellesley again on the offensive, with new Allies, the Portuguese. This campaign includes the Battle of Busaco which was followed by the retreat back to the Lines of Torres Vedras, from which they finally advance when the French withdraw, having suffered starvation themselves. Throughout all the victories and retreats, the members of the 105th, both Rank and Commissioned, live, marry, fight and survive, through disputes, deep friendship and the perils of dreadful conflict. As usual, Henry Carr, now a full Major, must endure the ongoing personal feuds with the same old enemies, but support arrives, as usual, from his own friends and allies.
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