The Last Thing...
Editorial
by Dave Watkins
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Congratulations are due to two of our regular contributors Colin Allen and Geert van Uythoven. Both are due over the course of this issue to engage in the trauma that is marriage! So may I extend our best wishes to Colin and Carole and Geert and Marjan - Live long and prosper! (Lads take it from me the worst bit is where they make you get up and give a speech - this always comes just when you've got over the stress of the preceding hours!) Another notable event is that our man in Brazil, Ralph Henderson, has found himself uprooted and transplanted in to Thailand. Our man in Bangkok no less! Good luck Ralph and if you get lonely I think our nearest reader to you is in Tibet! New BooksI have recently received a couple of titles that are worthy of a mention here and I obviously consider worthy of bringing to your attention. Merry Hearts Make Light Days: The War of 1812 Journal of Lieutenant John Le Couteur, 104th Foot.
The title of this book conceals the fact that the work covers the life of Le Couteur from 1794 to 1817. It relates in fascinating detail his early life, schooling and his adventures as an officer cadet at the Royal Military College. Once sent to America with his regiment, Le Couteur sets out daily the events of his life, the routine that is military life, his flirtations with the fair sex, death and the enemy. You can easily follow his conversion from excitable novice to that of a veteran grateful of the shelter provided by a post and rail fence. The insight into combat gained from the perspective of a young infantry officer at the various battles at which his regiment fought make this book worth purchasing even if you are not an 1812 fan. Napoleon At Bay: F. Loraine Petre
Petre is probably one of the greatest military historians. Napoleon at Bay, however, is not one of the greatest works on the 1814 Campaign. It is though, a welcome return for one of the few complete English works on the campaign and the maps alone are worth the purchase price. You have to do some digging within the book to work out who was at which battle with what, but the campaign is well laid out and easy to follow. Given the complexity of those months, this was an achievement in its own right. Napoleon at Bay is a good introduction to 1814, but most certainly is not the last word. Unfortunately the better works are in French and German. Back to the editorialRight that's the book review out of the way, this column, is not exactly the right place for them, but space dictates.... As you may have noticed from the rather subtle advert on page 41, we are holding our own show. We need your support, and hopefully we can make this an annual event, where we can all get together. More details in the next issue, watch this space as they say. And finally, (this editorial has changed five times since I first put it down!), at the urgent request of Mike Freeman of the Napoleonic Association, I have been asked to bring to the attention of all that the proposed N.A. event at Bromsgrove has been cancelled. A late night raid by the Gas board has devasted the proposed venue. HOWEVER, with an amazing act of organisational skill, the entire event has been moved lock stock and barrel to Weston Park, near Telford for the same date! Set to be a brilliant spectacular . See you there! Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #17 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |
