Military enthusiasts, wargamers and historians will be saddened to learn that pre-eminant military historian Col. John Elting recently passed away. World renowned authority on Napoleonic military history, John Elting was the author, co-author, editor, translator or contributor to nearly twenty books. Well known to most Napoleonic era enthusiasts are his "Swords Around A Throne - Napoleon's Grande Armée" and "A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars" (co-authored with Brigadier Vincent Esposito and recently re-released); both recognised as seminal reference works on their respective subjects. John Elting was unique amongst military historians for not only was he a scholar but also a professional soldier who saw action 'at the sharp end'. He joined the Michigan National Guard in 1929, became an ROTC instructor at Oregon State University 1940-42, instructor at Armoured School with the 5th Armoured Division, 1943-44 and then S-2 (intelligence officer) with a brigade battle group of the 8th Armoured Division in France and Germany. He was wounded in action in the Ruhr Pocket in April, 1945 when, as Elting described it, his "... jeep couldn't outrun a 75mm shell" after a brief but savage encounter with SS Panzer grenadiers. He was also decorated six times including the Bronze Star ( when asked how he got it, "Bit a dog” was his laconic reply) His active service also included a stint with the Phillipine Scouts (1945-47) before resuming his instructor duties back at Fort Knox Armoured School, Kentucky. His army teaching duties also covered the entire range of warfare but his self-confessed areas of interest were the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars. It is in relation to his published works on the latter that he gained a deserved reputation as one of the world's foremost authorities on the subject. John Elting had a unique style of prose that was not only scholarly in its approach (his handling of original source material was second to none) and thus factual but delivered in an easy conversational style full of carefully assembled anecdotes, which made it entertaining as well as informative to read. His empathetic retelling of what it was like to be a soldier in Napoleon's army breathed life and a strong sense of realism into what had hitherto been frequently treated as either a dry or over-sensationalised subject. I like to think his own extensive experience of the 'odd angry shot' tempered his writings; he was quoted as saying "Military service can be a definite help, even if it does not involve exposure to the hostile malice of the ball cartridge variety." (interview published in 'Napoleon' magazine, November 1997) Never one to tolerate academic pomposity, Elting's extensive writings are sprinkled with his wry and gentle humour. Those who knew him all say he was one of one of nature's gentlemen who, in his life-long occupation as a teacher, always generously offered of his time to impart his encyclopaedic knowledge of military history and the Napoleonic era in particular . Before his death John Elting saw the final publication of one of his real labours of love - the third and fourth volumes of "Napoleonic Uniforms" (lavishly illustrated with hundreds of superb water colours by the late noted German historian Herbert Knötel) - on which he had been working since 1951 and is now perhaps the reference work on the subject of unifor ms during the 1st Empire. At the time of his death he was reputed to be working on an addition to "Swords Around A Throne" he jokingly referred to as "More Swords". He passed away at home in his study surrounded by his beloved books. Soldier-scholar Col. John R. Elting U.S. Army (ret.) will be sadly missed by all military history enthusiasts. Back to Table of Contents -- Kriegspieler #9 To Kriegspieler List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Kriegspieler Publications. 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