History of the King's German Legion Vol. II

“Ludlow Beamish’s famous history of the K.G.L. is undoubtedly one of the rarest and most sought-after contemporary studies of the Napoleonic Wars. The Legion played a major part in the British Army in the Peninsula and this special edition is a vital addition to the library of all serious students of the Napoleonic Wars.

One of the most unusual, as well as the most heroic and distinguished Allied units in the Napoleonic Wars was the King’s German Legion (KGL). Originally composed of German volunteers from King George III’s Hanoverian domain, and founded out of Royal outrage at France’s occupation of Hanover in 1803, the KGL, according to David Chandler, doyen of Napoleonic military historians ‘was without a doubt amongst the very best troops commanded by Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo’. The KGL was a mini-army in its own right, comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery. This classic two-volume history of the Legion by N. Ludlow is one of the best accounts of the Napoleonic Wars, praised by the great historian Sir Charles Oman as ‘a valuable and conscientious history’ and largely composed of eye-witness accounts by serving soldiers.

Volume 2 opens with the sieges of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo and the great battle of Salamanca which broke the back of the French in Spain. As Wellington rolled the enemy up to the Pyrenees, the KGL were also present at the battle of Vittoria. Meanwhile the KGL were also operating against Marshal Davout in the north of their native Germany. The Allied pressure caused Napoleon to abdicate and retire to Elba in 1814. The book’s final chapter deals with the Waterloo campaign in which the KGL played a heroic part in holding the strategically vital La Haye Sainte Farm in front of the British line, against furious French assaults.”-N&M Print ed.