Book Review: Seven Men of Gascony, R. F. Delderfield

NB: Another one of my occasional archival updates. This was originally written around 2014, but then forgotten about. Posting it now after a thread on TMP about Napoleonic historical fiction made me think of it again.

Delderfield was primarily a novelist, famed for being the author of A Horseman Riding By and other such works, from around the middle of the 20th century. I was loaned Seven Men of Gascony by a friend of my dads, when I was around 11-12 years old, who knew I was passionate about Napoleonic history.

I really enjoyed it back then. So much so, in fact, that I also borrowed and read one of the author's contemporary romances, Diana. All these years later, and I find myself getting back into Napoleonic history. I've now read several other books by Delderfield, all factual and all on Napoleonic subjects, The March of the Twenty-Six, about Napoleon's Marshals, and Napoleon in Love (no explanation necessary!) being the most recent.

Another of Delderfield's non-fiction Napoleonic works.

Returning to things one loved as a child can be hit and miss. But on this occasion I'm relieved to find that I still enjoy reading this. Having recently read Tolstoy's much lauded epic War And Peace, as well as Thackeray's Vanity Fair, it's nice to read fictionalised history of the era told from a French perspective (the characters being French, that is, the author was very much an Englishman), plus this is very much easy-reading compared with Tolstoy (and perhaps even Thackeray?).

That Delderfield was steeped in the history of the period is very obvious. Anyone who's read any of the many Napoleonic memoirs, of which there are an abundance, will recognise numerous tableaux, woven into this well told tale. 

Delderfield is an intelligent, articulate, old fashioned writer, and, as just mentioned, very well informed on his subject, which makes this an enjoyable read. Sure, it's not part of the canon of great literature, like War and Peace, but it's a much easier read, taking itself seriously enough, but not too seriously (a harsher way to say the same thing is that Tolstoy is deeper, but Delderfield is less pompous), and at times even as reflective on deeper themes as Tolstoy liked to continually remind us he or his characters were.

Chortle!

One of my main areas of interest in the Napoleonic era at present is Russia, 1812, and Delderfield's characters pass through this appalling episode, giving the reader some very evocative and memorable scenes. Delderfield rather cleverly structures the book as a whole around the major rivers in each theatre: we start under the heading of The Danube, during which episodes the protagonists pass through the Austrian campaign of 1809 (Aspern-Essling, etc.); The Tagus covers events in Portugal and Spain; The Niemen is the central-European bridge into Russia; the Elster finds the voltigeurs we're following retreating through Prussia; and the final river is The Sambre, where the books reaches it's conclusions. There's even a section called The Otter, in which the 'file' of soldiers wind up as prisoners in the south of England!

The River Otter. 

One senses that Delderfield includes something of himself in the character of Gabriel, who's the most fully-realised actor in the story. The others, mostly the titular 'Seven Men of Gascony', but also Napoleon, various Marshals, commanders and others, including Nicholette, a cantiniere, are colourfully drawn, but in a fairly simplistic way. I haven't read any Bernard Cornwall yet, but as far as my limited knowledge of historical fiction goes (mainly limited to Cadfael and Flashman at present), this is a good solid read, and will be of most appeal to those like myself with a 'thing' for Napoleonic history.

In conclusion, the overall story itself is a brisk, breezy, easy read, albeit that the tale it tells is far more arduous than is the experience of reading about it. Not a golden work of literary genius, perhaps, but good solid fun, with the added benefit of being told from the French side for once.

The author.

Book Review - Thunder On The Danube trilogy: John H. Gill

Vol 1 - Abensberg

This first volume sets the tone and pace for the whole trilogy. The tone is serious but relaxed, even refreshingly informal at times, and the pace is perfectly pitched between feeling brisk in terms of excitement and leisurely in terms of Gill taking his time and covering everything. Superb!

Volume one of Gill's trilogy starts with detailed and lengthy but nonetheless very necessary and interesting expositions of the state of things leading up to the war. Summarised as concisely as I can, it boils down to Johann Phillip Stadion egging on the Austrian pro-war faction, using Napoleon's setbacks in Spain as inspiration, against the better judgement of both Archduke Charles, to whom leading the Austrians into war would fall, and The Kaiser. Stadion and the pro-war faction were woefully out of touch with the political and military realities, such that many Austrians felt, in the words of general and rising star Joseph Radetzky, 'the campaign of 1809 was lost before it began'.

Johan Phillip Stadion (source: wikimedia commons).

Once Gill gets stuck into the campaign action you feel he's really in his element - although in fairness to him he does the political preludes just as well - and for many of his readers, lee joss especially is wargamers, this will be where the excitement and interest ratchets up a gear or three. Be warned, Gill's account is very detailed! Almost all 'actions' are covered, and names of commanders, units and places are assiduously given. This is commendably thorough, but might perhaps be a touch too much for the general reader. 

Connected to this is a problem that I feel nearly all military history books (or for that matter history books in general) suffer from, namely inadequate maps. There are plenty of decent maps here, but the number of times - and consequently the waste of time & frustration - I couldn't find a place referred to in the text on any of the maps... Well, it was quite galling, and makes taking the level of interest in detail required by the text a shade redundant at times.

However, this gripe aside, and duly noting that there are more and better maps here than in most books on similar subject matter, the remainder of what's on offer here is great. Having set the scene Gill gets stuck into the manoeuvres and combat, in great detail. Perhaps for some this 'buffish' fixation on detail might be too much, but personally I prefer it to the drier overviews of the sort given in books like Napoleon's Wars, or Clausewitz's almost unreadably stodgy account of the 1812 campaign in Russia.

Still haven't read this companion volume!

But Gill is meeting the needs of the more seriously interested reader, spreading his work over three volumes (four if you includes With Eagles To Glory, his companion piece on France's German allies), and does a great job.[2] One consequence of the level of detail is that, certainly in Volume I at any rate, a sizeable proportion - a good third in this case - of the book is given over to hyper-detailed appendices and notes, including, of vital importance to the wargamers who'll love these books, OOB, or 'orders of battle'.

As well as being almost overwhelmingly thorough, these books are well-written, Gill possessing an amiable tone and quoting diverse sources to good effect, well put together: as well as being beautifully bound and printed, there are the maps, a table explaining rank titles and abbreviations, some good black and white illustrations, and extensive notes. My only complaint on this front is that the index isn't very comprehensive. But best of all, this book - indeed the whole trilogy - is just plain enjoyable.

Personally I'd have preferred the copious notes (there are 120 pages of them!) to have been footnotes at the bottom of each page, a la Gibbons Decline & Fall, rather than gathered as they are at the back. On this, my first reading of the book, I hardly referred to them at all. But its good they're there, as one can return to them as and when one feels ready. There are also sixty pages of appendices (which is where you'll find the OOB etc.), so the detail is, to say the least, copiously comprehensive.

To summarise: vol. I deals with the diplomacy and politics that lead to the outbreak of the 1809 conflict, culminating in Abensberg, the first major battle of the campaign. Stylistically it sets you up nicely for the next two vloumes. I vividly remember how exciting I found reading this. I had planned to ration my reading of the series, but this was so gripping I read it quicker than I'd intended to, and then went out and bought the other two volumes as soon as I'd finished it!

---

Vol. II - The Fall of Vienna & The Battle of Aspern

Basically a book of two halves, not counting the full third of the book given over, as with Vol. I to very thorough OOBs etc. in the appendices.

The first half picks up post Abensberg, with the bloody fight at Evelsburg a major feature, followed by Napoleon's drive on Vienna and the citys capitulation. Bonaparte, ever desirous of a swift end to a war he hadn't wanted in the first place, then encounters his own misfortune, when his hastily constructed pontoon bridges are damaged. Because of this he fails to deliver adequate reinforcements to his spearhead, leaving himself stranded on the Lobau/Mühlau bridgehead with insufficient troops, culminating in his first serious reversal after years of victories, at the battle of Aspern-Essling. 

A second smaller 'half' then details the events in Northern Italy, as Archduke Johann and Viceroy Eugene come to blows. Again it's reiterated, as on p. 269 that 'Vienna's choice of war under the circumstances prevailing in 1809 was an error of grand-strategic magnitude.' The excellent standard of volume I is maintained, and the level of detail remains obsessively impressive, if at times a little overwhelming. For me the centrepiece of this volume is Gill's brilliant blow-by-blow account of Aspern-Essling, which is really gripping stuff.

As with Vol. I, upon finishing this I was eager to get stuck into the next one!

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Vol. III - Wagram & Znaim

As Gill says in the preface to his third volume, his is a traditional campaign narrative and, given that war 'is fundamentally about combat... solid battle narrative is indispensable'. Indeed. Wargamers will be pleased to read this! And fortunately this is also an area in which Gill excels. 

Vol. III starts with action in the peripheral/flanking theatres, some of which, for example the violence and brigandage in the Tyrol, begs further exploration [3]. Gill covers even these 'sideshows' with care and attention, and many great ground level details emerge, showing that when he says 'solid battle narrative is indispensable' he means it. Just one particular example that I really enjoyed was when, in a very minor engagement in the Tyrol, the French/Allied commander, Jean-Baptiste Dominique Rusca had to 'resort to the unusual command and control expedient of dropping his instructions to waiting orderlies in small packets weighted with stones', as he directed his meagre forces from the commanding view of a tower in Klangenfurt!

Equally fascinating as these little details are the pictures Gill paints on the grander scale, such as Napoleon's turning of the isle of Lobau into a veritable military city, complete with defences, logistics (with forges and bakeries as well as lodgings, hospitals and munitions magazines), roads and even street lamps! Having got a bloody nose at Aspern-Essling, attempting his typically impetuous - and in this instance under-prepared - lightning strike, he did things very thoroughly second time around. This included using 'estacades', which were rows of pilings sunk into the Danube, whose purpose was to stop the crossings being wrecked by flotsam and jetsam as had happened prior to and during Aspern Essling. 

And the two largest bridges themselves (Gill includes a black and white illustration of a print after the painting by Jacques Francois Joseph, the original of which can be seen at Apsley House, AKA The Wellington Museum, in London) were so well-built and finished that they were deemed more than just sturdily functional but, painted and hung with lanterns, elegant! Boney's himself effused 'General Count Bertrand has executed works that excite astonishment and inspire admiration.' Comparing the dynamism of the French efforts with the sluggish, pessimistic confusion of the Austrians, one senses that the campaign was already over. Gill articulates this himself perfectly: 'The contrast with his Hapsburg opponents is striking. Where the French built their own boats and bridges, the Austrians complained that none were to be found.'

The chapter on Wagram is superb, balancing fine detail with the bigger picture in exemplary manner. There are so many little details that one could cite, but you'd be better off reading them yourself, rather than me trying to recite them. I will mention the intervention of the weather on numerous occasions, a feature which is so significant it gives the series it's evocative double-entendre title, and is further cited in several chapter sub-headings ('A night out of Macbeth', 'Thunder in Bayreuth', etc.) and, together with the varied landscapes gives great character and vivacity to Gill's narrative.

All in all, an excellent ending to a fantastic trilogy.

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NOTES:

[1] Charles Esdaile goes into great detail, but only as regards diplomacy, whilst the vast majority of Clausewitz's account is little more than a list of detailed troops movements which, without good maps, is as good a way to develop a migraine as I know of.

[2] For the interested layman books like Zamoyski's 1812, or Barbero's Waterloo are absolutely perfect, being perfectly balanced, beautifully written, and concise and easy to read. This book has all the qualities mentioned here, except brevity!

[3] After reading this trilogy I ordered Napoleon's Other War, by Michael Broers, which covers this and many other guerilla actions of the Napoleonic period. I reviewed that on the Amazon UK website for anyone interested: Napoleon's Other Wars, Michael Broers. It's an excellent book, but I was a touch disappointed that there wasn't more on the whole Andreas Hofer period, and related Austria 1809 episodes. Gill's accounts are at least as (and perhaps more?) informative on this topic.

Book Review: Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier - Walter Jakob

At present I'm simply not getting time to paint. But my voracious reading continues apace. I habitually keep notes, and I also find that writing reviews helps me focus on the books I'm reading, and hopefully both draw out what I want from them, and, perhaps, remember it all a bit better. In the past I would often post the resulting reviews on Amazon UK. I'm thinking I might transfer that habit over here, instead (or as well). I hope these reviews might be of use to those interested in such things!  

Before I commence with the book review, however, a quick aside: this is, I believe, my 33rd post on this ear blog. 33 is a nice number: it looks nice, and, thinking of the title if this blog, it's an oft-favoured figure ratio (1:33), and it's (almost) the speed at which ye olde vinyl albums rotate. Following on from that music related thought, it's also as far as I got - 33 posts - with my previous blog sounds from the funky goat! That is, or rather at present was, a music-focussed affair, which I hope one day to return to, as I grew a little band of followers, and music remains a passionate area of both interest and activity for me.

So, back to...

The Windrush Press Edition I recently bought.

Walter Jakob's Napoleonic diaries are very short and easy to read. I read this immediately on receiving it, today, in a single sitting of a coupe of hours. They're neither the best written, nor the most informative, but they are both illuminating and important in that they are one of the only known accounts from a private, the lowest rank in the army, serving under Napoleon.

Walter aged 50.

It struck me when looking at the illustrated works of Faber du Faur and Albrecht Adam that most of a Napoleonic soldier's life seemed to comprise of marching and bivouacking. One particular aspect of this, very forcibly brought home in Jakob's account (and many others, especially of the Russian campaign of 1812), is the element of foraging. A large proportion of this account is about the struggle for subsistence, especially on the way out of - but even on the way into, as well - Russia.

It's more usually the memoirs of soldiers of officer and general rank that get quoted, the Bourgognes and Segurs, so to hear from one of those editor Marc Raeff refers to as the 'suffering faceless common people' is a refreshing change of perspective. Raeff is actually describing the authors of six letters written by Westphalians serving under Napoleon in 1812 when he says this, which are included here as an interesting footnote or appendix type addition.

I haven't read Raeff's introduction yet, nor Frank E. Melvins 'historical commentary'. I just dived straight into Walter's account. He fought for Boney in 1806-7, in eastern Prussia mostly, and then during the 1809 campaign against Austria. In between times, he worked as a stonemason - which leads him to make certain professional observations on some of the buildings in some of the towns he passes through - into which trade he had returned before being recalled in late 1811 for the great Russian debacle.

When he wasn't worrying where his next meal was coming from whilst marching under Napoleon, Walter was a mason. We know he was a stone mason, whether he was a free-mason... I don't know!

He was a conscript, not a volunteer, and German, not French, but, whilst he doesn't have the Bonapartist fervour some French memoirists display, he never seems to have wanted to desert. A slightly superstitious Catholic, he's not quite the Lothario that the dashing duelling cavalryman Parquin is, but he does, at one point, lie to a nun he seems rather taken with. I have heard of Walter several times, when reading histories of 1812, most recently in a book about how typhus ravaged the Grande Armée. That books author maintained that the fever Walter complains of near the end of his account was most likely typhus.

My favourite memoirs seem to be by the middle rankers, like Bourgogne and Parquin, whose mix of eloquence and charming candour are perfect. The top brass can be too self-conscious, and often try to be overly thorough - the much lionised Clausewitz wrote what I think is, for the most part, an almost unreadably turgid account of the 1812 campaign - whilst accounts from the lower ranks are often very circumscribed, and can often read as rather naïeve.

According to Wikipedia, Walter was conscripted into the Von Romig regiment, as illustrated here by Ebner.

Still, the more the better, as far as I'm concerned; this is yet another of the many accounts of this epic campaign that I'm so glad to have both added to my ever-growing 1812 library, and read. Not the best, yet still full of humanity and pathos, and definitely worth reading. 

Two maps are included, practically as end-papers; they have nice local German detail at the western end, at the front of the book, and near the back show the eastern end, and turning point. Whilst not sufficiently detailed to show all of Walter's stops, they allow one to follow his general movements, and as such are perfectly adequate. In the body of the text some place names are rendered somewhat unusually, but I think Raeff says this a deliberate attempt to help keep the flavour of the original text.

This near contemporary Russian map shows the extent and degree of fire damage in Moscow. Not the exact image used in this edition, but the same map, I believe.

As well the intro and historical commentary, there are also the six Westphalian letters, and in addition to all this, the text is illustrated with a number of atmosphere setting artworks, reproduced as rather small black and white images, most of which 1812 diehards will have seen before (many being by Faber du Faur), but some of which might be new, such as the images of Cossacks force-feeding Boney-in-a-barrel, and a very interesting Russian map of Moscow from 1813, showing the extent of the damage the fires had wreaked (above).

I got my rather handsome hardback of Waletr's memoirs for just £2.81 on Amazon UK. Less than the cost of a beer, and, to my mind, more stimulating and nourishing!