The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars (1) : 1793-1815 (Men-At-Arms Series, 343)

Osprey are confident in boasting that this remarkable three-part study will transform the research material available to the English-speaking student of the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Most know that Wellington's Portuguese troops were praised as the 'fighting cocks' of his army; fewer appreciate that they represented between half and one-third of his entire forces. Similarly, most uniform historians have been limited to a few half-understood paintings by Dighton, and brief notes from secondary sources. René Chartrand's recent primary research in Portuguese and British archives now offers a wealth of important new material. An excellent book - groundbreaking in its originality. This volume is the first of two covering the organistion, uniforms and weapons of the Portuguese Army in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. Based on Portuguese as well as British documents, this study comprises a source on the material culture of these forces between 1806 and 1815. SOUTHERN FRANCE, May 1814: the emotionally moved Surgeon Walter Henry, of His Majesty's 66th of Foot, awaits with sadness the approaching moment when the Portuguese brigade would part from the Second British Division.